By Chris Wright
Six years ago, Andy Grant – the man you see before you – was forced to have his leg amputated after standing on a landmine while serving with the Royal Marines out in Afghanistan.
Since then 26-year-old Grant has not only re-learnt how to walk but also both represented and won gold medals for Great Britain at the recent Invictus Games, inspired by the ironic text left etched on his leg following his surgery.
A lifelong Liverpool fan, Grant had the club motto tattooed on his right leg, along with the Liver bird.
After his leg was amputated at the knee, the remaining text read simply “You’ll Never Walk”.
You’ll never walk..: Liverpool fan loses leg and, ominously, the last word of his tattoo. http://t.co/7up9ZIRUGL pic.twitter.com/eGqGvePYKS
— Daily Star (@Daily_Star) February 6, 2015
Using his newly-edited tattoo as extra added inspiration on his road to recovery, Grant set about rebuilding his life, telling the Metro:
“I am a huge Liverpool fan so had the Liver bird and the words to the song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on my leg.
“The tattoo that I have been left with has always been a bit of a joke. I use it in my motivational speeches.”
“It is ironic that it says I will never walk as I have gone on to run 10km in 40 minutes.
“At the moment I am just two minutes off a record for the 10km for a single leg amputee and I have that in my sights.”
“[The tattoo] is bizarre and I just laugh about it – but it adds to my story I guess.
“The fact is that regardless of what the words says, the operation allowed me to walk and run and do so much else.
“You have got to see the funny side of it.”
Wow.
Tuesday saw Grant (along with his best mate who was also injured in the blast) celebrate his “Alive Day“, i.e, the sixth anniversary of his injury: February 3rd 2009.
Next up? Rowing across the Atlantic for charity and attempting to get himself selected for the British Paralympic team.
For what little it’s worth, Pies doff our cap to him.
(Image via @AndyGbootneck)