A woman who accidentally speared her classmate with a javelin in a sports day tragedy is now helping others who have suffered traumatic events.
Lis Cashin was just 13 when the javelin he had thrown hurtled towards the pal and struck her above the left eye.
On the day of the accident at Wirral Grammar School for Girls, in Merseyside, Lis's classmates Sammy and Sarah had volunteered to mark the distances for the competition.
When Lis took the run-up, she threw the javelin with all her might.
"I watched it fly," she told The Guardian. "As it came down, it suddenly veered to the right, straight towards Sammy, who was distracted."
She remembers Sammy ducking and thought she would be OK. But the javelin had not missed, and Sammy was rushed to hospital after being hit on the head.
"She stumbled forwards before collapsing," Lis recalls. "There was a lot of blood."
Sammy died four days later.
Inquest ruled death was 'misadventure'
Lis said she skipped classes for the rest of the term but attended Sammy's funeral.
"Sammy's parents never blamed me for her death and were incredibly kind," she said.
"Later I was interviewed by the police and asked whether Sammy and I had argued that day, but we hadn't - she was a friend, a really smiley girl who was always joking. I liked her a lot."
At Sammy's inquest her death was ruled by a coroner as misadventure but Lis said she could not banish feelings of guilt and self-loathing.
In her early 30s, she reached a turning point when she travelled for 18 months and had what she calls a 'spiritual awakening'.
Lis became a life coach and discovered she had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since the incident, WalesOnline reports.
She said: "I have been single for years and never married. I was too afraid to have a child because I thought that it would die - that it would be karma for my part in Sammy's death."
Now Lis said she has managed to move on and works as a speaker for TLC Lion, which helps organisations challenge the mental health stigma.
She added: "I want what happened to me to be turned into a positive, and the empower other women to reach their potential - as I finally have."
Lis is set to publish a book on her path to happiness 'This Is Me'.
