Although Prosperi wasn’t convinced he was in any danger, he urinated in a water bottle as a precaution (via the BBC). He remembered his grandfather telling him that was what he and the other soldiers did during the war when they ran out of water. Prosperi believed he would be found in no time, but that’s not what happened.

When he realized no one was coming, he continued to walk. According to Recoil Offgrid Magazine, Prosperi ended up finding shelter in a marabout (a Muslim shrine, above). Here, he drank his own urine and cooked with it. He ate and drank the blood of bats he found inside. Anti-diarrhea medicine prevented him from becoming ill and losing more water.

After failing to flag down a helicopter and plane he spotted flying by, Prosperi became despondent. He wrote a goodbye letter and slashed his wrists (per Men’s Journal). However, he did not die because his blood was so thick from dehydration that it wouldn’t flow. Prosperi took this as a sign that he had to go on. He left the marabout and continued to walk the desert for days, killing snakes and lizards and eating them raw.

Prosperi was eventually found when he stumbled on a small community of shepherds. He had ended up in Algeria; he’d lost 35 pounds. It took him two years to fully recover, but once he did, Prosperi returned to The Marathon De Sables. Real Life Lore reports (via YouTube) that he continues to compete in other desert marathons as well.