00:00I'm very stubborn, which is probably why this happened,
00:06because I don't like giving up.
00:09I just want to finish.
00:12So, being said, I think because I'm stubborn and determined,
00:19this is why I got out of where I was.
00:24And because I have things to live for, I have family,
00:28so I always said to them, I'll try my hardest to try and get back what I was.
00:36Gareth left quite early in the morning.
00:38He got the train up to the marathon.
00:40He trained really hard for the marathon.
00:42He wasn't a runner at all.
00:44He'd started from, like, couch to 5K in November 25
00:49and followed, like, a programme a couple of times a week,
00:52trying to fit in between work.
00:54And he'd done really well, built up endurance.
00:56I think he ran 18 miles just before.
00:59So, he'd done quite extensive training,
01:03but then suffered with shin stints for four weeks prior to the marathon.
01:07So, the training was reduced, and our son, Stanley, who is 9,
01:13we went to watch the marathon.
01:16Gareth had started.
01:17Everything was absolutely fine.
01:19We see him at mile 13, just after Tower Bridge, so halfway through.
01:23You said you were in a lot of pain, but Gareth suffers with a lot of pain anyway,
01:27so I didn't think too much of it.
01:30And I just said, look, take it easy.
01:31You'll be okay, even if you have to walk it.
01:34It doesn't matter.
01:35You'll get there.
01:36You get the same medal at the end of the day.
01:38About an hour later, I was ringing him.
01:40He wasn't answering.
01:41Me and Stanley had got to the mile.
01:43I was tracking him on.
01:43I had to find my iPhone on, and he rang me just before.
01:48So, about 5 o'clock, just before mile 25, he said,
01:53I've walked for three miles.
01:54I can't do this anymore.
01:55And just by the tone of his voice, I knew that something wasn't right.
01:59The phone dropped, and I could hear a little bit of commotion in the background,
02:04and Stanley was getting a bit panicky that we'd been standing at the mile
02:08at the finish line for a long time.
02:09The app wasn't really getting tracked anymore.
02:12As we were getting closer, I knew that we were heading towards the medical tent
02:15that we'd walked past, and I was looking, like, on the tracks
02:20to see if he was sitting down.
02:21I just assumed that he was just going to be sitting on the tracks.
02:24And I got to the tent, and I said, oh, was my husband in there?
02:28I said, he's in cardiac arrest.
02:31Do you want to come in?
02:32I was like, no, absolutely not.
02:34And I just remember there was just police, and the police sat me down onto the floor.
02:40Everything was a bit of a blur, really.
02:42Like, you don't...
02:43It's the last thing you expect to obviously hear.
02:46My memory's completely gone from the day, so I don't know nothing.
02:53His heart stopped for 16 minutes.
02:57He actually suffered.
03:00So the cause of the arrest wasn't a cardiac cause.
03:02He actually had a condition called rhabdiamyelosis,
03:05which is breakdown of the muscles, a muscle wastage from hyperkalemia,
03:09from high potassium.
03:10So it was the potassium that stopped the heart.
03:12He also had a very hot brain.
03:14He was hypothermic.
03:15So he had a temperature of 40, and in combination of both of that,
03:21it stopped the heart.
03:23So I remember at the time, they were saying how serious it was,
03:26how potentially he's not going to wake up.
03:29And they made me go and give him a kiss in the ambulance,
03:31and the police took us to St. Thomas.
03:35So we were blue-lighted to St. Thomas.
03:37You were in recess, stabilised, and then taken to ITU that evening.
03:42And then I did not leave London for two and a half months.
03:45So I lived in between hotels.
03:49Doctors were saying that he was showing lots of worrying signs.
03:53They were really concerned,
03:56and potentially it wasn't going to be the outcome that we were all hoping for.
04:02So after a week, they tried to reduce sedation and try and wake him up.
04:08But Gareth didn't wake up.
04:10So they become even more concerned.
04:13So what he did have was a really prolonged neurological recovery.
04:18He wasn't showing any signs of waking.
04:21They thought potentially he was going to be in a vegetative state,
04:24and they were having discussions around that.
04:26And then one day, after about 28 days, he decided to start.
04:31I think, what were you doing?
04:32You're spitting your tongue out and moving his eyes.
04:35And the neurologist said, look, we think that he'll be okay.
