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(CNN) - Last year, a police officer in Covington, Georgia, was shot in the head while answering a 911 call. This weekend, he challenged all odds of participating in a 5-kilometer race, popularly known as 5K.
Policeman Matt Cooper led a 1-mile (1.6 km) portion of the 36th annual Fuzz Run 5K of the Covington Police Department on Saturday.
He was far from where he was after the shooting, which led him to the hospital during last year's race.
- He was so close to death that he even received the funeral rites, but he managed to survive and get the cure of his strange evil
"I was so angry that I forgot," Cooper told The Rockdale Citizen. “I said I was going to do it this year. My main goals were to take out the feeding tube, put my skull back on and run the Fuzz Run this year. ”
It was not an easy task. But after multiple surgeries and months of physiotherapy, Cooper felt compelled to try.
Given his condition, Cooper just walked along with a quick jog as he approached the finish line.
Officer Matt Cooper just finished his mile! pic.twitter.com/flgykkKU0e
- Christian Jennings (@CJenningsWSB) September 14, 2019
"Being able to finish with a quick jog of at least a few meters meant a lot to me," he said. "And that everyone encourages me ... I'm more than grateful to this city."
After the shooting, Cooper was honored by the American Industrial Safety Society with his Top Cop Award. Good wishes and donations were received from supporters across the country, including McDonald's, Chick-fil-A and Walmart.
Fellow policemen ran alongside him to show his support.
Captain Ken Malcolm told WSB-TV, a CNN affiliate, that last year he was simply praying for Cooper to survive.
“They had told him, they told his family, that he would be in a wheelchair. I would not be able to run or walk, ”said Malcolm. "So for him to be able to go out and lead hundreds of people in a race is miraculous."
Police races