BRAVE Sergeant Simon Harmer, who lost both his legs after stepping on a makeshift bomb while on patrol in Afghanistan, is to take on not one but two of the world’s toughest challenges – within just one month.

Just three years ago there seemed little hope that Army medic Simon would survive. Yet despite the odds, he defied doctors by walking with prosthetic legs in less than two months.

Now the 36-year-old, who even became a first-time dad to little Sophia just a few months ago, will make not only his family, but his country proud when he uses just his hands to prove there is life after injury in two ultimate tests of endurance.

Simon said: “When something turns your life around, you have just got to pick yourself up and get back on with life. You could wallow in self-pity but I made my mind up and I wasn’t going to. I have not let anything stop me and I am really looking forward to these challenges.

You can do anything you set your mind to.”

In June, the Bosnia and Iraq war veteran will join seven other wounded service personnel to compete in one of the toughest cycling challenges in the world which spans a 3,051-mile route across 12 states of America – further than the gruelling Tour de France.

In an inspirational effort riding a specially adapted hand-driven bike, Simon will push his strength to the limit in the epic Race Across America (RAAM) as he uses his sheer strength to steer and power his ride.

The Battle Back Team hope to raise £100,000 when they scale heights totalling more than 100,000ft along the agonising route in just eight days.

If that was not enough, less than one month later the dad-of-one will compete in the Ironman UK challenge.

Simon, speaking from Headley Court in Surrey, where he is continuing his rehabilitation, said the event includes a 2.4-mile swim, an 11-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run, which he will complete on a racing wheelchair.

He will complete both fundraising events for Help for Heroes, which has supported him since he was involved in the blast so severe he lost his left leg above the knee, his right leg below the knee and broke his right arm. He sustained the horrific injuries just three months after marrying his wife Marisa.

He said: “You do this to make your family proud and to help the charity.

Their support has been second to none but now we are raising money for the guys coming back now who have been injured. We are putting money back in the pot.

“I know if the charity wasn’t there for me, life would be an awful lot harder.”