This man was told he wouldn't walk again. He's doing a triathlon this weekend

When he wiggled his toes after so much trying, “it was a huge event — I started crying.”

Updated: 11:42 PM EDT Jul 10, 2021

It only takes a moment. And Carl Linde’s was in 2014, while he was on a bike ride training for Ironman Arizona. When a car in front of him stopped, Linde didn’t, and went headfirst into the car. “I was conscious at the time, but immediately lost feeling from the neck down. I couldn’t move anything, and I said to God, “Keep me alive—even if I’m not going to be able to walk—so I can see my wife and kids again. Well, he stuck by the deal,” says Linde, now 56. His spinal cord had been damaged in the upper trunk (at vertebrae C5 and C6), and his doctors weren’t sure he would walk again. He could breathe on his own, and he was grateful for that. But he really wanted to walk. “I spent about a month in the hospital really focusing hard on trying to move my toes. I tried every day, and after a few days, my toes started wiggling. It was a huge event—I started crying,” he says. Over about eight months in a rehab facility, he learned to stand again, and move his legs. Today, he doesn’t have feeling on the bottoms of his feet, and has little feeling in his hands. “I was left spastic down my left side,” he says. “My left leg doesn’t really turn over in a running style—it’s almost like I’m dragging it slightly,” he says. He has constant neuropathic pain, so his arms, hands, and parts of his torso feel like they’re burning all the time. But along the path of rebuilding, one day, “I really just wanted to try and do some exercise,” he says. So he tried jogging. He entered some short-distance races, and worked his way up to the Boston Marathon in 2016. Getting back on the bike—and back into triathlonBut a triathlon—a swim, bike, and run—is no marathon. You have to get back on a bike. Outdoors. When Linde earned a spot in the The Verizon New York City Triathlon, owned and produced by Life Time, he knew this was his re-entry triathlon race. He’d put his bike on an indoor trainer for the past five years or so, but the idea of competing in the Olympic-distance race that’s locally known as the “New York City Tri” got him back out on the road. (It will be held on Sunday, July 11.) “I’d always wanted to do that race. When I entered the lottery, I thought, ‘I’m never going to get in.’ But I tried. And I got in. And I said, ‘I’m going to do this.’” Rehab wasn’t easy. Training’s not easy. “Each day, even though there are days when you just feel like you’ve had enough and can’t push yourself any further, I’d go to bed and say, ‘you’ve got the ability to walk. You’re being given gifts back, so if you don’t use those gifts, it’s an insult to God’,” he says. Is there one tip he’d give to people who are injured about coming back? “I’m not sure there is a tip,” he says, pointing out with some regret that not everyone who lies in bed trying to wiggle their toes after an injury like this will have the same response, and you have to respect everyone’s individual circumstance, body, and experience. But for him, “I did desperately want to get back on my feet and was determined to try something. If you have the desire to try something, first overcome the fear that it might not be the same or feel the same. And then try it. It may not work, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know.”

Race car driver and double amputee Billy Monger did a grueling 140-mile triathlon for charity

"This is probably going to be the toughest thing I've taken on since my accident."

