Shrapnel in body, leg missing and still running

From being given up as dead during the Kargil war to competing in the upcoming Delhi half marathon with an artificial leg and more than 40 shrapnel still embedded in his body, Major DP Singh (retd) never ceases to surprise. Rahul Singh reports.

From being given up as dead during the Kargil war to competing in the upcoming Delhi half marathon with an artificial leg and more than 40 shrapnel still embedded in his body, Major DP Singh (retd) never ceases to surprise.

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In July 1999, a shell fired by Pakistanis exploded next to Singh in Jammu and Kashmir's Chamb-Jaurian sector.

Doctors at the Akhnoor military hospital pronounced him dead until an anaesthetist saw signs of life and brought him back from the brink.

"I weighed just 28 kgs when I was admitted to the army's artificial limb centre in Pune a month later. This is my second life and I don't want to squander it," Singh said.

The ex-armyman is all set to run 21 km on November 27.

This is not his first time. He's run three half-marathons since 2009.

Singh, who opted out of the army due to medical reasons in 2007, said, "I completed my first race in 3 hours and 49 minutes and improved my timing by 15 minutes with every subsequent race. This time I want to finish in less than 3 hours."

Asked if he could have won the marathon if he were not dependent on prosthetics, Singh said, "Maybe I would never have taken part in a race if I were fit. It's ironical that we don't value what we are blessed with."