Philippe Croizon

Diagnoses

Vocation

French athlete and the first quadruple amputee to swim across the English Channel. His amputations were required due to a severe electric shock accident which occurred on 5 March 1994. At the time, Croizon was employed as a steelworker at Fonderie du Poitou. At his home in Saint-Rémy-sur-Creuse, Vienne, while standing on a metal ladder on the roof to work on a television antenna, Croizon received a severe electric shock from a high-voltage power line which earthed (grounded) through the ladder, to which he became adhered. Twenty minutes passed before a neighbour could raise the alarm. He was hospitalized in Tours, where doctors removed his left arm above the elbow, his right arm below the elbow, then his right leg above the knee. Surgeons had thought that the left leg could be saved, but later that also required removal. On Saturday, 18 September 2010, at the age of 42, he swam, with the help of artificial limbs, across the English Channel in less than 14 hours. He set off from Folkestone at 06:45, arriving at Cap Gris Nez at 20:13, a distance of 21 miles (34 km). Link to Wikipedia biography