LONDON, England (CNN) — British soldier Phil Packer was told a year ago that he would never walk again, but on Saturday he finished the London Marathon.
He completed the race 13 days after it started, walking on crutches for two miles a day — the most his doctor would allow — in order to raise money for charity.
Flanked by cheering soldiers and supporters, an obviously emotional Packer had defied medical opinion after his lower spine was badly injured in the aftermath of a rocket attack on his base in Basra, Iraq, in February 2008.
The attack sent a vehicle rolling down a sand bank, striking Packer “head on” and dragging him under it.
The 36-year-old was left with no feeling or motor control in his legs, and no bladder or bowel control.
Packer was in hospital for more than four months and it was then he decided to complete three challenges to help raise £1 million ($1.5 million) for Help for Heroes, a British charity supporting wounded veterans.
In February he rowed the English Channel, and next month he plans to climb El Capitan — one of America’s iconic mountaineering sites — a 3,000-foot vertical rock formation in California.
Packer, who was met at the marathon finish line by British Olympian Steve Redgrave, said that he was £370,000 ($558,000) short of his goal but he was hoping for more donations.
Dressed in a white charity T-shirt and desert fatigues, he was emotional.
“It’s looking after our injured servicemen,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that can’t do this, so this is for them.”
Earlier this week he told CNN that he “wanted to be able to move on in life.”
“I wanted to do something for other personnel who had been wounded.
“I don’t want to be helped. I want to help other people. Not that I’m not grateful, but… you know… I really want to be able to help people.”
He attributed being back on his feet to “fantastic medical support” from Britain’s Ministry of Defense and National Health Service.
“So many improvements are being made” in medicine, he said. “It’s an evolving process.”
However, he did not know whether he would be able to walk without crutches.
“I gotta see how it goes. Take every improvement as it comes.”
Read the whole thing and then check out Phil’s personal website, full of inspiration, hope, and incredible achievement!
d0nnatr0y
thekimrunner
juliahart5
What an inspiration. We see tragically wounded warriors running at the MCM and in the ATM, sometimes alone and sometimes with their guides, and they are heroes. It puts your own temporary discomfort of the hard miles passing by in proper perspective.