Hi, Thanks for taking the time to visit ! On July 28th 2024 I will be swimming the Solent froms Stokes Bay to Ryde Sands. Why you may well ask ! Well, in 2019 I fell from a horse, nothing unusal in that, however, what i didnt realise was that I had actually broken my back in 3 places. I managed to continue doing sports ( triathlons and running mostly ) until one day entering the swim part of a tri may back seized up. I decided to dive and complete the tri even though I was in quite a lot of pain. To cut a ( VERY) long story short, my dr thought i had a slipped disc so in June 2020 I had my first operation. However, this did not help and i was gradually loosing the ablity to walk ( driving was out of the question so I couldnt work) my surgeon sent me for an IRM and we were all shocked to see my back has 3 vertabrae factured. I was then put in a corset for 3 months, I was living on morphine and in constant pain. I was bed bound and had a 50 50 chance of ever being able to walk and function again. My 2nd operation was in Feb 2021 and this time It was a 9hr op with pins put in my spine and bone from my hip inbetween the vertabrae to fuse that part of my spine. I was told that i was looking at being in a wheelchair after. I then had 2 monhs of intensive reeducation every day which brought me to tears. Part of my reeducation was swimming... I have always loved swimming ( growing up on an Island its in the blood !!) and I decided to really concentrate on this as it was great at building up muscle in my back. Because of my love of swimming, my back has healed so well that even my surgeon is amazed ! I now swim as often as is possible and compete in various swims during the year. This challenge is something very close to my heart, as I grew up on the IOW and I feel this is the perect charity to complete this challenge with. I walked again, some dont, lets help them as spinal cord injuries are so deblitating and the pure courage and sheer motivation just to get through each day is so hard. Thanks for reading my story, please if you can donate, I will post progress on my training and as the time gets nearer I will also post my screaming as I train in the freezing sea !!!