Five years ago an undiagnosed spinal cord tumour haemorrhaged during the birth of my son, Joey, catapulting me and my family into the world of spinal cord injury. Although I’m the one with the spinal cord injury, seeing the impact on those nearest and dearest to me has, at times, been hard. My daughter Ellie was three when it all happened. She’s now an amazing eight-year-old, and we decided to sign up to the Aspire Channel Swim to take on a challenge together, to support the spinal cord injury community.

Sustaining a spinal cord injury with a young family comes with its own set of distinct challenges. Feelings of guilt and inadequacy as a mother rear their ugly heads now and again, needing time and perspective to settle them. For a number of reasons this year has been difficult, prompting a cycle of fragile mental health leading to a lack of motivation to exercise. But if there’s one thing I’ve discovered in the last five years, it’s that I do have resilience. I can pick myself back up, with the support of my family. That’s the secondary reason for participating in this challenge, to give myself a goal to get back in the water, for all the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of keeping active. 

I love swimming. I was fortunate enough to do my rehab somewhere with a hydrotherapy pool, which allowed me the freedom and weightlessness to move in ways I couldn’t on land.

My first excursion out of rehab into the real world was taking the bus, with my physio, to the leisure centre for a swim. It gave me the confidence that this was something I’d be able to do independently back home. Since then I’ve swum regularly in my local pool at Clissold in London’s Hackney, to maintain my mobility, and it’s been a joy to see Ellie get the swimming bug too. It’s early days for Joey (he’s only five, after all), though I’m hopeful of signing him up for a future Aspire Channel Swim challenge in the years to come.  

In fact this is already the second fundraising challenge my daughter has participated in. You’re never too young to start! In 2021 we organised a 100m fun run with 30 of her friends (four and five year olds) to raise money for the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA), where I was a trustee at the time. Previously I’ve also taken on the Superhero Series triathlon for both SIA and Horatio’s Garden, recognising the valuable support all the spinal injury charities provide to our community. 

When it comes to fundraising, I try to share my story in a truthful, authentic way, to create an emotional connection with people who come across it. I’ve found that’s the best way to engage family, friends, colleagues and connections, meaning it’s more likely they’ll want to cheer me on and donate to a good cause.

That and keeping up the momentum, so sharing across different platforms, with different ‘hooks’ and at different times during the challenge. It’s always encouraging to see donations continue to trickle in, after the first big push.

Whilst Ellie and I have now reached our fundraising target of £1,000, we’re not stopping there. We’re a little behind on distance due to recent illness, so we’ve got some making up to do. Continuing to raise awareness of our challenge and see that total number rise is the boost we both need to keep ourselves going. Wish us luck!

Sponsor Claire and Ellie

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