(Photo: Amazing Surf Adventures)
In 2010, Martin Pollock, a rifleman in the British Army, lost his legs and part of one arm in action while serving in Afghanistan. He returned home to the UK, where he set about learning how to walk and trying to build a normal life.
2 years later, he learned about Operation Surf, a program that helps wounded servicemen engage in adaptive surfing. Pollock got involved and travelled to California to learn surfing—something he had never done before.
It was a wonderful experience. The Huffington Post reports:
He spent the week learning how to sit up on a surfboard and ride the waves. For the first time in a long while, he felt the stoke of adrenaline that only surfing can offer.
He also became aware of his body in new ways.
With his body weightless in the water, Pollock was able to feel the exact parts of his sockets that caused him pain. He went home, twisted a screw on his prosthetic a couple of times and, he says, he's been walking more ever since.
"Surfing hasn't just changed my life, it has become my life," he told HuffPost.