Losing a finger or toe is not a very nice experience, but to lose both legs and wake up in a hospital bed, emerging from a seven-week coma and lucky to be alive is devastation! This is what happened to 29 year old Ian Colquhoun, now a very talented writer and historian who says after being horrifically injured in a brutal, unprovoked and gruesome attack, "Losing my legs is the best thing to have happened to me."

Losing a finger or toe is not a very nice experience, but to lose both legs and wake up in a hospital bed, emerging from a seven-week coma and lucky to be alive is devastation! This is what happened to 29 year old Ian Colquhoun, now a very talented writer and historian who says after being horrifically injured in a brutal, unprovoked and gruesome attack, "Losing my legs is the best thing to have happened to me."

After surviving a mind-numbing attack that saw his body suffer 65 percent burns, somehow Ian Colquhoun fought on. Given the last rites three times, Ian had thousands of people praying for his life all over the world ... all thanks to the internet.

Recalling the attack he says, "I had found work in a warehouse in Dundalk, in Eire, had just met a new girlfriend and I was enjoying playing football for a local team. I had not long moved from my birth place of Scotland, everything looked rosy for me. Then in the Christmas period I went with my girlfriend to a local party at a house nearby to where I was staying. I had fallen asleep on the couch and awoke to the room being ransacked by strangers. Next thing I know is I was clobbered over the head and woke up seven weeks later!"

Ian, formerly from Livingston in Scotland, now resides in Edinburgh, and since his recovery he is a promising up and coming published author, freelance journalist, actor and specialist amputee stuntman. Despite overwhelming evidence, no one was convicted of this ghastly offence against him and as a result of this he received no criminal injuries compensation.

After spending nearly a year in hospital, Ian managed to salvage his wrecked life from the ashes of the burned out house he was left in for dead by the gang of ransackers. He was wheelchair bound for 30 months before he was eventually fitted with artificial limbs, this was due to his wounds taking so long to heal.

Some seven years later, Ian saw his autobiography, "Burnt", about his experiences published, and in another success he was invited on a UK TV book review show where his book was feted as "well written" by The Richards & Judy Show's Richard Madeley. Continuing in his good fortune, Ian starred as an injured sailor in the big screen film based on the real life sinking of the US Navy warship USS Indianapolis. The film covered how the ship's 900 sailors were swimming for their lives in shark infested waters in Guam during the Second World War.

Now looking back on his hospital stay Ian Colquhoun says, "It was scary - I was covered in bandages and they told me about my legs. Thinking it was a nightmare I thought I could feel my legs. I was sure I had my trainers on, I thought they were just winding me up. All I could think was, 'Oh no, my life's screwed up now. I won't be able to walk again, play football or be able to go out on the pull.' I thought to myself that I would be better off dead. Now after years of operations and physiotherapy I'd not recommend this as a lifestyle change, but if I hadn't lost my legs then none of these opportunities that have arisen would never have come my way. The one thing I keep telling myself is that my life has changed for the better and that losing my legs was the best thing to happen to me."

Ian, now stunt trained and proficient in the use of many pre'00 firearms, has penned his own life story called "Burnt" in anticipation that it will give hope to amputees around the world.