1 | | | Two snapshots. The first is from a day three | | | | | the body produces endorphins so you don’t feel |
| | | years ago in Africa, the moment on a sunlit | | | | | any pain. Then I realised I must have been blown |
| | | morning in Mozambique when a young | | | | | up by a mine that was below metal-detector |
| | | Englishman, the leader of a group detecting land | | | | | range.’ Before the pain kicked in, Moon had to |
| 5 | | mines, is blown up as he walks down a lane that | | | 40 | | cope with the greatest of the factors that might |
| | | has been ‘cleared’. | | | | | have killed him: his loss of the will to live. ‘Quite |
2 | | | The second is set in the near future, a week | | | | | simply, giving up was the easy option. I’m sure if |
| | | from today in a park in south London. This time | | | | | I’d given up and gone to sleep I would have died. |
| | | the noise that shatters the stillness is the gun | | | | | But I couldn’t. I just think the only failure in life |
| 10 | | sending 30,000 runners on their way in the Flora | | | 45 | | is giving up and I just had to fight it.’ |
| | | London Marathon. | | 6 | | | Having established his will to live, Moon had |
3 | | | Chris Moon narrowly survived the first and will | | | | | to overcome more life-threatening problems |
| | | take part in the second. He is a remarkable man | | | | | before he confronted the more ordinary task of |
| | | who, in a literal sense, comes as close as possible to | | | | | walking again. It was while he was still in hospital |
| 15 | | being a sporting hero, fulfilling the classical | | | 50 | | in England waiting for his artificial leg that, after |
| | | requirement: achievement based on superhuman | | | | | watching the 1995 London Marathon, he |
| | | effort. The mine blew off his lower right leg and | | | | | resolved to run the following year. His first |
| | | damaged his hand so badly that he lost that too. | | | | | attempt at walking - ‘I got really excited, went |
| | | But less than a year after leaving hospital in the | | | | | out and fell over for half an hour’ - supported the |
| 20 | | summer of 1995 he had run his first marathon. | | | 55 | | medical view that he was being overambitious. |
| | | Last year he became the first leg amputee to | | | | | But he was on the starting line in 1996, finished |
| | | complete the 140-mile Great Sahara Run, which is | | | | | in five hours 40 minutes and raised £20,000 for a |
| | | regarded as the toughest foot-race on earth. | | | | | rehabilitation centre in Cambodia. |
4 | | | The explosion in March 1995 nearly killed | | 7 | | | This year, Moon will take part as the captain of |
| 25 | | him and redirected his life. He says he accepts | | | 60 | | Team Flora who aim to raise £1.25 million for the |
| | | total responsibility for the accident: ‘I chose to be | | | | | Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. |
| | | there, but the people who live in mined areas have | | | | | Having met the princess and worked with her on |
| | | no choice. Also, it doesn’t matter whether there | | | | | the mines issue,’ he says, ‘I wanted to do |
| | | was a de-miner who made an error - and | | | | | something that was quite simply about turning |
| 30 | | genuinely don’t think there was - because if that | | | 65 | | tragedy into something positive. It’s all very well |
| | | was the case, it was back down to me because | | | | | for people to be sad and sentimental, but |
| | | was the boss. | | | | | unfortunately life is not always fair. As Forrest |
5 | | | ‘When it happened I heard this really loud | | | | | Gump says, “Shit happens”.’ |
| | | bang and the next thing I knew I was lying on the | | 8 | | | You can take Chris Moon’s word for it, too. |
| 35 | | ground. At first I felt completely normal because | | | | | |
| | | | | | 70 | | ‘The Observer’ |
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