In September 2016 I was lucky enough to go to the Rio Paralympics with Channel 4 and call it work. What it really was, was an experience of a lifetime.

Surrounded by professional athletes it's hard not to be inspired to do some exercise yourself, so each morning I would get up and swim a mile in the hotel's pool, and every day without fail a lady in a wheelchair would wheel up to the top floor, ease herself out of her chair, into the pool and lap me. 

Some days I woke up and thought about not going for a swim, but then I thought about the effort she had gone to to even get out of bed and get to the pool, and I realised I didn't really have a good excuse not to go. 

Every Paralympic athlete has their own story, but what struck me about meeting so many of them was not their utter fearlessness, or their brilliant self-deprecating humour, but the fact that winning a medal was just one of the many incredible achievements they had done that day. They really were Super Humans.

So I've decided to swim the Channel this September as part of a relay team in aid of a charity called Aspire who work with people with spinal injuries to help them gain independence by providing them with specialist equipment like wheelchairs, accessible housing, and the professional support they need after an injury leaves them paralysed. 

If you need further convincing have a watch of The Last Leg's highlights of the Paralympics and if you can spare some money please donate. 

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4/videos/10153701959042330/?pnref=story

You could help change someone's life. Plus I'd appreciate your support to swim through all that sewage!

THANK YOU!