Story Telling Unit: The Meeting - Final Idea!!

Hi all,
I had a long think today about my idea for the meeting, and here it is now:

Working title

Pitch: A guy is in the army. He is injured by an IED. He is now confined to a wheelchair. Is it the end? Or just the beginning?

Synopsis

The idea I have is of a guy (Dan, 19) who is in the army and is currently serving on the frontline in Afghanistan. However, one day his life will be changed forever: he is hit by an IED (Improvised explosive device). He suffers serious injuries to his legs and is destined to spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair after having both legs amputated. Obviously this has a serious psychological effect on him, and he is unable to see how he can possibly continue to live a relatively normal life after he has been the victim of such a terrible event. However, once he returns home from this ordeal, and is continuing to wonder how on earth he can ever be “normal” again, he discovers a group for injured ex-army servicemen. He decides to go along to one of the meetings and see what the group is like. He meets another guy (Tony, 30) who was in a similar scenario to him ten years ago, and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. However, he has managed to use artificial legs as a means of getting around at home to maintain his independence. Dan asks Tony a few questions to find out exactly how to go about getting the independence that comes with false limbs. He is truly inspired by Tony because despite what has happened to him, he is determined to live his life as normally as possible. He openly accepts that he is at a slight disadvantage to most people, but he will not let that stop him living his life. Dan is in total admiration of this outlook, and after months of feeling down and depressed after his incident, he decides to pick up the pieces and make some enquires about false limbs. Once he has made the enquires, he is very pleased that he did, as he was unaware of how many different options were available. He decides to go for a pair of artificial legs and after having them a while he is amazed how much independence he is able to maintain. Having gained this new found independence, he goes to see Tony and thanks him for his help and advice on the situation and Tony was only too pleased to help. Dan uses the independence to live a normal life and ends up getting a successful, well paid job in a big company. So despite this massive upheaval in his life, he has managed to resume a normal life and is now happy and confident again.

Genre

Action, drama

Theme

Recovery, overcoming a huge upheaval/tragedy in life.

Characters

Dan (19),  6ft1”, blonde hair, bright green eyes, stocky and muscular, an army serviceman who is injured whilst in active service, and now in a wheelchair. His main hobbies before his injury included working on his car and playing rugby.

Tony (30), 6ft3’, dark brown hair, blue eyes, slim, another army serviceman who was injured in service, and is also now in a wheelchair. His hobbies included playing football, and going to watch formula 1 racing.

Obviously this is all a little bit rough round the edges at present, and I think it needs a bit of refining. However, I feel it is an excellent basis from which to start.

Scott