While competing at the Invictus Games two years ago, she went into respiratory distress — nearly dying, if not for the staff of the British hospital that will now receive her gold medal.
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Sergeant Elizabeth Marks has revealed she cried like a baby when Papworth Hospital tweeted its thanks after the United States soldier donated her Invictus gold medal to the institution.
Papworth’s temporary chief executive said she was “delighted” by both Sgt Marks’ “extraordinary” achievement and gesture.
But she has come back from that setback to thrive on another stage, winning seven medals through Tuesday in two days of Paralympic events ranging from rowing to shot-put at the global Invictus Games founded by Britain’s Prince Harry for wounded members of armed services.
Marks was set to compete in the very first Invictus Games in London.
The 31-year-old royal would love to have children of his own one day but for the time being, his focus is on his Invictus Games – a sporting contest for injured service personnel which is now taking place in Florida – and he admitted he has paternal pride towards all the competitors.
The US had the largest gold medal haul – 51 to the UK’s 49 – but Harry said earlier in the day that the event was about the families and athletes sharing experiences, not about the medals.
An American Invictus Games champion has asked Prince Harry to return her gold medal to the British hospital that saved her life. They shipped a team down from Papworth who put me on to ECMO [Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation] life support and that ultimately saved my life.
The tweet posted by Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire said “thank you” to the Sergeant “for your incredible donation”.
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“Fair enough U.S., I give it to you, it’s only right in your home games you end up taking most of the golds, but let me remind you, this has never been about the medals as you know”.
