Liverpool fan had leg amputated and tattoo was left reading 'You'll Never Walk'

 Royal Marine Andy Grant was able to see the funny side after his leg was amputated, leaving the Liverpool fan with a tattoo that simply read: 'You'll Never Walk'

📷Royal Marine Andy Grant has turned to running after being told 'You'll Never Walk' (Image: SWNS)

It's a good thing Andy Grant has a good sense of humour after his leg amputation left him with only three quarters of his Liverpool tattoo.

The Royal Marine decided to discard the lower half of his right leg due to complications caused after a member of his team triggered an IED explosion on patrol in Afghanistan. Grant suffered two broken legs, a broken sternum, a broken elbow and had shrapnel lodged in both forearms following the incident in Helmand Province.

He had also severed a femoral artery as a result of the accident, which initially left him in a coma for two weeks. It wasn't until two years after the explosion Grant decided to have his leg amputated below the knee in November 2010, and the results were the stuff of a film script.

That's after Grant saw the famous Reds motto he had inked next to the club's Liverbird now read 'You'll never walk', which he took as a personal challenge.

"It is ironic that it says I will never walk as I have gone on to run 10k in 40 minutes," he told the Daily Mail in 2015. "At the moment I am just two minutes off a record for the 10k for a single leg amputee and I have that in my sights.

"It is bizarre and I just laugh about it. But it adds to my story I guess. The fact is that regardless of what the words say, the operation allowed me to walk and run and do so much else. You have got to see the funny side of it."

Moving at a faster pace comes naturally to the war veteran, who hasn't allowed his injuries to slow him in the slightest. Grant was just 20 when he was critically hurt in the life-changing event, but he's turned a potentially tragic tale into one of inspiration.

He has since gone on to break that 10km record and authored 'You'll Never Walk', which was longlisted for William Hill's 2018 Sports Book of the Year. Grant recalled the conversation he had with surgeon Anthony Lambert following the operation to remove his leg.

"Well, we had to raise a flap of skin on your leg to cover the bone ends. . . and it's meant that your Liverpool Football Club tattoos are a bit messed up," said the surgeon. "The Liver bird is a bit all over the place, and your tattoo now says 'you'll never walk'."

📷 There was more than a hint of irony about Grant's reshaped tattoo (Image: SWNS)

📷 Grant was just 20 when the accident happened (Image: Trinity Mirror)

Grant now travels the country as a motivational speaker and is a regular host on The Leg It podcast. He's also abseiled down The Shard and won Invictus Games gold in the 400 metres and 1,500 metres men's Ambulant IT1 events.

All in all, not bad from someone who was told he'd never walk.