A US Navy SEAL who was shot 27 times during one incident while on tour in Iraq has made such an exceptional recovery that he his now preparing to compete in a half-Ironman to raise money for his fellow veterans.
In 2007, Mike Day was caught in a brutal firefight with three al-Qaeda insurgents after he was the first of his team to enter a room in a town near near Fallujah, Iraq.
The enemy fighters opened fire, hitting Day with 27 separate bullets. 11 of the shots were stopped by his body armour, but 16 penetrated his body and left him perilously wounded.
A grenade then exploded just 10 feet away from him, knocking him unconscious. According to Day, when he woke up roughly a minute later, he managed to kill two of the fighters with his pistol.
When the fighting finally stopped, he miraculously got up and walked himself to a medical helicopter.
Day, who describes the incident as "a single gunfight on an ordinary day at the office", lists his injuries matter-of-factly on his personal website: "I was shot in both legs, both arms, my left thumb was almost amputated, I was shot in the abdomen and had a colostomy bag for a year, my right scapula was shattered, I was shot twice in the buttocks, once in the scrotum and my body armour was hit multiple times which caused fractured ribs and contusions on my lungs."
The Navy SEAL spent just 16 days in hospital – during which time he lost just under four stone – before he was discharged and awarded the Purple Heart, the oldest military decoration still given to serving military members in the US.
During the following years, he was treated for PTSD by the Carrick Brain Centers, in Dallas. May now intends to raise upwards of $75,000 for the institution by completing the Florida half-Ironman in two weeks time.
Mike Day was awarded the Purple Heart
The gruelling event will see him swim 1.2 miles, bicycle 56 miles, and run 13 miles.
On his fundraising page, May says that his mission in life is now to "care for and lead my wounded brothers and sisters".
"The Brain Treatment Foundation is the non-profit division of The Carrick Brain Treatment Center, an organisation that delivers state-of-the-art customised treatment programs to individuals suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and other neurological issues," he writes.
"I have personally seen the results of their work and am confident that they will continue to change lives."
@Peter C @C130 @SvenSvensonov @Nihonjin1051 @AMDR @F-22Raptor @Víðarr @DrawingDead @KAL-EL
? Wow, and good on him for his recovery, that's intense!!! PTSD, almost dying, and he's strong enough to make a full recovery and partake in the Iron Man?
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