After her 100m freestyle win, Marks gave Prince Harry her gold medal and asked him deliver it to the medical team that saved her life. Dr Roger Hall, medical director at Papworth Hospital, said it was “extremely generous and unexpected” while Claire Tripp, interim chief executive, said they would like to meet with Elizabeth to thank her in person.
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Harry presented the medal to the team at London’s Kensington Palace.
Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Marks of the United States Army was set to swim in the 2014 Invictus Games in London but was forced to drop out after she collapsed from a debilitating lung issue.
In interview last month with ABC’s Bob Woodruff, Marks explained why she wanted Prince Harry to return the medal to England. “Thank you Prince Harry #Invictus #grateful”.
Fighting back tears she paid tribute to the hospital, saying: “Thank you, I’ll never be able to repay you, but what you’re doing is wonderful”.
The 25-year-old from Arizona, who joined the U.S. army aged 17, suffered a serious hip injury in 2010 in Iraq, which left her with no sensation in her left leg, but she has battled back to fitness and still serves in the military.
After undergoing four separate operations over the space of 18 months, Sgt Marks took up swimming as a form of rehabilitation, despite her injuries rendering her temporarily blind and leaving her frequently feeling faint.
“I think coming here and getting this medal and having an audience with Prince Harry has been exceptionally good for us”.
Marks was transferred to the specialist heart and lung Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire where she was placed on the critical care unit and in an induced coma for 10 days.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2016, All Rights Reserved.
Prince Harry on Wednesday fulfilled a promise he made to U.S. Sgt. Elizabeth Marks at last month’s Invictus Games in Orlando, Florida, by giving one of her gold medals to the United Kingdom hospital staff that Marks credits with saving her life.
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Prince Harry tries on USA Invictus team member Elizabeth Marks’s Team USA jersey in the competitor’s tent at the swimming pool during the Invictus Games 2016 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida, in May.
