Well done to all the athletes and to these three from Hull. http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Invi...e-takes-gold/story-22923254-detail/story.html A ROYAL Marine suffering kidney disease has taken gold at the Invictus Games. Sam Stocks, 21, took gold in the 400m after crossing the finish line in 59.35 seconds. He also took bronze medals in the 200m and in the 1,500m relay race in the games organised by Prince Harry. Sam is currently at the Olympic Village but is expected to come back to Hull this week to celebrate his success with his mum Patricia, dad Shaun, 51, and 23-year-old brother Kris. Mrs Stocks, 49, said: âWhen he told me about winning the medals, I think the whole of Hull must have heard me screaming. âHe is absolutely over the moon. He is a complete inspiration and weâre just so proud of him.â Thousands of spectators have watched wounded servicemen and women take part in the Invictus Games in London. Sam, a former pupil at Kelvin Hall School in west Hull, was determined to become a Royal Marine since he was a teenager, when he joined the Marine Cadets in Argyle Street. He signed up at 16 and passed out in 2011 before spending six months fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province in Afghanistan with 40 Commando. Back at his base in Plymouth, he developed a throat infection and then a chest infection which refused to clear up. After undergoing tests, doctors told Sam he was suffering from IgA Nephropathy, a chronic kidney disease also known as Bergerâs Disease. Sam has now joined Hasler Company, a Royal Marine unit specifically designed to help aid the recovery, rehabilitation and re-integration of injured service personnel from all three services. He is on long-term steroids and auto-immune medication. Doctors have warned Sam he will need a kidney transplant within 15 years and faces dialysis in the future. Although he will be medically discharged from the Marines in the next year, Sam has refused to allow his condition to get in his way and plans to travel the world teaching sport when he comes out of the forces. Sam, whose grandfather was in the RAF and whose cousin Emma Stocks was in the Royal Navy for 15 years, was picked as captain of the UK athletics team at the Invictus team after taking part in trials. Hull woman Claire Edwards won bronze in the womenâs circuit handbike/recumbent race after she was chosen to represent the British cycling team. Claire, 40, who lives off Spring Bank West, west Hull, was injured in Iraq in 2007. Craig Gadd, of Beverley Road, north Hull, also represented the UK cycling team, coming fifth in the road bike circuit race. Craig, 41, lost his left leg to a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan in 2010. Servicemen and women from 13 countries have been competing in the four-day games at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before the closing ceremony this afternoon. At the opening ceremony, Prince Harry, introduced by US First Lady Michelle Obama, said the games would change lives. He said: âWe will see some truly remarkable achievements. âFor some of those taking part this will be a stepping stone to elite sport. But for others, it will mark the end of a chapter in their recovery and the beginning of a new one. âEither way, you can be sure that everyone who takes part on the track, pool or field of play will be giving it their all. And I have no doubt that lives will be changed this weekend.â
