A women from Bury St Edmunds runs the London Marathon just two years after breaking her neck
She'll be joining thousands of others today, taking on the 26.2 miles.
A teacher from Bury St Edmunds teacher Liza is taking on the London Marathon today, only two years after breaking her neck.
Liza Putwain told us she's always enjoyed running and initially took it up when her children were small as "an easy way to get in exercise"
She also enjoyed taking part in obstacle courses with her husband Ian, and that it was their "version of a date night...it was silly and it was like being kids again."
Liza then decided she wanted to take part in the London Marathon and entered the ballot for 2024, but it wasn't meant to be.
"If it happened on a soap opera, you'd go , yeah, that doesn't happen to one person in in that short space of time"
She told us what happened.
"2023 was a very lucky and unlucky year for me. So at the beginning of the year, my husband very sadly suddenly and unexpectedly died. He had pneumonia and sepsis and died very suddenly."
"I did a 112-mile bike ride called the Dunwich Dynamo, which is overnight in the middle of summer in memory of him and a few days after that, I got a notification that I'd got a ballot place for London 2024.
"I was like, oh, can I fit this in now? Being a sole parent and working as a teacher as well, I was like, can I manage this? "
She spoke to her children, who are now 17, 13 and 11 who convinced her to do it.
"I said my goodbyes, really"
However, in September of 2024, Liza was taking part in an obstacle race course in memory of her husband and raising money for the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service, when she fell and broke her neck
It happened as she fell awkwardly on the course.
"It was an inflatable obstacle and I went over to the other side and I fell wrong and I heard my next snap.
"I can still really clearly remember all the feeling draining from my neck downwards.
"...I thought that was it...I had no feeling below my neck. It just it didn't seem possible that I would survive...
"The friends I was with, I remember saying to them, you're named in the will to look after the children, look after them for me.
"I said my goodbyes, really."
Liza was initially taken to Ipswich Hospital before being transferred to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
Whilst in hospital, in the Neurocritical care unit, Liza described having a tingly feeling in her limbs, gradually over time, she was able to move again.
" I couldn't even sit up at that point"
Liza told us how the staff in the hospital were crucial in her recovery and also encouraging her to take on the marathon when she was better.
She said: "The people who work in the NHS are so amazing. I had intensive care nurses with me one-to-one; they were on 12-hour shifts on and off, and they were so positive.
"I said, I'm not going to be able to run the London Marathon next year.
"And they were like one of them, particularly Heidi. She was like, yeah, but you might be able to. I reckon you'll be able to do it next year, she said. If anyone can do it, you can do it.
"And I was like, yeah, probably. And I was lying there, and I couldn't even sit up at that point. I was just like yeah, okay, I'm not going to be able to do it in 2024, but, but I reckon I can do it in 2025."
"Just because something's hard doesn't mean we give up. We we give up our best shot"
It took Liza, two weeks to be able to stand as she had spinal injuries and blood pressure issues. She was in the hospital for only four weeks before being released, and within six months, she had started running again.
"I was starting to do a little bit of running, very slowly and tentatively, as well as lots of strength work.
"I just kept doing a little bit further and a little bit further like before. And just before the one-year anniversary of the accident, I did my slowest ever half-marathon.
"And I was just so emotional that I was out there able to do it again. It felt amazing "
As a teacher, she told us she's always telling her pupils not to give up.
"Just because something's hard doesn't mean we give up. We we give up our best shot"
And she embodied that on this journey.
When looking back on it all, Liza told us she couldn't believe it had happened.
We asked Liza what she thinks it will feel like when she crosses the finish line of the marathon.
She said, "I can't imagine what it's going to be like. The amount of people out cheering, I might cry. I don't know.
"I think it. I think it will just be disbelief. And yeah, I'll just be excited to get back. My kids are coming to watch my sister and my niece, loads of my running club are going to be there as well... so it's just going to be an incredibly emotional day.
"I think I am going to feel proud of what I've done and i'll be thinking of my husband Ian
"The last time around, a marathon was in Edinburgh and I managed to get sub four hours, which I was really surprised at.
"And he was in floods of tears. He was so proud. So I'll be thinking of him and my mum. She would be so proud as well."