Runner Ready For Ninth Boston Marathon After Inspirational Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury
BOSTON (CBS) -- Martha Staten almost died in 2014 in a freak accident in a hotel room.
"I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and turned from the sink, and that's the last I remember. Woke up on the floor with a police officer standing over me," she told WBZ-TV.
Martha, who was 59 years old at the time, had fainted and hit her head on the bathtub.
"I had turned from the sink, fainted and landed on the top of the tub. I fractured my temporal bone, tore the lining of my brain, blew out my ear and the force of the fall lifted me up and threw me into the leg of the sink, so I ended up with 17 stitches in the back of my head."
Not surprisingly, Martha, who was an avid runner with eight Boston Marathons under her belt, was told she might never run again. At first, she couldn't even walk on her own.
"I used a walker in the beginning and I remember walking around our house and then I slept for 18 hours. That's how injured I was, I guess," she said.
But bit by bit, she got back to running, eventually qualifying for the Tuscon Marathon in 2016, not even a full two years after her injury.
And now, at 67 years old, she has her sights set on her ninth Boston.
"For me, it definitely will be a special race, because I can kind of say I'm completely recovered."
You can watch the Boston Marathon live on Monday, October 11 on CBSBoston.com and WBZ-TV. Coverage starts at 4:30 a.m.