Prince Harry gives gold medal to medics who saved Invictus athlete’s life

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Prince Harry gives gold medal to medics who saved Invictus athlete鈥檚 life

Taline McPhedran CTVNews.ca
Published Wednesday, June 1, 2016 1:01PM EDT Last Updated Wednesday, June 1, 2016 1:02PM EDT

Britain's Prince Harry, right, poses for a photograph as he presents the gold medal U.S. Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Marks won in the swimming 100m freestyle race at the recent 2016 Invictus Games to Consultant Intensivist Dr Alain Vuylsteke, originally from Belgium, and the other members of the medical team from Britain's Papworth Hospital who treated her in 2014, at Kensington Palace in London, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)

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A medical team in London, England received an Invictus Games gold medal from Prince Harry himself, on behalf of a U.S. athlete whose life they saved in 2014.

Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Marks of the United States Army was set to swim in the 2014 Invictus Games in London but was forced to drop out after she collapsed from a debilitating lung issue. She was then treated by the medical team at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England.

After Sgt. Marks won multiple swimming events at the Invictus Games in Orlando this year, she decided to give one of her gold medals to the people whose treatment made it possible for her to continue competing.

Dr. Alain Vuylsteke, the clinical director of intensive care at Papworth Hospital, said that his medical team was extremely honoured to receive the medal from Prince Harry himself, during a visit to the hospital on Wednesday.

鈥淲e were surprised when Sgt. Marks decided to give it to us and told Prince Harry to bring it back to England and invite us to the palace,鈥� said Dr. Vuylsteke. 鈥淪o we were prepared but it was a very nice feeling indeed to receive it from him.鈥�

According to Dr. Vuylsteke, when Sgt. Marks went to Papworth Hospital, she was extremely physically sick and unable to breathe for herself.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing in these circumstances is using quite complex technology, that can only be provided in some places, that can keep her going while we give her treatment,鈥� said Dr. Vuylsteke.

The medical team at Papworth Hospital was amazed that someone with that level of achievement, who had put in that much work, would decide to give that achievement to them, Dr. Vuylsteke said.

The Papworth Hospital will be moving to a new building in Cambridge and going through a lot of changes in the near future. According to Dr. Vuylsteke, the gold medal will be displayed front and centre as a way to show people exactly what doctors do.

鈥淥ur job is to give people their lives back and help them to achieve and go on with what they want to do,鈥� said Dr. Vuylsteke. 鈥淎nd hopefully achieve great things as what Sgt. Marks did.鈥