How I coped with... a stress fracture
When I turned 40, I gave up smoking and alcohol, and took up runnin five times a week to get fit.
But in 2016 I suffered a stress fracture to my left navicular, one of the tarsal bones in the ankle.
It’s a common injury in runners but there was a chance I would have to give up my passion if I didn’t get it sorted out.
I had a one-hour operation at Spire Leeds Hospital in September 2016, where sports injury specialist Nick Harris passed two screws across the navicular to compress
and support the fracture. A CT scan three months later showed it had completely healed and I was able to start training again.
I completed the gruelling 250km Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert in April last year and now I’m celebrating turning 50 by running 2,000km across seven European countries over six weeks, to raise money for charities Women’s Aid and Calm, which deals with male suicide. Tish Joyce, 50, Otley, Yorkshire