One cold morning in 1916, high on the wheat plains of western Kansas, two brothers went to school early. It was their job to light the classroom stove in preparation for lessons. But someone had accidentally put petrol in the stove (instead of kerosene), which resulted in a devastating explosion when lit. The elder brother died, aged 13. Although the younger brother (who was 8) survived, he did so with catastrophic burns.
His injuries were so severe that he was bedridden for nearly two years. During this time, doctors recommended amputating both legs to save his life, predicting that he would never walk again. Yet with an indefatigable will, the young boy resolved he would do everything he could to prove the doctors wrong. Every day his mother was by his bedside: praying, encouraging, massaging and bandaging her son’s stricken limbs.
The boy experienced agonising pain, lost all the toes on his left foot, and his arches were destroyed. In time, however, through sheer determination, he was able to pull himself up and practise walking step by painful step, holding on to a fence for support. One day he began to jog – and then run. He ran everywhere.
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