Chloe Mansfield was the bravest little girl I have ever met. She was my best friend's daughter and she died when she was only 9 months old. Chloe spent the last 6 months of her life in Great Ormond Street Hospital fighting what turned out to be in an incurable lung condition. I had the enormous privilege of getting to know Chloe on my visits to see her and her family at the hospital. Chloe endured so much but she was always a wonderfully spirited little girl and I will forever remember the warmth of her personality and her extraordinary courage. You can read more about Chloe's story as told by her family by clicking on her name above.

My memories of Chloe and of the incredible dedication, professionalism and compassion of the staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital have inspired me to take on this challenge and raise money for this fantastic cause.

The Chloe Mansfield Fund has been set up to keep Chloe’s spirit alive and with the express aim of helping to improve the lives of children who, like Chloe, are in hospital and not at home. The target is to raise £200,000 to fund a children’s playroom in the new respiratory ward currently under construction at Great Ormond Street Hospital - Chloe’s family have seen, first hand, the importance of play in helping improve the quality of life and happiness for sick children. A fantastic amount has already been raised but there is still some way to go. So thank you very much indeed for visiting this site and for any support and donations that you are able to give.

My challenge is to complete 25km of open water swimming over 4 events this summer:

Sunday 20 July - 3.5km swim in the River Thames at Hampton Court

Sunday 10 August - 14km Bridge to Bridge swim in the River Thames from Henley to Marlow

Saturday 30 August - 4.5km intercontinental swim across the Hellespont in Turkey, swimming from Europe to Asia

Saturday 27 September - 3km swim in Poole Harbour, Dorset.

The toughest challenge for me will be the 14km swim in the River Thames. It is the longest of the 4 swims by some distance and is classified as an endurance swimming event.  All of my training is designed to prepare for this swim as I have never swum anything like that far before. In June I was swimming at least 10km per week (or 400 lengths of a 25m pool) and in July it was at least 14km a week (or 560 lengths). The training has included quite a bit of open water swimming in various lakes up and down the country.

Then there's the Hellespont/Dardanelles swim in Turkey which is an iconic swim steeped in legend - close to the site of Ancient Troy I will be swimming in the wake of Leander who according to Greek mythology swam this stretch of water nightly to visit his lover Hero, and also Lord Byron who famously completed this swim in 1810. The Dardanelles is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and is closed to traffic so this event can be run once a year. With strong currents and fast-changing weather conditions, this could be another significant challenge for me.

The remaining two swims complete the challenge to get me to my 25km overall target. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this story and for any support and donations that you are able to give. It really means a lot to me and Chloe's family and you will be making a real difference to future generations of children at Great Ormond Street Hospital.