ESSA U15 World Championships 2025 - Serbia

Hi, I am Amy's mum, Lisa.

We are hoping to raise some funds to get Amy to the ESSA school U15 World Swimming championships in Serbia, April 2025.

We have had a lot of lovely things happen for Amy over the past 6 weeks, this comes after a very challenging 2 years of fighting to get what Amy needs in education and her every day life.

Something I have known since Amy was very small, she encounters a few hurdles and challenges in her every day life. Something I have brought up with teachers and professionals and have been brushed off.

On the transition to high school in 2022, it was very obvious I needed to seek some answers.

Initially she was diagnosed with Coeliacs disease in 2022, which is obvs a very common condition. Next came the Dyslexia diagnosis in 2022, again a very common condition which a lot of children have to deal with.

We then took Amy to see an Educational psychologist in 2023 to look into any other conditions, and to be assessed for an S14 para swimmer classification. After a long assessment by a lovely psychologist in Leeds, he called me into the room to inform me that Amy certainly meets the criteria and is well within the limits.

S14 swimmers have an intellectual impairment, which typically leads to the athletes having difficulties with regards to pattern recognition, sequencing, and memory, or having a slower reaction time, which impact on sport performance in general.

Finally we were getting some answers.

I then looked into getting more support for Amy with school through Bury council but was turned away.

Amy was also referred to Occupational therapy, she was seen by a lovely lady who performed some tests on her, Amy was diagnosed with hyper mobility in her wrists and fingers.

When Amy saw the psychologist in Leeds, he mentioned it maybe worth getting Amy assessed for ASD, something I have known for years.

Amy was seen by a lovely psychologist in September 2023, who assessed Amy for ASD, this process involved a number of professionals and talking to a number of people involved in Amys every days life. Observations in school etc.

To received that phone call in Dec 2023, informing me Amy had a diagnosis of ASD to be honest moved the floor underneath me. I knew but had been brushed off for years.

We had another year of fighting to get through with Bury Council to get the right support in place for Amy at school which thankfully just prior to Christmas is now in place.

Amy is a wonderful girl, feisty, typical teen, when she wants something she really goes for it and usually gets it. We couldn't be more proud of her. I am in no doubt she will achieve her dreams, she just needs additional support to get there and it may take her a little longer than the average kid.

British Swimming have been fantastic, she is on the Age Group development talent programme for 2024/25 season with her para.

We have just found out she has made the consideration times for an event later this year, but I will cross that bridge when we get to it.

The cost of these trips, training fees, racing suits, hotels just to name a few is already an expense we deal with day to day.

This trip would be fabulous for her confidence, motivation, drive to succeed and international race experience. We would be eternally grateful for any support given to Amy to get to Serbia.

I have mixed feelings about setting this up. We are determined to pay forward whatever we receive and come up with some ideas to fundraise for a charity (ies). Amy is a huge dog lover, so an option would be to raise some money for an animal sanctuary possibly.

The photo on Amy's fundraising page here is Toto, her pooch, and her registered support animal.