Ellie Marks

May 30, 2023
5 Min read
Recovery Stories

Elizabeth (Ellie) Marks joined the United States Armed Forces when she was 17 in 2009 to serve in Iraq, just as her father signed up at 17 in 1969 to serve in the Vietnam War.

It was during her service as a combat medic in Iraq in 2010 that she sustained a hip injury which would limit her mobility.

It was during her recovery at the Brooke Army Medical Centre in Fort Sam Houston, Texas that she took up swimming and began to compete at a professional level.

Ellie was selected to compete at the inaugural Invictus Games of London 2014 but tragedy struck when she arrived in the UK as the lose of her voice would evolve into her lungs not working.

"My body couldn’t oxygenate. Papworth Hospital put me on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) life support, which circulates everything through [an] external lung.”

Thankfully, Ellie would recover and would finally make it to the Invictus Games Orlando 2016, where she would ask Prince Harry to send her gold medal to Papworth Hospital as thanks for saving her life.

Ellie would continue to swim at a professional level and would win 5 medals at the Paralympic Games.

It's an honour anytime I get to stand next to my brothers and sisters from the other services."

Ellie Marks

Invictus Games Orlando 2016 - Competitor

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