A mother died after NHS doctors failed to spot she had broken a bone in her leg while running a charity half marathon, an inquest heard today.

Sarah-Jayne Roche, 39, broke down in extreme pain after running 6.2 miles of the Cardiff Half Marathon alongside her husband Steven, 41, in October last year.

She was taken to hospital where doctors diagnosed a torn hamstring and sent her home with painkillers and told to apply ice and a hot water bottle.

But after two more visits to A&E at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in South Wales, an X-ray finally discovered she had fractured her femur.

The mother-of-two went into cardiac arrest during an operation 10 days after the race to pin the broken thigh bone. She was the third competitor to lose her life.

Ben McDonald, 25, from Cardiff, and Dean Fletcher, 32, from Exeter, went into cardiac arrest after crossing the finish within three minutes of each other. They died later in hospital.

Sarah-Jayne Roche, 39, broke down in extreme pain after running 10k of the race alongside her husband Steven, 41. They are pictured on the day of the run last October

Mrs Roche wanted to do the half-marathon before her 40th birthday and to raise funds for a Parkinson's disease charity after her father was diagnosed with the condition.

Mr Roche told the inquest it was his wife's first long-distance run and she started training for it three months before the event.

He said: 'She was fine with no health concerns before the race although she was nervous.

'We trained together on a weekly basis and ran the race side-by-side.

Mr and Mrs Roche pictured on their wedding day

'Half way through the race she pulled up with a sharp, shooting pain up her left leg. She literally came to a halt, it stopped her in her tracks.'

Mrs Roche, a learning support assistant at a comprehensive school, was treated by St John Ambulance while her husband completed the race.

After crossing the finishing line Mr Roche took his wife to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, South Wales, where a hamstring injury was diagnosed.

He told the hearing: 'She was in a wheelchair in very considerable pain. She was advised to rest up and take Paracetamol and Ibuprofen.

'She was seen by a consultant for no more than 20 minutes. There was no mention of an X-ray.

'She was given crutches but she couldn't use them.'

Surgeon: Runner's leg was 'badly deformed and obviously broken' The surgeon who operated on Sarah-Jayne Roche's leg has told her inquest it was 'badly deformed and obviously broken'. Mrs Roche died of a cardiac arrest after the operation. Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Jonathan Davies said he had no choice but to admit her because her femur bone had 'snapped.' The inquest heard Mrs Roche had an 'extremely rare' stress fracture in her thigh bone. Dr Davies said: 'Straight away it was not something I had heard of before. That kind of fracture in that area. 'I hadn't seen a fracture like that before. It really had the appearance of a stress fracture.' Dr Davies said he only found three other cases of a stress fracture in that area of the leg on record. He said: 'When I saw it, it was obviously broken. The leg was badly deformed at that stage. 'There was no option but to admit this lady. 'The femur bone is one of the biggest bones in the body and it was snapped effectively.' The inquest heard Dr Davies saw Mrs Roche on the morning of October 17 when she had a 'massively swollen thigh.' Dr Davies said: 'The pain that lady had was 90 per cent due to that fracture. The vast majority of swelling in that leg was due to the fracture. 'This was a pretty devastating injury. When she came in the leg was rotated and at an angle.' Mrs Roche was sent for an MRI scan at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital that day to rule out any possible tumours. Dr Davies then took Mrs Roche to theatre to apply a traction to her leg. He visited her bed the following day and remembers saying: 'It's an awful lot better already.' He added: 'She was quite a bit more comfortable and in fact she was pretty cheery really.' But the inquest heard the DVT had not been diagnosed while Mrs Roche was being treated and she died during a second operation. Advertisement

Mr Roche took his wife back to the hospital the next day when the pain in her left leg became worse.

She was seen by two doctors who advised stronger painkillers and a hot water bottle instead of ice.

Mrs Roche, of Beddau, Pontypridd, was admitted to the same hospital by ambulance a week later in 'absolute agony'.

Her husband continued: 'It frightened me. She was in so much pain they had to cut trousers off. Her leg was at least twice its normal size. Her thigh was massive.

'They said they would carry out an X-ray, the doctor expressed his surprise that there hadn't been an X-ray.'

The inquest heard Mrs Roche was not sent for an X-ray until her final visit to A&E - when deep vein thrombosis had already set in.

Dr Tim Manfield saw Mrs Roche at a soft tissue appointment on October 12 in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital at Llantrisant, near Cardiff.

But he did not send her for an x-ray despite her family's concerns that her leg was 'freezing cold.'

The inquest heard Dr Manfield wrote in his notes that he had examined Mrs Roche and she had tendinitis and pain in her quadriceps.

But her mother Patricia Newman claimed the doctor did not carry out a physical examination of her daughter.

She said: 'He wasn't concerned. In his opinion it didn't warrant an X-ray.

'I know he did not touch her. I really don't know where that is coming from.'

The inquest heard Mrs Roche's father Alan Newman stood behind a curtain during the appointment.

He said: 'I remember my wife telling the doctor her leg was freezing cold. The doctor said 'I'm not concerned about that, she's immobile.'

The inquest heard Mr Roche later texted his wife asking how the appointment had gone.

She replied: 'He didn't do anything apart from suggest I had physio.'

The inquest heard Dr Manfield recorded no signs of the development of DVT at that appointment.

Mrs Roche died on October 17 last year when she went into cardiac arrest during an operation to repair the fracture at the base of her femur.

After two more visits to A&E at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in South Wales, an X-ray finally discovered Mrs Roche had fractured her femur

A post-mortem examination found Mrs Roche had a blood clot in the right coronary artery, a clot in the left calf and femoral vein.

Her medical cause of death was pulmonary embolism with deep vein thrombosis and a fractured femur.

The inquest heard immobility was a significant factor in the development of 'fairly large' blood clots.

The inquest continues.