Every four hours someone in the UK suffers a life changing spinal cord injury.

I'm an junior doctor and have been working in North West London throughout the pandemic, but not work in Dorset on the respiratory team. I'm taking on this challenged inspired by my sister and my dad who have swum the channel (relay and solo respectively) and the life changing work of Aspire. I'll be joined by my 6 teammates swimming 1 hour legs across the channel (swimsuit only - no wetsuits allowed!). We will be swimming through the dark, on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, navigating challenging tides and all the jellyfish you could want.

I've been training throughout lockdown with whatever means possible, using bathtubs, paddling pools and cold showers. Now that things have opened up I'm swimming up to 6 times a week. Some of my training swims have been in water as cold as 8 degrees.

I'm keen to help the work of Aspire who've lost a big source of their revenue with the closure of their leisure centre during lockdowns. Aspire is a charity who help those with life changing spinal cord injuries regain their independence. They are and have been a shining light for many through these difficult times and I hope by taking part in this relay I can support their efforts  as well as spread the news of their good work which you can read about here: https://www.aspire.org.uk/Pages/Category/who-we-are

Please donate what you can when you can! Not only will you be helping individuals reach their goals in life, you'll also be helping me reach mine. Your support will keep me motivated to go for cold swims throughout this busy year - rather than just stay in bed between shifts...

Feel free to ask me any questions/set me a challenge! I will be posting regular updates on my social media pages. 

We also have a team page "Aspire bulldogs" on Instagram where you can have live updates on our swim.

**We set off 5/9/21 at 2300 on boat Suva, track us at cspf.co.uk/swim-routes**

Thank you