Prince Harry receives sweet tribute by Invictus Games veteran

Prince Harry was celebrated by Ashley Christman, a 45-year-old US Marine Corps Major, as she expressed her heartfelt gratitude and admiration to the Duke of Sussex.

Christman, who participated in the Invictus Games for the very first time, paid a sweet tribute to the Duke, calling him her “brother in arms.”

Despite battling a rare and incurable form of cancer, Christman won a silver medal in the women's biathlon and did her best in swimming events.

The veteran hailed Harry, who founded the games in 2014, for bringing together wounded and injured service members and veterans from around the world.

“Having the adaptive sports pipeline while I was undergoing my medical battle — and still am undergoing my medical battle — has been such a driver to help me thrive and not just survive,” she told Us Weekly.

Christman added, “I don’t want to be a cancer survivor. I want to be a cancer thriver. For me, there isn’t a cure, and I have to spend every day like this might be my last good day, and do everything I can to make it so.”

Calling her first Invictus Games a “a beautiful experience,” she said, “When we get to come together, these are our brothers and sisters in arms from around the world, from 23 different countries, and we get to reunite after having served in some of the most austere, challenging environments in the world, and come together in a place of peace and a place of love and a place of embracing one another.”

“It’s just about as close to world peace as you can get,” she added. 

She further talked of Harry, saying, “He has a history of service as well, which is what inspired him to hold true to his brothers and sisters in arms with this organization. It still feels like he is just one of my brothers in arms.”

“We are grateful to him and really appreciate him reaching out to us to bring this community together.”