After a severe spinal injury in Basra last year, Major Phil Packer was told he would never walk again.
Now, on crutches, and six days after the start, he has almost reached the halfway point of a race he is determined to finish Major Phil Packer makes his way over Tower Bridge as he reaches the half way point in the London Marathon. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Tomorrow morning, seven days after the start of the London Marathon, Major Phil Packer will be halfway to completing the 26 miles and 385 yards. The fact that he even contemplated taking part in the event is testament to the injured Army officer’s courage and his will to succeed. The diagnosis left him doubting whether he had a future, but 90 days later Packer saw a flicker of movement in his little toe and hope was born. Last month the Royal Military police officer took his first independent step and now he is on the way to raising a million pounds for Help for Heroes, a charity that raises money to help wounded British servicemen. For the London Marathon he has broken down the gruelling event into 52,400 individual, painstaking steps. The challenge is taking six hours’ hard graft for 13 days, each of which he tackles with an unbreakable determination and the support of a close band of friends. Now the last participant left on the route, the powerful, imposing man of 6ft4in who joined the army at 16 admits that these few miles are the hardest challenge he has ever faced.
“My doctor gave me this daily limit but it’s taking its toll, both physically and emotionally,” he said. “I’m shattered at the end of every day. I’ve done a lot of active stuff in my life but I’ve never been this exhausted