Until a couple of months ago I had never heard of shallow water blackout, and I wish I still didn’t know what it was. But earlier in August this year, my friend Ed tragically died whilst travelling in Australia. 

Ed was one of the most adventurous, dynamic and exciting people i knew. Losing him has been a huge shock for anyone who knew him. I miss him a lot and am still processing it everyday.

Whilst I do that I want to do something positive, to help raise money for this brilliant charity. I’ve decided that in ten weeks from now (3rd january) I’m gonna run a marathon around the malvern hills, where Ed and I had some great times. 

Please donate and share if you can. I’m gonna do weekly updates so you can check on my progress and see how it’s going - never done this before so I’m a bit nervous!

Love Ava  x 

About the charity:

Shallow Water Blackout Prevention was founded by Dr Rhonda Milner and her husband Gene "Dusty" Milner after their son, Gene Whitner Milner, III drowned in their backyard pool on April 17, 2011. At the time of his death Whitner was practicing prolonged breath-holding to prepare himself to go spearfishing in the Bahamas the following week. Dr Milner ran our organization along with Britt Jackson, the Executive Director, until they hired Dean E. Haller as the Executive Director on June 1, 2016. Dean and his wife Sandy lost their son "Benjo" on August 1, 2014 while he was practicing prolonged breath-holding spearfishing in the Bahamas. He was in 7 feet of water.Both Whitner and Benjo drowned after succumbing to a shallow water blackout (SWB) (also known as a hypoxic blackout or underwater blackout/faint), which is triggered by prolonged breath-holding. Our 2 families along with volunteer "Ambassadors" from the US, Australia, the Netherlands and the UK work together to end SWB.