I met Emma 8 years ago through work . She is someone I immediately warmed to - friendly, bubbly and lovely in every way and she has remained like that despite being in and out of hospital ever since I've known her.

Emma had her first operation when she was just 18 - that was 20 years ago and she has had an average of one surgery per year since then, for a host of gynaecological problems.

Four years ago she made the difficult decision to have a radical hysterectomy, removing her uterus and both ovaries - she hoped this would improve her quality of life and end the annual surgeries she required. But thanks to an incredibly rare condition called "ovarian remnant syndrome" one of the ovaries that was removed has regrown, causing her severe pain. This regrowth is causing a pelvic mass which her body is fighting, her internal organs are fusing with all the scar tissue from previous operations and she takes morphine daily for the pain.

She has been unable to work for the past year and despite being treated by and contacting several specialist centres for gynaecology in the UK she has been told that there is nothing further doctors here can do for her.

But there is a specialist surgeon in Atlanta, in the USA who has carried out over 100 successful operations on women with ovarian remnant syndrome. This month I have set myself the challenge of swimming the equivalent distance of the Channel in my local swimming pool to raise some of the £50,000 it will cost Emma to travel to Atlanta for a life-changing operation.

I will need to swim 22 miles or 1,408 lengths of a 25m pool during the month of May - an average of 45.5 lengths every single day of the month - or double that when travelling to meetings in Bristol and London prevent me from getting to the pool!

The thing that will keep me going is the thought that the treatment I'm raising money for will help Emma lead a normal life. If you are able to support me in this challenge, please donate! x