04:41Obviously, with a level, probably a level of brain damage.
04:44Yeah.
04:45They didn't give us much hope, but I never gave up.
04:48It's kind of the one thing I stuck to, hope.
04:50It becomes such an important thing.
04:51She's normally quite negative.
04:54Yeah, I'm normally quite negative.
04:55She's become very positive now.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Somehow.
05:00And we were like, we're a really ordinary family.
05:03So it was going from an ordinary family thrown into this world of intensive care and hospitals.
05:10So this term is a sub, and all those things got me through this.
05:17It got me in this, but also got me out.
05:21Otherwise, I won't be here.
05:23They thought you'd be in rehab for six months.
05:25They said just before he was discharged that it's unheard of for someone to leave a level 1A rehab.
05:30He was at Norfolk Park, so he was at the Regional Piper Acute Rehabilitation Unit for two months.
05:37It's only two months.
05:38So, yeah, he learned to walk, talk, eat and drink, again, communicate.
05:44My first coffee was lovely.
05:47Yeah.
05:47They're always a normal, but...
05:50It's a new normal, isn't it?
05:51A new normal is now different, but I just wanted to get to the stage.
05:58I just couldn't come home and look after the kids and just be...
06:03Potentially go back to work at some point.
06:04Yeah, I do still want to try work, but that might be hard.
06:10I find it mental when she told me, as in the news and the papers, I couldn't believe it.
06:18I was like, it's just me.
06:20I'm just a normal person.
06:24And then, OK, I died, but I didn't think it would be that interesting.
06:32So that was a complete surprise.
06:35We didn't know.
06:36That gentleman right at the end is actually one of the physiotherapists,
06:39one of the staff within the rehab unit.
06:42They had kept it a secret from me.
06:44They'd kept it a secret from Gareth because, actually,
06:46the London Marathon wouldn't give Gareth his medal,
06:49which we had to kind of respectfully accept.
06:56They have their rules.
06:58And, yeah, they wouldn't give it.
07:00So we did try.
07:03So I think they were aware of that.
07:05The staff were aware of that, but they didn't mention anything.
07:07And, actually, that someone had kindly donated.
07:11We still don't know who, but someone had kindly donated that medal at the end.
07:14To the fizzle.
07:15Yeah, to the physio, to the therapy team.
07:18And, yeah, they presented you with your medal, right?
07:23I didn't know it was real to solve it.
07:26Yeah, you didn't.
07:26I thought it was just giving me a medal for leaving.
07:32No.
07:33No.
07:33And then I was like, I guess it's wrong.
07:36And they said, yeah, I was like, bloody hell.
07:39I couldn't believe it.
07:40I was like, how have you got this?
07:43Yeah, it was really emotional.
07:44I think I cried the whole walk.
07:46I didn't actually record that video.
07:47One of the staff members did because I just couldn't hold it together.
07:51I think it's just made you more determined you want to finish.
07:53His six-month marathon.
07:54I like that you said that, Luke, earlier.
07:56He says it's a six-month London marathon that you're going to finish.
08:00I took my time.
08:02I didn't want to rush.
08:04You want to finish that last kilometre.
08:06Yeah, I mean, I just want to finish.
08:09I don't want to leave the tip as empty.
08:14I want to go out there more.
08:16At the time, I can walk.
08:19And I just was positive that I could improve enough that I would walk.
08:28So even now I'm sitting there thinking, well, I can't walk yet, but I want to finish what I started
08:37for my name and also all the people that donated that I want to cross that line.
08:46So I said to her, it started just me and her saying, well, finish, walk the line.
08:56And then when people started hearing, they all said, yeah, I'll come.
09:03And I'll come.
09:04There's going to be a lot of people walking down the road randomly.
09:12It'd be quite nice.
09:14Are you Stevenage fans or?
09:16I've told them.
09:18Oh, I've told them.
09:19The first thing he said when he woke up was, did we get relegated?
09:22That's one of his first memories.
09:24Did we get relegated?
09:25Yeah.
09:26I just wanted to know that it's about to be called relegated and I died.
09:34I was like, I need to know.
09:37Well, I'm lucky I miss it though, because it sounds stressful.
09:46I was like, oh, I don't show you Terre on the backyard.
09:51Why don't you finish my life?
09:59I'm lucky I can't see it.
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