Marathon bid to ‘save mum’s life’ leaves son in 5-day coma
ADAD running a marathon to ‘save his mum’s life’ almost died after he collapsed at mile 18 and was left in an induced coma.
Marcus Nunes Filho, 39, decided to take up the 26.2-mile challenge to help raise £30,000 to help his mum, Irani Nunes Filho, 62, who had both legs amputated after developing acute thrombosis aged 55.
Following the amputation, medics found a tumour below Irani’s knee which developed into tumoral thrombosis. Tumoral thrombosis occurs when a tumour extends into a blood vessel, restricting and potentially blocking blood flow.
She required life-saving surgery to tackle the tumoral thrombosis and a severe infection following the double amputation, and nerve-ending pain.
The funds raised by Marcus, from Dorset, were to help Irani access surgery for the infection and nerve pain and help her get prosthetic legs.
Marcus says seeing his mum go through the ordeal severely impacted his mental health and in December 2019 he tried to take his own life.
He survived and decided to turn his life around by running the New Forest Marathon in September 2022. But 18 miles in, Marcus collapsed due to heatstroke and dehydration and says his next memory is waking five days later – before spending another six months in and out of hospital.
Doctors found Marcus was suffering from organ failure and bronchitis – with medics believing undiagnosed pancreas problems had worsened his condition. He was discharged in December 2023 and after six months was found to have made a full recovery.
He now hopes to complete the New Forest Marathon next year and finish the challenge he started.
Dad-of-two Marcus, a forklift driver, from Bournemouth, said: “With all the mental health I was going through with my mum and all the pressure I was under, I tried to commit suicide, and someone stopped me.
“I had two choices – either to carry on feeling depressed and suffering with my mental health or not.
“My mum had been diagnosed with a tumour which was spreading through her legs. We wanted to go for private surgery, but we were looking at around £20,000 to £30,000.
“People said if you need to raise that kind of money you need to do something amazing – so I took up the challenge to run a marathon which is something I’ve never done before.
“I thought it was a good opportunity to turn things around – I’d gone from 12 stone to 18 stone and while training in nine months I got back down to 12-and-a-half stone.”
His fundraising efforts, which he called Iron Legs Fundraiser, took off – with Tottenham Hotspurs player Emerson Royal donating signed shirts for the cause.
Incredibly, he managed to raise enough money to get Irani the surgery she needed.
She went onto the operating table in May 2022 and has now made a full recovery.