Inspiring feats of human endurance?

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

Some feats of human endurance which I have found inspirational were:

Brian Keenan's five years of being held hostage and how he reamined sane.
Christopher Reeve's tenacity and determination to live as full a life as he could, including directing films etc,
Jonny Kennedy's amazing strength of will to be able to cope with non stop unbearable pain his whole life.

More recently, and which made me think about this subject in general today:

Dawn Faizey Webster's incredible story of how, despite suffering from Locked In syndrome, she still managed to complete a degree.

Are there any particular feats of human endurance which have inspired you?

Hande hoche!

Lisa Sparxxx.

Reformed Character

Holding a piss on the way home from the pub!:D:D:D

smash

Bosco lived with a fist up his arse for decades!

racso1975

And just what did these amazing feats inspire you to do bar starting this thread

The Backwards Man

Ruby Wax has successfully duped people into thinking she's funny for more than forty years.

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

racso1975 wrote: »

And just what did these amazing feats inspire you to do bar starting this thread

Live.

Inventive User Name

12:37.35

castletownman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Durable

There should be a HBO mini-series made about this guy

Birneybau

Reformed Character wrote: »

Holding a piss on the way home from the pub!:D:D:D

Or, when too hungover to get out of bed.

endacl

There's one regular poster who spouts a seemingly endless stream of drivel on here. I endured for months before adding my second poster to 'ignore'.

The Backwards Man

Endacl is a big girl's blouse!

I can say what I like, he can't see me.

discus

Douglas Bader

Pilot in the RAF before world war 2, who lost both his legs in crash landing. Rejected rehab, just wanted to get the fake legs put on and start walking. Refused a crutch. He still played golf, still danced and was the life and soul of a party.

War broke out, and he got shot down over Germany. Despite his fake legs, he was such a nuisance to the germans: He repeatedly made great attempts to break out of the POW camps. In the end, he was sent to Colditz, a medieval castle that was escape proof. He never once gave up!

TheBody

Tom Crean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Crean_%28explorer%29

endacl

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Endacl is a big girl's blouse!

I can say what I like, he can't see me.

Wha'?!? Who said that?!?!?

:mad:

Tail Docker

I have managed to drag myself out of bed every morning for over forty years. Where's my medal?

wazky

Porky women who manage to get themselves into those leather pants, defies the laws of physics.

steddyeddy

wazky wrote: »

Porky women who manage to get themselves into those leather pants, defies the laws of physics.

Unfortunately

Adamantium

Shin Dong-hyuk (born 19 November 1982 as Shin In-geun)

A North Korean defector living in South Korea. He is the only person known to have successfully escaped from a "total-control zone" grade internment camp in North Korea and lived to tell about it. He is believed to be the only person in the world to have been born in a North Korean prison camp to escape from North Korea.

He was born to two prisoners who were allowed to sleep together for a few nights a year as a reward for good work

Anyway you can look up his life story on Wikipedia. But this was how he escaped

While Shin was working in a factory at Camp 14 he became friends with a man called Park, a 40-year-old political prisoner.

Park was well educated and had even travelled outside the country before falling foul of the despotic regime.

He told Shin of the world outside. And there was something that lit a fire in the young man’s heart – the promise of a good dinner.

Shin says: “I paid most attention to the food he ate outside the camp – like barbecued pig.

"The most important thing was the idea that a prisoner like me could eat chicken and pork if I escaped. I still think of freedom as broiled chicken.”

The pair began to plot their escape. On January 2, 2005 they were posted to work near the electric fence on top of a mountain ridge.

When the guards were out of sight they took their chance but Park was electrocuted.

Shin used his friend’s body as a shield to cross the electric fence but still suffered terrible burns when his legs touched the wire.

But he broke out, found an old military uniform in a nearby barn and, posing as a soldier, made his way north to the border with China.

thelad95

Came home last Saturday morning at 6am after a house party with people I was doing a summer camp with. Into work for 9am didn't finish till 7pm.

Tom Crean eat your heart out.