After a few ambitious attempts at the instrument – the 31-year-old finally gave up, handing it back to an Aussie athlete.
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Prince Harry presented the U.S. solider with one of four golds she won for swimming earlier this week, but she asked him to take the medal back to the United Kingdom as a thank you to Papworth.
But when Cooke attempted to take the seat beside Harry, who was perched high in the stands and watching the wheelchair rugby exhibition match between Team Jaguar and Team Land Rover, she was hustled away by security.
“Me just having one leg missing, I’m able to look at them and say, ‘If they can do it, I can do it'”.
Speaking after a team practice Tuesday, he said: “Hopefully, we will do a little bit more than two points to make a statement”. “They shipped a team down from Papworth who put me on [life support] and that ultimately saved my life…”
The next day they met up again with a kiss on the cheek as they were both spectating at the wheelchair rugby tournament.
On the eve of the first games in 2014 Sgt Marks, 25, from Arizona, became gravely ill when she collapsed with a serious lung condition and was put into an induced coma.
Her trouble began on the flight over to the United Kingdom when she began losing her voice.
“I know they are proud of how much I’ve achieved in such a short period after my illness and injuries”, she said.
“For the past four days, the world has watched as some of the finest athletes and warriors in the world carried their countries flags in competition against others who truly understand the meaning of duty, loyalty and sacrifice”, she said.
She was nursed back to health by a team from Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire and asked Prince Harry – the creator of the Invictus Games for injured armed forces personnel – to return the medal to them as he placed it around her neck.
Woodruff was embedded with the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq.
The experience is even more meaningful considering just last week someone broke into her auto and stole her equipment and credit card while she competed in Atlanta.
She underwent three surgeries to restructure her hips and regain enough mobility to walk.
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Cooke, who now lives and works in Orlando, Florida, said she had spotted Harry from her seat on the opposite side of the HP Field House at the ESPN Sports Center and made her way over.
