A FORMER soldier who defied the odds to survive a car bomb explosion in Afghanistan which left him with a shattered skull has got his happy ever after following a romantic New York proposal to the woman who “brought him back to life.”

Dean Middleton, 29, from Seaham, County Durham, popped the question to his nurse girlfriend Jade Savage, 29, earlier this month on an ice rink at the Big Apple’s Rockefeller Centre below a twinkling Christmas tree and cheering crowds.

With the assistance of the Help for Heroes recovery centre Phoenix House in Catterick Garrison, Mr Middleton now feels he is at full fitness and is passionate about his job at the centre helping other wounded veterans in his role as a strength and conditioning assistant.

But life could have been very different for Mr Middleton, whose world was thrown upside down during a winter tour of Afghanistan, in an incident he has no recollection of.

“I was told I have post traumatic amnesia – I do have memories of the three months leading up to the incident but then nothing until I woke up in hospital,” he said.

On December 21, 2010, he had been on tour for about four months when he and two others went out on patrol with their commanding officer. Mr Middleton was acting as top cover with his head outside the vehicle.

He said: “The vehicle hit an improvised exploding device and I was sent flying hundreds of feet into the air and on landing my helmet shattered and my skull was fractured.”

His colleague sitting directly behind him was killed instantly.

He was rushed back to the UK and on Boxing Day underwent surgery to remove parts of his skull that were causing his brain to swell.

After waking from a coma with severe brain damage and months of specialist rehabilitation, Mr Middleton returned home to his parents in Seaham – where he was reunited with schoolfriend Miss Savage.

He said: “Jade got in touch to ask if she could chat to me about my memory of the incident for her nursing degree.

“And from then on it just felt like it was meant to be – her birthday is the same day as I was in the explosion so we celebrate together.

“She makes me a ‘Happy Alive Day’ card and I feel like it was the first day of the rest of my life.”

Mr Middleton had been keen to propose for some time but wanted it to be extra special.

He said: “My mum helped me chose a ring and I looked online for ideas on proposing in New York – at the Rockefeller Centre ice rink they give you a special pass so staff know to let you stay on when everyone else comes off.

“I told Jade I wanted to get a picture of us on our own on the ice, but when it was clear I got down on one knee and held out the ring – she didn’t say anything and just put it on."