Another commoner catches the eye of the English prince. On the recently concluded Invictus Games held in Orlando, Florida, Sergeant Elizabeth Marks, 25, handed one of her gold medals to Prince Harry who will take it to Papworth Hospital in the U.K., the health facility who saved her life in 2014 from a serious lung condition.
Prince Harry Meets Elizabeth Marks At The 2016 Invictus Games
According to Daily Mail, Prince Harry started the Invictus Games in 2014 for military men who got injured and permanently disabled in the line of duty. Amputees and those suffering from psychological effects such as PTSD join the games, competing against teams from other nations. Last month, he announced that the Invictus Games would be held in the U.S. He arrived two days before the opening day on May 8 and had the chance to talk with competing athletes prior the games, as reported by US Weekly.
Come finals day, photos of the event as published by another Daily Mail article, show the prince and Sergeant Elizabeth Marks, a swimmer competing in the 50-meter freestyle, 50-meter breaststroke, 50-meter backstroke, and 100-meter freestyle, chatting with each other alongside other athletes. Elizabeth even let the young royal wear her team's swimming jacket. During the awarding ceremonies, Prince Harry planted two kisses on her cheeks before putting her gold medal on her neck. As they were about to leave the awarding area, Sergeant Elizabeth Marks returned the medal to Prince Harry, asking that the prince take it to Papworth Hospital, U.K.
Papworth Hospital Saves Elizabeth Marks' Life
As per Daily Mail, Sergeant Elizabeth Marks was taken to the royal hospital when she arrived in London for the first Invictus Games. Apparently, what the female military taught as a simple loss of voice from back-to-back interviews was already an indication of her detoriorating lungs.
When she served for the U.S. Navy in Iraq, she suffered from hip injuries and this had affected not only her limbs but also her brain and her lungs. The staff of Papworth Hospital took in charge of her care when she went through a respiratory failure and fell into a coma less than a day after she was rushed to the hospital. On the 10th day, she woke up at a German army hospital without knowing what happened. She never forgot the immediate and rigid response of the hospital's staff who saved her life. Similarly, it was the hospital that saved Prince Harry's grandfather, Duke of Edinburgh, from a heart ailment in 2011.
The Story Behind Elizabeth Marks' Swimming Journey
Sergeant Elizabeth Marks entered the military at age 17, following the footsteps of her father who served for the U.S. army in Vietnam. She was assigned in Iraq where she acquired severe hip injuries on 2010. As part of her rehabilitation, she had to swim. She was swimming when an army coach saw her potential and told her to compete. In her first tournament, she won gold, silver, and bronze medals, as reported by Daily Mail.
Even after almost dying from her weak lungs in 2014, she continued swimming and at present is the number one Paralympics swimmer in the world on the Breaststroke category with a record of 1:30:44. She hopes to compete in Rio for the Olympics as part of the U.S. national Paralympics team.
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