Paul Franklin

Former Canadian Medic Who Lost Both Legs in Afghanistan

The Long Walk Home: a Soldier's Story of Hope

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Master Corporal (ret) Paul Franklin has conquered many challenges, but none as difficult as redefining his passion and purpose in life after losing both of his legs as the result of a suicide bombing attack in Afghanistan.   

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and raised in Western Canada, Franklin found his calling when he joined the Canadian Forces in 1999 and was posted to 1 Field Ambulance in Edmonton, Alberta. He established a successful career in the military as a company Emergency Medical Technician, while continually pushing himself to pursue higher-level military medical training. He effectively used his skills and experience to organize Tactical Combat Casualty Care courses and advanced Combat Related First Aid for infantry soldiers. These courses provided vital medical training to soldiers and when taken into combat can save lives.

His Canadian Forces experience included Operational Tours, medical training and other military instruction, including outdoor leadership skills. During his second tour of Afghanistan in 2005, MCpl Franklin worked in the southern province of Kandahar, as a Medical Technician assigned to an infantry section of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. The Afghan people inspired him as he worked in village medical clinics, teaching medical skills to his fellow soldiers.

On 15 January 2006 a suicide bomber attacked MCpl Franklin's convoy. This event changed his life in an instant. MCpl Franklin found himself lying against a wall with his left leg gone and his right leg destroyed. A fellow soldier, that he had just taught, put on the tourniquet that saved his life. After a long and arduous medical journey, MCpl Franklin was a double above the knee amputee. He eventually found himself at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta where he put his energies into rehabilitation and recovery.

On 24 March 2006, just two months after his initial injury and one month after his last surgery, Paul Franklin walked with artificial legs for the first time. At this time he discovered a new passion...to help other amputees. When interacting with other injured patients and amputees, he saw hard working hospital staff caring for these individuals; Franklin had the idea to start a charity to "improve the lives of amputees." After extensive consultation with his health care professionals, he co-founded the Northern Alberta Amputee Program (NAAP), which later became known as the "Franklin Fund." Soon after his discharge from the hospital, he began to travel the country telling his story. This quest became integral with his road to recovery.   

In 2009, TIME Magazine has named Paul Franklin as one of "Canada's Heroes" and Rubicon Publishing published a book naming MCpl Franklin as one of "The Top 10 Most Inspiring Canadians." Franklin has had extensive television and press coverage about his story and recovery, and was the subject of a book by Liane Faulder entitled The Long Walk Home.   Paul Franklin continues to touch lives of those within the Canadian military as he helps other wounded soldiers through the Peer Visitation program, a certification he holds through the Amputee Coalition of Canada (ACC). Paul is a member of the Board of Directors and the Fundraising Chair of the ACC. He continues his dedicated quest to enhance and improve the care of all amputees. He found his passion and purpose in continuing to live his life to the fullest while encouraging others to do the same.

Paul Franklin is single and enjoys living in Edmonton raising his son Simon. The two have been spotted all over the world on their travels.

Paul Franklin Speech Topics

The Long Walk Home

In his keynotes, Franklin shares stories about the work he and his fellow soldiers were doing in Afghanistan. Whatever your feelings on Canada's involvement, he brings an articulate, non-polemical and rarely glimpsed human element to discussions of our mission. With affable charm and perspective, he also talks about the infamous bombing -- about how a combination of improvisational teamwork, mental toughness and vigorous training kept him alive. At the core of his talk is the immense hope he held onto, even when things looked bleakest, to see his family and to be able to walk his son to school every morning.

VIDEOS

LINKS

Paul Franklin - Official Website

Franklin Foundation

BOOKS

The Long Walk Home

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GAYLE LEMMON at TEDxWOMEN

"If you're going to talk about jobs, then you have to talk about entrepreneurs," says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. "And if you're talking about entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict settings, then you must talk about women." Lemmon is the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and a Contributing Editor-at-Large for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She has devoted her life to shedding light on the resiliency of female entrepreneurs, and their remarkable power to reshape local economies. By recognizing and investing in these female breadwinners, Lemmon says, we can help grow economies of all development levels around the world.