London, July 28(ANI): Irish gymnast Keiron Behan was once told by the doctors that he would never walk again in his life, but his firm spirit and dedication to his sport has led him to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
By the time Behan was 10, doctors found a tumor the size of a golf ball in his leg.
While the tumor didn't trouble him much, complications from a tourniquet left him with nerve damage that caused loss of feeling in his left foot.
Behan describes that the pain was so intense that simply brushing against it would cause him to yell in misery.
"Doctors told me, stop thinking about your crazy dreams because you'll never walk again and you must accept that it's over for you. But I just kept saying: 'No, no, no - this is not the rest of my life. This is not how it's going to play out,' " People.com quoted Behan, as saying.
Eight months after Behan recovered from his leg injury, he suffered another blow that would again put at risk his gymnastics career.
During a routine, Behan smacked the back of his head on the metal horizontal bar, resulting in a harrowing brain injury.
Two years after the accident Behan returned to his beloved sport, but he again sustained multiple injuries including a broken arm, a fractured wrist and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
In 2011, Behan's resolve finally paid off, as he won three World Cup medals including Ireland's first World Cup gold medal in the floor exercise.
"I felt like I was in a fairy tale when I got here. All I could think about was: Is this a dream? Tell me this [is] really happening," Behan said.
"Look at me now, an Olympian. They said it was impossible, but I did it," he added. (ANI)
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