Helen's story: I did Swim22 for my daughter and smashed my target

Helen took on the Swim22 challenge in 2019 as one of her daughters, Cerys, lives with type 1 diabetes. Not being a regular swimmer, Helen knew this would be tough.

"My inspiration was seeing what Cerys has to go through every day and I wanted to use the challenge as an opportunity to raise awareness as well as raise money. I set out to raise £100 and swim 22 miles".

At the end of the challenge, Helen raised an amazing £1,355.

As soon as I made my first Facebook post the donations started to come in and I smashed through my £100 target in the first few hours. I started swimming on day one of the challenge. I firstly set out to swim 44 lengths on each visit. After the first week or so I wanted to push myself with the swimming to see if I could do the full mile. I did this and then made my goal to do a mile per visit. I changed my morning routine to enable me to do this.

I had found my thing! I was swimming every week day as well as going to the gym every evening. I had never felt so energised.

Fundraising

I made my pleas on Facebook very personal. I spoke about the impact of Cerys’s diagnosis and the on-going implications. I used photos and images and made regular posts on Facebook on different themes - hypos, Diet Coke, finger pricks, tiredness.

I raised the most money through embarrassing myself! I showed a close friend a photo I had taken in my swim hat – it was too funny but not at all flattering. She vowed to sponsor me extra money if I set it as my WhatsApp profile picture. Which I did. My fiancé then challenged me to change my Facebook picture for the duration of the challenge if I raised a certain amount. He then proceeded to rank up the sponsors. Profile picture duly changed.

I received incredible support from my friends and family. My work colleagues were incredible too. Two chaps in particular took me by surprise as they made a point of coming to see me and telling me their own stories.

I could only do breaststroke and had never swum distances/times but with huge support from the Swim22 Facebook group, I smashed my 22-mile target. I actually completed 44 miles well within the time-frame and went onto complete additional miles which I ‘donated’ to others including a lady who was struggling with morning sickness. 

Throughout the challenge I built my stamina so that each swim I was achieving at least a mile. At the end of it I decided to learn how to do front crawl and had swimming lessons.

Outdoor swimming

I eagerly signed up to Swim22 in 2020 and I have again loved the challenge. This time my aim was to try swimming outdoors and I was delighted when the conditions worked out perfectly for me to try this for the first time during a visit to the Lake District.  

I was so excited, I was the first in the water and then swam the entire length and back with my wonderfully supportive other half, his brother and his nephew.  I seriously don’t think I stopped smiling for a good 24 hours.  Having posted it on Facebook some of my friends asked if I was scared and I can honestly say fear didn’t come into my mind at any point.  I absolutely loved it and look forward to being able to do it again.  

When I can, I now swim a mile on average 3 or 4 times a week and with the exception of a few lengths as my warm up/cool down I swim freestyle. Some days are tough but that’s rare - most days when I swim I find I have loads more energy. I sleep well and stick to a good sleep routine. The benefit of doing the challenge is just incredible.

All of this is thanks to signing up to Swim22 to help support my wonderful T1 daughter.