“It was the most wonderful, wonderful experience! It shouldn’t have been. We were all freezing and it was raining non-stop, but there was this fantastic energy and atmosphere. I’d never met these people before but if felt very close-knit and friendly. It was lovely. I knew immediately I had to do it again.”
That was Samantha Brett talking about last year’s Macmillan Lido Challenge at Tooting Bec. And she is, of course,
signed up for the 2015 edition, which takes place on 3 October.
As a cancer survivor, Sam is well acquainted with the brilliant work done by Macmillan. Back in 1998, age 12, she underwent a year’s worth of chemo and radiotherapy for Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. When the tumour on her pelvis was finally found, after months of illness, pain, scans and tests, it was already the size of a grapefruit and crushing the nerves leading into her left leg.
Sam recovered, but the
damage to her nerve was permanent leaving her lacking feeling in her left leg and foot. For years she used this as an excuse to avoid PE at school and generally neglect her fitness.
“I became very sensitive and emotional about sport,” she says.
Following university, Sam took up a post working in a school for children with special needs.
“I realised I needed more energy if I was going to be able to do the job properly and as I had an option for free gym membership
with the job it was the perfect opportunity to start exercising again.”
Swimming quickly became her preferred form of exercise.
“Before I got ill I know I enjoyed swimming, so it seemed natural to go back to it,” she says. “I feel comfortable in the water. It feels normal, in contrast to running for example where I think I look weird, I’m under pressure and I go really slowly.”
Sam started with breaststroke but after being continuously overtaken by front crawl
swimmers decided she wanted to learn how to do it. So she turned to the internet, Google and YouTube and studied everything she could find on-line.
“On my first attempt at front crawl I managed half a length. I’m sure it looked terrible. However, over time I managed to build up to a length and now all I ever do is front crawl. I feel so much more graceful in the water and think I look like I know what I’m doing. It’s absolutely brilliant to feel competent at something, especially a
sport.”
Taking on the Macmillan Lido challenge seemed an obvious next step. She trained hard and completed the 2014 swim in just under 50 minutes, a time she was thrilled with.
“I’d like to beat that this year, but exercise has taken a bit of back seat this year due to work commitments so it’s going to be tough,” she says.
Sam also notes that the water temperature at Tooting Bec is already colder than when she did the swim last year.
“Once I get going, I
don’t actually mind the cold so much but it hurts my face to begin with. It’s already down to 14 degrees, which takes your breath away.”
As well as the Lido Challenge, Macmillan is also the official charity partner for Great Swim, so is Sam tempted by an open water challenge?
“Not yet,” she says. “But maybe one day I can build up to it. I have swum in the Serpentine a couple of times but I didn’t like how dark it was and I felt very disorientated. However, I do like swimming
in the sea.”
Having done the swim last year and pestered her friends on several occasions for fund raising challenges Sam has set herself a relatively modest target of £200 for this year – 10p for ever metre she swims. You can help her achieve this at:
https://www.justgiving.com/sammy-brett-lido2015/(Note:
Closing date for entries is 30 September)
