It left the young athlete with a serious back injury, years of pain, and the inability to do any major exercise.
"It was in 2014 — I was only 16 and about 60kg. I was pretty into the training back then, but I had poor technique at the time.
"Over the following years, I had quite a few injuries in the same area.
"I ended up at the physio in a lot of pain, but the treatment wasn’t helping.
"They kept saying to me that it was just a back sprain."
It was not until 2018 that his back was finally X-rayed and he was found to have a fractured vertebra and prolapsed disc.
Once properly diagnosed, he had surgery in 2019 to fuse some of his vertebrae.
"There was never any question about whether I would walk again.
"They just said there was only an 85% chance that the operation would work, and if it didn’t work, I would still have all the pain and the tingling in my legs."
Fortunately, the operation was a success and since then, he has been undergoing physiotherapy to get him moving and walking again.
He said the walking soon turned into running, and he was feeling "99% back to normal".
Now the 26-year-old is about to run the half marathon at the New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty Queenstown Marathon this weekend.
"I feel pretty lucky — a lot of other people with this injury still have a lot of ongoing problems.
"I never really thought I would be able to get back to this level of activity."
While some may say he was being overly ambitious again, trying to run a half marathon, Mr Stringer said he had no plans to win it — just run it.
He hoped his participation in the marathon would help to inspire others to give it a go and strive to push themselves harder.
"My journey has been a very physical and mentally challenging time, but it has helped me realise that no matter what, I need to keep my head up, keep on fighting and keep on smiling.
"I do hope someone else can benefit from what I’m doing in one way or another."
