Fifty-one-year-old Sunita, from Essex, sums up the resilience of so many of the runners taking part in March’s annual Cambridge Half Marathon.
Back in early March 2024, she developed acute liver failure and went from being fit and healthy overnight to having to fight for every breath.
Just one week before, Sunita had cooked for 20 people for her husband’s birthday but within days she found herself incredibly poorly and was admitted to hospital.
When she first fell sick, Sunita – who was just months away from finishing a Secondary School teacher training course – was admitted to her local hospital in Colchester. She tried to write an email to her school to let them know she wouldn’t be coming in but found herself unable to, having developed a condition she later found out to be hepatic encephalopathy (JE) – a neuropsychiatric syndrome caused by liver dysfunction, leading to brain dysfunction.
She was still in hospital days later, and on her 50th birthday underwent a biopsy which caused internal bleeding. She was then moved to ICU where her condition worsened.
Sunita was transferred to Addenbrooke’s where she was stabilised and received numerous infusions. She experienced a build-up of fluid in her body, known as Ascites, which is caused by liver failure – which Sunita said made her legs swell up and her stomach look like she was pregnant.
On 26 March her body crashed completely and Sunita was in so much pain she had to be put into an induced coma. During the coma, she experienced multi-organ failure as her kidneys started to fail so had to have dialysis – which was when her husband described her as ‘hanging onto life by less than a thread.’
Sunita underwent a liver transplant but because she couldn’t breathe on her own after the surgery she was given a tracheostomy. She woke up with tubes in her mouth through her neck and unable to speak. She also had to have a nasal feeding tube and was, in her own words, ‘skin and bones’ at one point.
The immunosuppressants she was taking to help her body accept her new liver were making her hands shake. She had to re-learn how to walk, talk, eat and drink all over again and underwent a lot of physio and speech therapy.
To begin with, she could only communicate with nursing staff by blinking her eyes for ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Her feeding tube also made her mouth very dry, so nursing staff would rub a sponge lolly on her lips to begin with – later progressing to ice chips and then five teaspoons of water, three times a day.
She returned home on 18 May, two and a half months after she was first admitted to her local hospital, prior to Addenbrooke’s.
Sunita was given some exercises to do at home and pushed herself to do more each day to build up her strength. In 2025, an ulcer in her mouth was diagnosed as cancer. It was a type of blood cancer known as Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD), a serious condition that develops after organ transplantation, particularly in patients on immunosuppressive medications.
Still battling to get her strength back following her transplant surgery, Sunita underwent eight rounds of immunotherapy treatment – weekly to begin with then three weeks apart.
Amazingly, it was at this time – whilst undergoing treatment for her cancer – that Sunita, who has a Masters in English Literature and a bachelor’s in law, signed up to run for ACT in this year’s TTP Cambridge Half Marathon.
“I saw other people doing amazing things despite all the things that they were going through and I thought, I can walk now. What’s the worst that can happen? I can drag myself across the line maybe. So I thought I’d sign up for it and see what happens. That’s when I saw what Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust was doing and I thought if I was going to do it, it should be worthwhile right? It’s a big deal for me and it should make a difference to something as well. I saw ACT was raising money for this new cancer research hospital and thought what better charity to do it for? In the city where I got a second chance at life.”
After she started treatment, Sunita wasn’t sure she would be able to complete the marathon and described December as one of her lowest months, both physically and mentally. But then came the good news in January this year that she was now cancer free.
Sunita says she feels lucky to be alive because had it have happened just a few years earlier she may not have received a liver transplant because of how poorly she was.
“NHS Blood and Transplant has introduced a new national, priority liver transplant tier for patients with Acute on Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF), improving 1-year survival to 77%,” she explained, adding: “This initiative allows patients with severe, sudden liver failure a 28-day mortality risk over 50% to receive urgent, life-saving transplants, previously with few options. This became standard practice at the end of 2023, so if this had happened to me before 2023, I probably would not be here.”
Sunita says completing the half marathon would be a way of saying thank you to everyone who helped her along the way – her donor and her family, friends, family and the amazing staff at Addenbrooke’s, saying, “At times I felt very vulnerable and embarrassed not being able to do anything after the transplant but the hospital staff were amazing. So many of them went over and above.”
“I still remember some of the nurses at night in ICU. One day I remember I woke up and got a shock because there was this nurse staring at me. She had been watching me all night to make sure I was ok.”
Sunita kept herself busy during her recovery by exercising lots and writing food blogs and said: “I think you’ve got to feel proud of yourself as well. I’ve always, throughout my life, been the kind of person who if someone gives me a compliment, I am not good at taking it. People see the outcome, me smiling and positive, but it has been a journey, and it is about taking one step and one day at a time.”
“I’m very proud of myself that rather than sitting and feeling sorry for myself I told myself, as a patient, you can have all the support in the world – and I have the best husband, the best family and I have great friends – but at the end of the day, especially after I come home, there is no bell to ring. If I don’t lift myself, get myself off the bed; if I don’t try to do things for myself, I cannot improve. I have to tell my mind and my body to do those things.”
She is, she says, eternally grateful to her donor but says she finds it hard to talk about her.
“Because of the selfless gift of my donor, I get to lace up my trainers and take part in this race. On the day — as with every day — she will be in my thoughts, every mile of the way. Her life may have been cut short, but her legacy lives on. There will two of us on race day – and we will do this together.”
“Every day is another chance to be alive isn’t it and do things that many people don’t get the chance to do. Every other day I hear stories of people who either don’t make it to the transplant list or probably have been waiting for years on a transplant list and the list keeps getting longer.”
“This, for me, is not ‘just a half marathon’. It’s a deeply personal way to honour a second chance at life, raise awareness of organ donation and support a future where cancer care improves the lives of many. This half marathon is my way of giving back, and in honour of my donor and her family, my fellow transplantees, cancer warriors and their families, and everyone facing health challenges along their journey.”
To donate to Sunita’s fundraising page, click here.
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