Last year the army Major Phil Packer was seriously injured in Iraq and was told he probably would never walk again. But he decided to not spend his whole life in an invalid chair. So, he registered to participate at the 2009 London Marathon. Phil Packer began the marathon in the same day everyone else did, but his doctor allowed him only to walk two miles a day, so he finished it on Saturday, 13 days after starting the race. However, he was walking the marathon on crutches to raise money for “Help for Heroes”, a British organization that supports wounded veterans. Packer’s goal is to raise £1 million; he has so far risen over half the amount.
The marathon is only part of his project, he says. In February, he rowed the English Channel, and in June 2009, he plans to climb El Capitan, one of America’s iconic mountaineering sites. It’s a 3,000-foot vertical rock formation in California. The idea to take on the three challenges for charity came to him while he was in a hospital for more than four months last year following a serious injury in Iraq, he says.
“I needed and wanted to be able to move on in life,” he says. “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,” he says, an apologetic smile forming as he makes his way up the north bank of the Thames River, along the marathon course. “I really want to be able to help people.”