Walking  
beyond handicap 

With a week to go, his right leg was amputated. The doctors told him that he would never walk again after a badly cared for Achilles tendon injury. Refusing to accept his fate, and after a long rehabilitation stint, Frenchman Matthieu Jegu threw himself into an incredible and unimaginable challenge: to walk around Brittany. 1,000km in 40 days, the equivalent of 24 marathons. Walking to keep living.

It is the story of a common injury that becomes a nightmare. Matthieu, a passionate sportsman has a rupture of the Achilles tendon on his right leg, during a soccer game. The operation goes wrong, his leg is badly infected. He nearly has his leg amputated. After staying 3 months in Hospital, doctors tell him : “You will never walk again”.

Matthieu is very afflicted but thinks about a challenge : being able to walk again : “ I couldn’t stay on a couch and do nothing. This was not an option». But without his Achilles tendon …it was not easy to believe.

Matthieu’s mindset helped him to believe he could do it. Day after day he gets better. Walks slowly on his feet, has a lot of pain. Gets information, advises, and carries on with his goal. Stands up and walks. Matthieu thinks about his incredible challenge, the challenge of a sportsman. Walking around Brittany, the french region where he is born. Walking on the GR34, the famous path : “The Douaniers coastal path” (Le chemin des douaniers). His goal: 40 stages.1000 km starting at Mont Saint Michel, the “Pointe du Croizon”. 24 marathons ! Within 40 days, during the flu pandemic. His family, close friends and some curious persons follow Matthieu who starts his challenge in october 2020. “I just went against the negative pronostics of my doctors” says Matthieu with a smile. “I managed to walk. Now I can even run again !”. Walking towards a new Life!