A chef completed the Boston Marathon just five months after she was hours away from being taken off life support following a horrific e-scooter accident.
Rachel Foster glided across the finish line Monday overjoyed by her remarkable accomplishment and completing the race in a personal best five hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds.
It came after the 35-year-old, who co-owns a popular Italian joint in Oklahoma, had fallen off her e-bike in November during an evening out with her husband.
She suffered a traumatic brain injury and fell into a coma that saw her in the ICU for 10 days. Doctors warned that if she did survive, her life would never be the same.
But after vigorous rehabilitation and an unwavering spirit Foster, who still faces a long road to full recovery, beat the odds and ran in her tenth marathon this week.
‘I feel so blessed and thankful,’ she told the Boston Globe. ‘I feel invincible. I do believe that it was a miracle. Miraculous things have happened and are happening every day.’
Rachel Foster, 35, an avid runner and co-owner of a popular Italian restaurant, suffered a traumatic brain injury when she fell off her electric scooter and was near-death when she miraculously beat the odds
Though doctors told Foster and her family that if she does pull through her life will never be the same, Foster seems to be proving them wrong. In the photos, she is in rehabilitation learning how to walk again after having major brain surgery
Rachel Foster, 35, glided across the finish line alongside her running partner, Tim Altendorf, 66, at the Boston Marathon on Monday overjoyed by her remarkable accomplishment and running the race in record time – five hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds, and holding up her medal
Before her accident, Foster an avid runner had competed in nine marathons.
Her last was in Spring 2022 when she ran in the Oklahoma City Marathon.
Foster’s time was so impressive – running it in 3 hours, 17 minutes and 15 seconds – that she easily qualified for the Boston race.
The night of the accident she and her husband John were riding their electric scooters around the neighborhood, when she is believed to have fainted causing her to lose control.
Within seconds, Foster’s head hit the pavement. She was rushed to the hospital and doctors said she had broken 17 bones and had traumatic brain injury. She had to undergo emergency surgery where doctors would have to remove half of her skull.
After the surgery, she was in a coma in the hospitals’ intensive care unit for ten days. Foster showed no signs of brain activity or any signs of improvement.
John recalled the doctors telling the family a grim diagnosis telling them that if she does survive her life would never be the same. A feeing tube, a ventilator and 24/7-care would be required.
That was when the family made the decision to remove her from life support, until a miracle took place and Foster’s eyes opened.
John recalled, ‘we were freaking out.’
‘It’s an impossible thing to happen, but I wanted it so badly and I was hoping it would, that when it happened, I wasn’t surprised. It just felt good,’ he said.
Foster has been in a coma for 10 days in the hospital’s ICU and was showing no signs of brain activity or any signs of improvement before she miraculously opened her eyes
Rachel Foster and her husband John
Foster and her running partner Tim Altendorf hold their race numbers
Once she was able to take commands and breathe on her own, the ventilator was removed, the neurosurgeon, nurses and medical team were absolutely stunned.
Foster’s husband said one of the doctor’s called it ‘a miracle.’
He told him, in part, ‘nothing that I did and nothing that my team did would cause an outcome like this.’
Foster who had suffered some memory loss and was feeling out of sorts and confused. After a successful surgery she embarked on a rigorous rehabilitation program. She was determined to continue her passion and to run again.
‘I felt like nobody can take this away from me. All I need to do is put on some shoes, and off I go,’ Foster told the news outlet.
One of the doctors at the hospital, who is the director of emergency medicine used a Star Trek reference to describe Foster’s remarkable recovery, telling the couple, ‘if people were starships, then Rachel was traveling at warp speed,’ the Boston Globe reported.
‘I just wanted that so much. Running has been a passion for me for as long as I can remember. I knew that I was in rough shape,’ Foster said.
‘I knew my body had been through this crazy accident, but I just didn’t know the extent of it.’
During her rehabilitation, she would learn how to stand, keep her balance and walk- even the smallest movements would take immense effort, but Foster managed to push through the pain.
From end of January to the end of March, Foster continued rehabilitation therapy at an outpatient facility.
Her husband, she said, inspired her to keep going and was her cheering squad.
‘You’re almost there. You got it. Go, go, go. Be strong,’ Foster said, he’d tell her as she referred to him as ‘my knight in shining armor.’
On Monday that resilience and drive helped Foster run Boston’s 127th Marathon.