Ultra-marathon disaster
Clare Brady
Today Tonight
February 27, 2012
An ultra-marathon competitor is fighting horrific burns after she was allowed to run straight into a fierce bushfire that almost took her life.
But Kate Sanderson is also fighting for an inquiry to find out who should be held responsible for her terrible injuries.
Sanderson, 35, a super fit and experienced ultra-marathon runner, now has 55 per cent of her body covered in burns.
Part of her left foot has been amputated, and after six months in hospital, and enduring fifteen skin grafts, she has finally been allowed to go home.
As she told the Herald Sun, a 100 kilometre foot race in Western Australia's outback has ruined her life.
Sanderson was competing in one of Racing The Planet’s gruelling marathons - this one through the unforgiving terrain of the Kimberley Region.
The runners knew about the heat, but weren't told what lay ahead - dormant and waiting was a fire that had been smouldering for days.
“It was horrendous - the scariest time of my life. And to hear the girls screaming, and there was nothing we could do,” marathon runner Michael Hull said.
Marathon runners like Hull are made tough, but nothing prepared them for what to do. When six runners, including Sanderson, were in a gorge, winds whipped up and the fire trapped them in a fight for their lives.
“We were trying to find where the roads were. No one had mobile phones because we knew there was no coverage. You know, we had a whistle. There was no shade, so we were getting sunburn on the burns,” Sanderson said.
In excruciating heat they waited for four hours for help to arrive.
“Any burn has a huge impact on all body systems: even a small burn will affect your nerves, your liver, your heart, your lungs, your kidneys. I know if you're burnt on your arm, your nerves are affected on the other side, so if you escalate that to 55 per cent body surface area, that is a huge insult to the area, and takes a significant recovery,” burns expert and plastic surgeon, Dr Fiona Woods said.
Dr Wood's work with burns victims after the Bali bombing is well known.
“When you're burnt you are no longer waterproof - this beautiful casing skin is interrupted, and so you're a leaky sieve - you lose a lot of fluid and circulation, and you can't deliver oxygen to everywhere in the body as well as the skin,” Dr Woods said.
Naturally Sanderson wants answers - answers about why they weren't warned about the fire.
Now the Western Australian Government has agreed ‘in principle’ to hold a Parliamentary Committee into that race.
According to Phil Gleeson from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers “if there is a finding of fault, or a want of responsibility, of either the State Government or the organiser’s part, I think they would deserve compensation.”
He'll now compete in an ultra-marathon in New Zealand next month, and with each step he'll raise money for Sanderson and Turia Pitt (who was also trapped by the flames and has burns to most of her body) to aid their recovery.
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