Updated: 4:24 PM EDT Mar 28, 2021

In 2017, F4 racing driver Billy Monger, also known as "Billy Whizz," was involved in a collision on the track that left him seriously injured and resulted in the amputation of both his legs.In a new video for Comic Relief, he shares how he was so full of adrenaline at the time that he felt no pain, and didn't realize he was injured. It was only when he woke up from a medically induced coma three days later that he learned the doctors had been forced to amputate both of his lower legs."It's a bit of a brutal awakening, but the person that made it easiest for me was my doctor, who did the surgeries," he says. "Rather than closing my mind to what I'd lost, he opened my mind to what I still had."Following the lengthy, arduous process of learning to walk again, Monger returned to the world of racing, although as his trainer Andy Wellfare explains, that was not without its challenges."The huge G-forces, you have to be incredibly strong to race a car in terms of core, shoulder, neck strength, and also cardio. You'd be surprised how high the heart rate gets, and how hot the temperature gets within that car... They're proper athletes."The willpower and perseverance that propelled Monger's comeback meant that when he was approached to do the Ironman triathlon in 2021, to raise money for Comic Relief, he immediately said yes. "It just came at the right moment, where I was in such a groove with my training, and enjoyed that process a lot, getting better in areas, that I was like, yeah I'll do it."While the Ironman triathlon usually includes a swim, bike ride and marathon-length run, Monger's version is slightly different, and will consist of 18 miles in a kayak, 26.2 mile run, and 95 miles on a bike. Wellfare says that managing Monger's stump health was a priority throughout their training, including ensuring he had the right kind of prosthetics for each event in the triathlon, and anticipating how issues in one section may affect the others."I've been through a lot of physical strain over the last few years, learning how to walk again, learning how to compete again," says Monger. "This for me, as a challenge in general, is probably going to be the toughest thing I've taken on since my accident."Monger completes the challenge over the space of four days, raising more than £2 million for Comic Relief in the process."It was easily 80% mental fortitude," he says. "I think about four laps from the finish, my legs really went to jelly, and they were done. There were 10 miles left to go, and at that point I was just like, yeah I'm done. I literally had to forget everyone else is here, go deep in the zone. I've never been so emotional while hurting as much as I was. I had to draw on every emotional experience I've ever had in my life. My accident, my friends, my family, the people we were going to help who I've met from the charities, all of that came from within."

In 2017, F4 racing driver Billy Monger, also known as "Billy Whizz," was involved in a collision on the track that left him seriously injured and resulted in the amputation of both his legs.

In a new video for Comic Relief, he shares how he was so full of adrenaline at the time that he felt no pain, and didn't realize he was injured. It was only when he woke up from a medically induced coma three days later that he learned the doctors had been forced to amputate both of his lower legs.

"It's a bit of a brutal awakening, but the person that made it easiest for me was my doctor, who did the surgeries," he says. "Rather than closing my mind to what I'd lost, he opened my mind to what I still had."

Following the lengthy, arduous process of learning to walk again, Monger returned to the world of racing, although as his trainer Andy Wellfare explains, that was not without its challenges.

"The huge G-forces, you have to be incredibly strong to race a car in terms of core, shoulder, neck strength, and also cardio. You'd be surprised how high the heart rate gets, and how hot the temperature gets within that car... They're proper athletes."

The willpower and perseverance that propelled Monger's comeback meant that when he was approached to do the Ironman triathlon in 2021, to raise money for Comic Relief, he immediately said yes. "It just came at the right moment, where I was in such a groove with my training, and enjoyed that process a lot, getting better in areas, that I was like, yeah I'll do it."

While the Ironman triathlon usually includes a swim, bike ride and marathon-length run, Monger's version is slightly different, and will consist of 18 miles in a kayak, 26.2 mile run, and 95 miles on a bike. Wellfare says that managing Monger's stump health was a priority throughout their training, including ensuring he had the right kind of prosthetics for each event in the triathlon, and anticipating how issues in one section may affect the others.

"I've been through a lot of physical strain over the last few years, learning how to walk again, learning how to compete again," says Monger. "This for me, as a challenge in general, is probably going to be the toughest thing I've taken on since my accident."

Monger completes the challenge over the space of four days, raising more than £2 million for Comic Relief in the process.

"It was easily 80% mental fortitude," he says. "I think about four laps from the finish, my legs really went to jelly, and they were done. There were 10 miles left to go, and at that point I was just like, yeah I'm done. I literally had to forget everyone else is here, go deep in the zone. I've never been so emotional while hurting as much as I was. I had to draw on every emotional experience I've ever had in my life. My accident, my friends, my family, the people we were going to help who I've met from the charities, all of that came from within."