The ones of you who have read through a few articles might already know that open water swimming is terrifying for me but that won’t hold me back. On the contrary, it pushes me to look the fear in the eyes, walk right through it (or in my case swim right through it ;) ) and get out on the other side with a big smile and a feeling of liberation, exhilaration, pride and gratefulness. This moment when you overcome your fear and achieved something that seemed so impossible, is life-changing. Have a read through my post about my IronMan 70.3 swim where I share with you my experience of panic attacks and how I managed to pull through.

My journey to overcome the fear of open water swimming didn’t stop there though. I’m still scared of it so it’s important to me to keep the momentum and keep on swimming. Thus, I signed up for a challenging open water swim event in July 2023 (have a look under ‘Challenges’ to see all the details). Perhaps you know by now that I’m not doing all this just for myself but to lead by example and hopefully inspire others to overcome whatever they fear. This time, I’m not only going to be open and honest about my journey of open water swimming but I'm also going to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. I'd be so grateful for your support.

The BHF has helped halve the number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease in the UK but sadly every day hundreds of people lose their lives. It's only thanks to support from people like us that the BHF can create new treatments and discover new cures. For example, £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps. So I’d be incredibly thankful if you could support my fundraising project by giving whatever you can - even if it’s one pound or by only spreading the word and making others aware of it.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. It’ll keep me going during that swim event and at the same time it’ll have a positive impact on the work of the British Heart Foundation. Your support truly will be life-changing.