“Swimming for The National Brain Appeal.”

Thank you so much for visiting my fundraising page and for supporting this swim in aid of The National Brain Appeal.

What began as a childhood love of swimming became one of the most important tools in my own recovery from a traumatic brain injury. I’m swimming this distance to support The National Brain Appeal and the life-changing work they do for people living with brain injury.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure.

Once you donate, your contribution will go directly to The National Brain Appeal, helping to support world-leading research, treatment and rehabilitation for people living with neurological conditions and brain injury.

The swim challenge:

For this virtual swimming challenge, I will be swimming a total distance of:

67 km 403 m

From:

Agaete, Gran Canaria

To:

Santa Cruz de Tenerife

(Canary Islands, Spain)

I will complete the distance across a series of pool swims, tracking the full journey virtually.

About me:

I am an Andalusian-born British writer and director. My work includes projects for National Geographic, the BBC, Discovery Channel, Channel 4 and Animal Planet.

I learned to swim when I was four years old, and for much of my life swimming has been a constant — a place of focus, freedom and endurance.

In 2017, a sports-related accident resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and for a long time swimming was no longer a given.

Recovery meant rebuilding from the ground up — including learning how to swim again, step by step, with the help of a great team of consultants, multidisciplinary specialist rehabilitation, and my swimming coach, the one and only Keeley Bullock (Swim For Tri).

Swimming has ultimately become the most important tool in my neurological recovery — not just physically, but cognitively and emotionally.

Why The National Brain Appeal:

The National Brain Appeal supports the extraordinary work of clinicians and researchers at Queen Square, where I’ve received crucial care as part of my own recovery. Their work transforms lives — helping people not only survive brain injury, but regain independence, identity and hope.

This swim is a small way of giving something back.

Previous virtual swim challenges:

Over the years, my completed virtual swimming challenges have included:

• The English Channel (35 km)

• Florida to Cuba (174 km)

• The Sea of Cortés (257.5 km)

• Around the island of Ibiza (210 km)

• Lake Victoria (404 km)

• The Suez Canal (162 km)

• The Mediterranean coastline of Gaza (41 km)

• The Dardanelles Strait (61 km)

Thank you so much for your support — every donation, message and shared link genuinely means more than I can say.

With thanks to the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square; the Audiology and Vestibular Services at St George’s Hospital; the staff at the Fitzrovia Medical Centre, London; and Natasha Luthra and the team at Cutler and Gross, Spitalfields, for their consistent clinical and rehabilitative support throughout my recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Particular thanks to my concussion specialist MSK physiotherapist, Dr Theo Farley (Pure Sports Medicine), and to brain injury specialist coach Keeley Bullock (Swim for Tri), for keeping me moving forward — patiently, intelligently, and humanly — through the many ups and downs of my TBI recovery.