Dr. Richard Leakey, Homo Erectus in Kenya in October,1985.
When he was a boy fell of a horse and fractured his skulk. A few years later, a puff adder- one of the deadliest snakes in the world-sunk it’s fangs into his fingers during a translocation gone wrong.
Had it not been for his father Louis Leakey’s swft injection with an anti-venom,Richard shudders to think of what would have happened.
Years later,his kidney malfunctioned and doctors said his time on earth was limited.
His brother Philip Leakey donated a kidney but his body rejected it. Death loomed,with doctors giving a grim prognosis until his body adjusted;as if by miracle.
Then his liver failed. His friend donated a slice of his own.
Simply put,Leakey has tangoed with death,but his foot is always ahead of the dance.
His most chilling experience is surviving a plane crash in 1993. He lost control of aircraft he was piloting and it tumbled down
He says when he was on the ground with the plane’s engine pressed on his legs,he thought for a moment that his life was ending. He lost consciousness when he came to, he was at Nairobi Hospital being prepared for an amputation. His lost both legs.
His friends called his survival the hand of God. Leakey called it luck. He doesn’t believe in the existence of God.
