A woman who broke her leg while running a half-marathon was misdiagnosed and told she had pulled a hamstring, her inquest has heard.

Sarah-Jayne Roche experienced shooting pain up her leg while running the Cardiff race in October 2018 – and was told by medics “there’s not much else we can do”.

She was later turned away from hospital three times before eventually being diagnosed with a fractured femur.

Ms Roche, 39, had surgery 12 days after the race, during which she suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

Ms Roche, a learning support assistant, had two sons aged 12 and eight, the BBC reports.

Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard she had entered the half-marathon with her husband Steven to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research after her father was diagnosed with the illness. The couple had trained for months before the race.

The pain began 11 kilometres into the 21-kilometre race on October 7, 2018.

Ms Roche pulled out of the run and St John Ambulance volunteers diagnosed a pulled hamstring. The pain was so bad that her family later took her to hospital three times.

“She was seen by a consultant for no more than 20 minutes. There was no mention of an X-ray,” Mr Roche told the inquest on Tuesday (British time).

“She was in a wheelchair in very considerable pain. She was advised to rest up and take paracetamol and ibuprofen.”

Sarah-Jayne Roche, 39, pulled out of the Cardiff Half Marathon in October 2018https://t.co/0S55UzdkE8

— BBC Wales News (@BBCWalesNews) September 3, 2019

The BBC reports that Ms Roche found it “difficult to get in and out of the car and she needed a wheelchair”. As the pain got worse and her leg continued to swell, she was prescribed stronger painkillers and told to “try a hot water bottle”.

Mr Roche said one doctor asked his wife to move her leg but “she was in excruciating pain”.

She was admitted to the same hospital by ambulance a week later, in “absolute agony”.

The inquest heard Ms Roche’s foot was cold to touch by then. She was not sent for an X-ray until her final visit to A&E.

She spent three days in hospital and died on October 19, 2018.

The inquest, which is expected to last two days, continues.

-with agencies