A HULL woman recovering from a potentially deadly disease has expressed her anger after an international fitness organisation refused to give her a refund when she was forced to pull out of the competition.
Kate Hack, 31, had entered to take part in the gruelling Iron Man UK challenge in Bolton last weekend.
However, just weeks before the event, she was left fighting for her life in hospital after being struck down by the rare Weil's disease.
Doctors believe Kate caught the disease while swimming in a lake during a previous triathlon.
After impressing doctors by making a rapid recovery, Kate was discharged from hospital just a week after contracting Weil's disease.
Kate, of west Hull, said: "There was just no way I could take part in the Iron Man challenge, so I contacted them to tell them what had happened.
"The company's policy states you have to withdraw up to two months beforehand but, obviously, I was not poorly then and was still in training for the challenge.
"They told me they were unable to refund me the £400 I had paid to enter.
"I asked them if they could at least make a donation to one of the 30 charities I had pledged to raise money for but they said they couldn't. I can appreciate why they have their policies, so they don't get lots of people pulling out at the last minute but, because they are a big corporate company, there is plenty of money in the pot."
In stark contrast, Kate's partner Karl Fountain, who entered the Outlaw triathlon, which was due to take place yesterday, has received £200 to donate to his charity after he had to pull out of the competition to look after her.
Kate said: "It's not like I tripped off the kerb and broke my leg.
"It is scandalous really. I could have died from what I had.
"When you get a smaller company such as Outlaw offering a goodwill gesture like that, it makes me even more angry at Iron Man, as a big, corporate company."
About 40 people contract Weil's disease each year in the UK – and one in four of those die.
Kate has since returned to work and hopes to take part in more fundraising challenges once she is fit enough.
"It is a slow recovery," she said. "Doctors have told me it will take between six months and a year for me to feel like my old self.
"I am back at work part-time. I can only do five hours and then I have to have a rest.
"If I do too much, it really floors me the next day. I have to pace myself and it is really frustrating. At the moment, the gym and exercise is a no-go."
The Mail contacted the organisers of the Iron Man UK competition but nobody was available for comment.
Kate's lucky escape from devastating illnessFitness fanatic Kate Hack, who has raised thousands of pounds for good causes, lost her speech and the ability to walk when she contracted the rare Weil's disease, caused by a bacterial infection carried in rat urine.
When she began hallucinating and gasping for breath, her fiancé rushed her to Hull Royal Infirmary.
Doctors believe Kate caught the disease while swimming in a lake during a triathlon contest and say that if she had been admitted to hospital any later, she would probably have died.
