Former Navy SEAL Runs Triathlons After Breaking Every Bone In His Body

By Jenn Carlson WPBN/NBC News Channel

PETOSKEY, MI -- A former Navy SEAL is being hailed as a survivor after a miraculous recovery.

"I was teaching a guy how to do a halo high altitude low opening from 25,000 feet, and what happened was I was tracking away and the guy got caught in my track. He followed me and I opened my chute up and he fell right though my chute. At 3,000 feet, it totally knocked me out," recalled Marcus Colburn.

Colburn hit the ground and shattered virtually every bone in his body, suffered severe brain trauma and remained in a coma for six months. When he awoke he could not move, swallow or speak.

"I'm so surprised that he came that far because no doctor could tell us what was going to happen to him," said Lillian Colburn, Marcus' mother.

He surprised doctors by walking one year later, and two years after that, he entered his first local race. Now, he has four triathlons under his belt.

Physical fitness has always been important to Colburn, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Navy SEALs who now works as a personal trainer in his hometown of Petoskey, Michigan and also travels as a motivational speaker. Colburn says he wants to start helping other military veterans with serious injuries to share how he learned to persevere and cope with his disability.

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