Woman running marathons after freak e-scooter crash

By Hannah Van De Peer via SWNS

A woman had to learn to walk again after a freak e-scooter accident - and is now running half marathons and climbing mountains.

Talia Lazarus, 27, was on her way to met a friend for coffee when she collided with a bus in 2021.

She shattered her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left leg and tore cartilage in her knee.

Her injuries were so bad she couldn't walk for a year and had to quit her job at an events company.

But, two years on and Talia, from Elstree, Herts., is thriving.

Having learned to walk again, she has since completed a half marathon and climbed Snowdon's 3,560ft peak.

Talia said: “I never thought I'd have to relearn how to walk at 25. But now, I'm fitter than ever.

“I put my body through unimaginable challenges - and I think our minds are a lot stronger than we realise.”

Talia collided with the bus on August 23, 2021 while riding an e-scooter down a hill.

She tried to fit through a gap between the pavement and a moving bus - which closed in on her and she was knocked into the air.

Passers-by grabbed her when she hit the ground and pulled her onto the pavement.

She said: “I was on the way to meet a friend for a coffee. I was coming down a hill on the road, and I wasn’t really focusing.

“There was a pavement, a gap and then the bus.

"I saw someone cycling through the gap - and I thought, ‘this is much wider than me, I can go through, too.’

“I freaked out, lost control and veered into the kerb.

“I tried to stop the scooter by putting my left leg down, but I just picked up more and more speed - and the bus flung me into the air.

“I was screaming - I saw the state of my leg, and I knew it was sinister.”

Once the paramedics arrived, they asked Talia whether she would be able to walk to the ambulance.

She tried to put one foot in the other - but her “left leg went one way, and right one the other like cooked spaghetti.”

An ambulance took her to London Bridge Hospital, where an MRI revealed she’d completely torn her ACL.

Talia faced sessions of physiotherapy, as well as two major surgeries to reconstruct the ligament.

She said: “I lost all independence. Not only could I not walk, I was told by surgeons I wasn’t allowed to."

Talia’s total recovery time was one year and three months - and started in short bursts, like hopping from the sofa to the sink with the aid of crutches.

In December 2022, she decided on a whim to sign up for a half marathon, which would take place over a year later.

She said: “After my surgeries, I slowly got stronger, and my walking gradually got better.

"And once the physio okayed me to start training for the marathon, I decided to accept the challenge.

“I started by setting small personal bests, and just pushing myself - then I’d increase them, like running 13km.

“Then I started challenging myself to run longer lengths - sometimes my body wouldn’t want to do it, but my mind would, so we did.”

On April 2, 2023, Talia completed her half marathon.

And she climbed Mount Snowdon on August 23, 2023 - near to the second anniversary of her accident.

As well as her physical injuries, she pushed herself to overcome the psychological side effects of her accident.

She said: “The day after the accident, I remember seeing a bus drive by - all of a sudden, I started to breathe heavily.

“Within the hour, I was having a full-blown panic attack, with numb legs, arms and jaw. I thought I was having a stroke.

“I went back to hospital, and the very same doctor who treated me the day before was on reception - he took one look at me and said, ‘you’re having a panic attack’.

“I was never diagnosed with PTSD - but I did get straight onto the phone with a therapist, knowing I wanted to nip it in the bud.”

Talia says she feels “grateful” for the accident, as it encouraged her to change her life.

She now works as a sports presenter for her own podcast.

Having taken up marathon-running and climbing, she says she’s “fitter than ever”, and has even “taken her mask off” when it comes to her hobbies, like comic books.