Former Navy SEAL Runs Triathlons After Breaking Every Bone In His Body

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By Jenn Carlson
WPBN/NBC News Channel

PETOSKEY, MI -- A former Navy SEAL is being hailed as a survivor after a miraculous recovery.

"I was teaching a guy how to do a halo high altitude low opening from 25,000 feet, and what happened was I was tracking away and the guy got caught in my track. He followed me and I opened my chute up and he fell right though my chute. At 3,000 feet, it totally knocked me out," recalled Marcus Colburn.

Colburn hit the ground and shattered virtually every bone in his body, suffered severe brain trauma and remained in a coma for six months. When he awoke he could not move, swallow or speak.

"I'm so surprised that he came that far because no doctor could tell us what was going to happen to him," said Lillian Colburn, Marcus' mother.

He surprised doctors by walking one year later, and two years after that, he entered his first local race. Now, he has four triathlons under his belt.

Physical fitness has always been important to Colburn, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Navy SEALs who now works as a personal trainer in his hometown of Petoskey, Michigan and also travels as a motivational speaker. Colburn says he wants to start helping other military veterans with serious injuries to share how he learned to persevere and cope with his disability.

genthumb.ashx


http://www.firstcoastnews.com/sports/news-article.aspx?storyid=96641
 
I'm glad he's doing well, good for him.



I'll never understand how one person can fall from 3,000 feet and survives and another falls from only 60 feet and doesn't. :( :(
 
It's like cats...some survive falls from amazingly high drops with surprisingly light injuries, while relatively lower falls leave the animal seriously injured....

...or...

the drunk guy who's ejected from the car in a head-on collision....and walks away.

Mr. Colburn was knocked unconsious before he hit, maybe that helped contribute to his survival (that, and being just plain tough can't hurt).

I've heard that 'not being tense' can increase the chances of survival, anyone know if there's truth to this?
 
It's like cats...some survive falls from amazingly high drops with surprisingly light injuries, while relatively lower falls leave the animal seriously injured....

...or...

the drunk guy who's ejected from the car in a head-on collision....and walks away.

Mr. Colburn was knocked unconsious before he hit, maybe that helped contribute to his survival (that, and being just plain tough can't hurt).

I've heard that 'not being tense' can increase the chances of survival, anyone know if there's truth to this?

When you think of it in terms of physics, it makes sense. Which is more apt to break, a brittle stick or a pliable one?

But to bring his body back to this condition, that just amazes me.
 
IMO cats look pretty tense when they fall though. Back arched, legs extended.... who knows.
 
I would expect nothing less from a former SEAL. Carlos Moleda, a Navy SEAL that was paralyzed from the waist down during the Paitilla AF raid from gun fire to his spine, has won more triatholon events for wheel chair bound participants than any one.

I've come in strong and heavy from a spiral staircase while skydiving and even with strong flair I've dislocated both shoulders. Can't imagine going in hells bells after being knocked out while tracking. :eek:

SOF soldiers just keep on coming and coming, you cannot stop them, you cannot tell them that they cannot do something. It just pisses them off.

Good story.
 
Wow! Yet another reason to get my butt off the chair!

... I've heard that 'not being tense' can increase the chances of survival, anyone know if there's truth to this?

I escaped a broken neck, though I do have some disc damage, from a car accident I didn't anticipate. Doc said if I'd turned to look at the oncoming car and tensed, my neck would have been broken.

This brings up a curious question, what does a fighter do? Do they tense up their muscles to limit damage from a blow or keep them relaxed?

LL
 
This brings up a curious question, what does a fighter do? Do they tense up their muscles to limit damage from a blow or keep them relaxed?
Well, I'm hardly a pro-grade fighter, but I've never been able to relax when I know a hit's coming.

Not that I wouldn't want to just chill and take my ass whoopin like a grown woman....it's just not an option when I'm thinking: "oh damn, this is gonna...."
 
You will find plenty of stories about free fall accidents on this blog:

www.greenharbor.blogspot.com

I was told about a story of free fall of a second world war machine gunner's who has been shut down from 33000 feet. his fall has been slown down by snow-covered trees.
 
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