I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), so two days after my Channel crossing with Aspire I was at my cardiologist in London.  Swimming is my therapy as I find it helps with the symptoms of POTS.  I love outdoor swimming as I have space to swim without someone in front of me. I love swimming at night when I see the stars above me. Swimming brings me peace. 

I started outdoor swimming in April 2025.  My school has a swim team and I tried out. In October I completed a six-person junior English Channel Relay, and my team won the Youngest Relay team and the Fastest Junior Relay awards from the CSA. I also swam in a three-person junior relay of the Bonifacio Strait. 

My relay swim this year was different because my teammates in the Aspire Hyenas were all adults.  My mum was really impressed with Aspire and how they organise training and crossings. She showed me videos about the work that they do to support people who have spinal injuries and asked if I thought I was ready to progress to an adult team.

I chose to swam with Aspire because of their focus on safety, ethics, professionalism and their swim community... nothing comes close. In my opinion Aspire are the best. I love swimming and the video about the work that they do was really emotional. I am proud to swim for Aspire.

My swim was brilliant.  I am calm when I swim.  Swimming into daybreak was beautiful. The hardest part wasn't swimming, but when we were in bumpy waters and that made the boat rock, that was interesting!  It was windy and the boat was rocking all the time. When I tried to stand, I would need to grab on to something. All the grown ups looked after me really well.

My favourite moment of the swim was when I got to land it!  I was close last year, getting the team 23 minutes from landing, so to actually be the one to get our team to France was great!  I swam three times, with the final one being 44 minutes as I reached France.  It feels like a great achievement to swim the Channel.

My teammates were brilliant, all great fun and really helped me get through the swim. Our boat leader Steph is such a kind person and was really clear in what she needed me to do and was always helpful. POTS means my hydration has to be carefully managed. I suffered with really bad cramp in my 2025 crossing, but I didn't get any this time. Steph and my teammates worked together to plan what was needed and it all worked really well. This was a more physically challenging crossing but I felt great.

To anyone else thinking of taking on this challenge I would say if you want to achieve something, work hard.  It takes a lot of work and changes how you spend your time. If you want something just focus on it and do the work.

I have raised over £2,000 because I am very lucky to have amazing friends and family. Fundraising is hard work but worth it.  Ella at Outdoor Swimmer magazine and their community have been really kind and supportive.  The most important thing is supporting Aspire and the work that they do. I think that if you can help someone then you should.

Sponsor Alexander

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