A man who had to learn to walk again after being in a coma for three and a half weeks is training to run the London Marathon.<br /><br />Connor Blundell, 25, was on a year abroad in Valencia, Spain, studying mechanical engineering. <br /><br />Five weeks into his studies, Connor was out with friends when he fell four metres from a platform and landed onto his head.<br /><br />Connor was unconscious and rushed to hospital where he spent three and a half weeks in a coma.<br /><br />When Connor became conscious he was non-verbal and unable to walk and spent nine months in rehabilitation.<br /><br />Connor was not able to leave Spain until May 2021 and continued his rehabilitation in the UK.<br /><br />Less than four years on, Connor is walking and talking again and taking part in the London Marathon this weekend alongside his dad, Chris, 57.<br /><br />Connor, an environmental consultant, from Sheffield, Yorkshire, said: "I had a one in three chance of dying and a one in three chance of being in a coma forever.<br /><br />"I am pretty gassed to be here today. <br /><br />"It has been a journey, the reason I am running for Crisis and WaterAid is because I don't question what if.<br /><br />"Yes, it would have been lovely not to have to learn to get better again but I feel a lot of gratitude.<br /><br />"I am lucky for my family’s support and beyond that to not be experiencing homelessness and to not be without clean water."<br /><br />Connor and his friends were enjoying the bank holiday weekend in Valencia, Spain in October 2020.<br /><br />They were in a public park, dancing on a viewing platform when Connor fell off the edge of the platform.<br /><br />He said: "It was late, there was no lights.<br /><br />"I was knocked out straight away when I hit my head from the fall.<br /><br />"For the next three and a half weeks I was in a coma."<br /><br />Connor said he "gradually" woke up from his coma and was non-verbal and unable to walk.<br /><br />He said: "It wasn't like an off and on, mine was more a slow come round.<br /><br />"There was a time when I could keep my eyes open, I was more or less awake, but I couldn't speak for a month or so.<br /><br />"I don't remember anything from my first few weeks, my memory starts in November.<br /><br />"My sister took a year sabbatical and my parents were forced to take a year off from their own jobs to stay with me in Spain.<br /><br />"It was tough for me and it was tough of them. They had to sit there not knowing if I would die tomorrow."<br /><br />After he woke up, Connor started physio where he would learn to walk, talk and have cognitive therapy for four hours a day.<br /><br />He was in hospital for a further four months before he was discharged and became and outpatient.<br /><br />Connor said: "I was walking with a Zimmer frame when I left hospital.<br /><br />"We were staying around a 20 minute walk from the hospital, we walked home and I would pray for a red light so I could sit down and take a break."
