This year my friend Jill and I have decided to take on the Dart10, the UK’s original marathon distance swim and a truly epic challenge. This is the swimmer’s equivalent of running a marathon – it is much longer than my usual pool swims and will take months of pool swimming, open water swimming and weight training sessions to build the stamina we need.

I could not ask for a better partner than Jill to take on this challenge with. Jill is generous with her time and her expertise (having done even bigger swims than this!) and has been an endless source of support, encouragement, kindness and good humour. We are excited to take this on to help little Finley, and every stroke will be powered by that purpose.

We are raising money for my friends Gemma and Keith’s little boy Finley who is just four years old. We are hoping to raise enough to get him to SwimLab in Laznarote, for a week of pioneering hydrotherapy treatment that will help with his recovery.

Finley was born with a rare lymphatic malformation which affects his airway. He has a tracheostomy to breathe which severely affects his, and his parents’ daily lives. After spending six months in hospital after his birth, Keith and Gemma found it hard adjusting to life as medical parents. Their aim was to always give Finley as normal a life as possible and despite the challenges he faced he was living life with gusto – talking, walking, eating, attending mainstream nursery and heading to mainstream school in 2026.

Devastatingly everything changed in January 2025 when Finley suffered a massive tonic clonic seizure, completely out of the blue and not linked to his existing condition. His seizure lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes. He then developed a rare radiological state called ALERD (acute leukoencephalopathy with restricted diffusion) which required intravenous immunoglobin and steroids. He spent several weeks on a ventilator again in Southampton’s PICU, heavily sedated and paralysed.

An MRI on his brain after the IV treatments showed catastrophic damage to his entire brain. Neurologists told Gemma and Keith that he wouldn’t make any more of a recovery that where he was at that time, which was having no function and suffering dozens of seizures and painful dystonia every day. Little Finley went from being a charming, lively, engaging, intelligent and hilarious toddler to being unable to eat, drink, move, walk, talk, sit up, hold his head up or even eye track. It was utterly heartbreaking for everyone who knows Finley and his family.

Finley was discharged on April 7th 2025 after three long months and since then Keith and Gemma have dedicated every moment of their lives to Finley’s recovery, including a three month long stay at a residential rehabilitation centre in Surrey. Along with the weekly physio, OT and speech and language therapy Finley receives at his specialist school setting, Gemma and Keith also take Finley to highly specialist DMI physio, private speech and language therapy, hydrotherapy, play therapy and a chiropractor. Each appointment costs anything from £45 for 15 minutes to £100+ for an hour. There are also numerous pieces of equipment that Finley would benefit from having that aren’t funded by the NHS.

Any funds raised here will go directly towards getting Finley to SwimLab for pioneering hydrotherapy treatment which will help Finley in his recovery. Gemma and Keith, along with their friends and family, including myself, are determined to give Finley the very best chance at regaining as many of his lost skills as he can. To date (March 2026), thanks to these intensive therapies, Finley is now able to eat again, drink from a sippy cup, sit unsupported, reach for and hold items, and stand with minimal support. He’s proving all of the doctors wrong with how much he has achieved already and will no doubt continue to do so.

Thank you in advance for your support and generosity. It really means the world to me and to Finley’s family.