Bury St Edmunds teacher Liza Putwain who broke her neck while completing obstacle course in memory of husband to run London Marathon to thank life-saving Addenbrooke’s Hospital staff
An inspiring mother-of-three who broke her neck while completing an obstacle course in memory of her husband is running this year’s London Marathon to thank medical staff who she says saved her life.
Liza Putwain, 44, who lives just outside Bury St Edmunds, was taking part in a challenge obstacle course – one she had run every year since its launch – in honour of her husband, who had died eight months earlier, when she was flipped from one of the obstacles and broke her neck.
She was taken to Ipswich Hospital before being transferred to Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge where she underwent surgery and stayed for her four-week recovery.
Now Liza, a film studies teacher at Abbeygate Sixth Form College in Bury St Edmunds, hopes to raise as much money as she can to thank staff who saved her life.
Liza will be running for Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) in this year’s London Marathon on Sunday, April 27.
As the official charity for Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie, ACT funds cutting-edge equipment, groundbreaking research, and improvements to the environment for both staff and patients, above and beyond what the NHS is able to provide.
Proving all her hard work and rehabilitation has been worth it, Liza took part in the Cambridge Half Marathon earlier this month – making it her third fastest half yet, coming in with a time of 2.07.45.
Liza, whose three children were aged between nine and 16 at the time of her accident in September 2023, had been running the obstacle course in memory of her husband, Ian, who had died unexpectedly eight months earlier following complications which developed from a virus the whole family had, including their three children; daughters Ella and Sophie and son, Charlie.
Liza ran the challenge obstacle course with her daughter, Ella, and close friends, Xav and Debs and their son Max.
She was less than five miles in when tragedy struck, and she was flipped from an inflatable seesaw and broke her neck.
“I knew straight away I had broken my neck,” she said. “I heard it snap and then I just felt the feeling drain from my neck down. It was a massive shock and of course I just thought, ‘That’s it. Game over’.”
It took about 12 paramedics half an hour to move her because the inflatable was moving constantly.
She was taken to Ipswich Hospital where she was told she had broken her neck and had suffered damage to her spinal cord before being transferred to Addenbrooke’s where she was operated on 24 hours later.
Liza’s spine was realigned whilst she was still awake.
She then went under general anaesthetic so metal could be placed in her neck to support her broken vertebrae.
Looking back at the care she received at Addenbrooke’s, Liza has nothing but praise for all the medical staff who cared for her along the way – from the paramedics to her surgeon and clinical staff on the ward.
When she came round from surgery, she was still unable to move because of the damage to her spinal cord and had to rely on nurses to do things like scratch her nose.
Despite this, she says she felt ecstatic after her operation.
‘I kept thinking I’m alive and I can talk,” she said.
“There was no damage to my vocal cords. My friends Jo and Pennie came to see me and we just cried because we were so happy.”
It was then she told staff in the Neuro Critical Care Unit that she had planned to run the London Marathon the following April.
While no-one was able to conclusively tell her she would walk again, she said the hope was there.
“They were the ones who told me I could do it and that became my motivation, something to aim for.”
The feeling gradually returned in Liza’s legs and a week after her operation she was transferred to a ward.
She said the dark times came when she was worrying about her children.
“I really worried about them,” she said. “My dad and sister took it in turns to stay overnight with them but Ella, who had just started sixth form, basically ran the house. Talking to her afterwards she just said she realised she had to grow up and it was down to her.”
Liza took her first tentative steps, using a walker, two weeks after her operation.
She said: “I was so scared; I was so wobbly. It was like a shuffle of a few steps to sit in a chair. But it felt amazing. I had completed marathons before, and it was that kind of level of achievement for me.”
She returned home a month after surgery with her sister and best friends there to help her.
“I was just so glad to go home but at the same time so scared,” said Liza.
“I couldn’t do much at all really, just a slow steady walk.
“I couldn’t move my right arm, and I am right-handed so I had to use my left arm to lift my right arm to help me clean my teeth and I could just about wash my face. The kids would go to school and it would take me all day just to put a load of washing on and hang it out. It was very frustrating.”
Liza – who wants to be as open about her recovery as possible to help others – said her friends were amazing, even helping to shave her armpits.
She said doing anything again for the first time was scary – from leaving the hospital, to going for a walk to driving, but said everyone in her local community helped by signing up for jobs on a Facebook help page -
“Everyone rallied round and did so much,” she said.
Liza’s neck brace was removed six weeks after her surgery and she started having physio.
Three months after her surgery, she had her first session with a personal trainer, started working with weights, and completed her first run in March 2024 – six months after her accident.
“It was so hard not to cry. I mean, I did cry,” she said. “When you don’t know if you’re going to be able to walk again, it feels amazing to be able to do it.”
She ran her first half marathon in September last year, three days before the anniversary of her accident saying: “I’ve run tonnes before that, but I will never forget doing that one and being able to do it.”
Lasting effects of the accident include Liza not being able to feel her fingertips on her right hand and only a couple on her left.
The soles of her feet feel tingly constantly and are painful when cold, and her reactions are not as fast as they were.
Liza is running this year’s London Marathon on April 27 for ACT as a way of thanking all the hospital staff who helped save her life.
Asked why she wanted to fund-raise for ACT, Liza said: “I love Addenbrooke’s. It’s weird because you could go one way or the other, and you could be like, I never want to see that hospital again, but I feel so safe when I am here.
“Being in hospital for as long as I was you just realise how much additional support is needed.
“Everyone is doing the best they can but the NHS is just so overstretched and it’s like I say to everybody, you just don’t know when you will need it. You hope it won’t be you but at some point, it probably is going to be you or your loved ones or someone that you know.”
To donate to Liza’s Just Giving Page, search for LIZA PUTWAIN. To donate to ACT, go to www.act4addenbrookes.org.uk/donate
