Staffordshire woman left in coma after asthma attack completes 100-mile trail

A grandmother has completed a 100-mile trail event 20 years after an asthma attack left her unable to walk.

Jocelyn Granger, 60, completed the Trans-Pennine 100, a route through the Peak District in just over 36 hours.

Ms Granger, who lives near Leek in Staffordshire, had to learn to walk again after the attack left her in a coma for two weeks.

She said: "From then I was even more determined to make the most of my life."

Ms Granger, who suffered the asthma attack in her mid-30s, said: "I didn't know I suffer from asthma, so I wasn't prepared for it.

"When I came round I was completely paralysed, I could hear and I could see but I couldn't talk, I couldn't move, I couldn't look after myself at all."

At the time, she said, her children were young and so she did not begin running until she was nearly 50.

"I saw someone one day and just thought I will have a go at that, and it took off from there," she said.

"I did my first London Marathon when I was 50 so it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still achieve things and enjoy them as well.

"People do say 'Why do you run?' and I just say 'Because I can'. I might be dead, but I'm not and I'm here and I'm just going to make the most of things and running is one of the things I can do to achieve that.

"You just have to accept that things go wrong in your life, and you are going to have challenges."

The annual Trans-Pennine 100, held by the Long Distance Walkers Association, Ms Granger said, crosses the Pennines and covers a "varied route" which she completed with a mixture of running and walking.

Next, she said, she will be running a number of marathons, with another ultra-distance event to cover before the end of the year, with plans to also complete a Land's End to John O'Groats cycle with her adult son.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]