This summer our Head of Regulatory, Janet Worrell and two friends have set up a series of swimming challenges to help raise money and awareness of the unseen challenges of cancer treatments and equipment for haematology wards in Nottingham.

Janet says “Two friends and I have decided to organise a couple of swimming events, with Cotgrave Leisure Centre and Love Open Water Nottingham, and a few more in between. We are doing this to raise funds for equipment for the haematology wards in Nottingham. Our friend Suzie, a fellow swimmer, has spent most of the last 12 months on her own in isolation, following Acute Myeloid Leukaemia diagnosis.

Suzie has just had a transplant and its early days. She spent 2021 in one ward in the Nottingham City Hospital in isolation because of AML, compounded by COVID meant no visitors. There are not enough TVs and equipment to keep people sane during long periods of isolation so, we have decided to start fundraising doing something we learnt to enjoy 12 months ago – Open Water Swimming.

Our first event is in the local swimming pool and we are aiming to swim the length of Grantham Canal – near where Suzie lives, a target of 33 miles during a two hour session.

We/I aim to double my open water distance from 2k (80 lengths of 25m pool) to 4K (160 lengths) by August. I have now started to swim at least 250 lengths each week indoors and 3-5K outdoors by August. We swam all through winter, with water temperatures dipping to 2.6C – there was ice one morning, doing at least 400m each time. It has been exhilarating to say the least. 

Our final challenge will be to get the swimming community at Love Open Water Nottingham to swim 2112 laps of the lake to swim the length of the River Trent in September.”