‘I had three minutes left to live’: Runner prepares for London Marathon after life-changing stroke

“I threw my head quite swiftly and forcefully to the right to check for oncoming traffic, that action led to a sharp pain at the base of my skull, I didn’t think anything of it,” he says.

But days later, while working from home during the Covid lockdown, his condition dramatically worsened as he lost all vision.

His wife at the time rushed him to hospital, where doctors later confirmed he had suffered a stroke caused by a tear in the main artery carrying oxygen to the brain.

As a fit then 37-year-old, running 10km routes in under 36 minutes, Paul said the diagnosis came as a profound shock. “You think stroke is something for elderly people or unfit people,” he says.

Paul was transferred to Salford Royal Hospital, where doctors worked urgently to try to save his life. When initial treatment failed, a specialist surgeon was needed to step in.

For a brief moment, it appeared the danger had passed - but hours later, his condition suddenly worsened.

“My brain started to swell and at first, they told my family that I wouldn’t survive - or that I’d be in a vegetative state,” he says.

In a final attempt to save his life, doctors carried out emergency surgery. “I’ve been told subsequently that I had about three minutes left to live,” Paul says.

When he woke, Paul could speak, but had lost movement down the left side of his body. His recovery took place in isolation due to Covid restrictions.

“I didn’t have any visitors during the entire month - it was incredibly difficult and even more distressing now knowing what was taking place in Downing Street at the time,” he reflects.

At the time of the stroke, his children were just three and six years old. Now aged eight and 11, he says they are still too young to fully understand what happened. “As far as they’re concerned, a man went away and came back a different man,” he says.

Despite the extent of his injuries, Paul was determined to rebuild his life. “I left hospital able to walk with the aid of a stick - I was determined to come out at least able to walk,” he says.

Slowly, through months of physiotherapy, he regained movement and began running again - cautiously at first.

“I started off by running around a football field… it was pretty demoralising. But the physio actually identified that I looked more fluid in motion running than I did walking - that was just my natural state.”

Within six months, he returned to work full-time as a solicitor, which he said was not easy. “You’re a new you now rather than the old you: the tough bit is coming to terms with the old you and accepting the new you.”

The experience has also reshaped his outlook on life. “When you’re laying in bed, you’re not thinking about your bank balance,” he muses. “You’re thinking about your family, making memories, the things close to you.”

Now Paul is training for the London Marathon to raise money for the Stroke Association, an organisation he says supported him in his time of need.

“When I lost the ability to walk, it was something I thought I would never achieve," he says.

"I remember flippantly talking to a nurse… saying, ‘well, that’s my running days done, isn’t it? Being able to train for and take part in the London Marathon will, for me, be the pinnacle of my recovery.”

“Realistically, I shouldn’t be here - but I am,” he reflects. “You take everything else a million times over what could have happened.”

Despite running being linked to the moment that changed his life, he believes it also saved him. “Although it was running that caused my injury, my fitness also saved my life,” he says.

And his message to others is simple: “If I can go from being unable to walk and nearly dying to being able to run a marathon, then I genuinely believe that anyone can run and improve their general fitness.”

- To donate to Paul’s cause, visit 2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/paul-metham