Last night at 8:30 I finished another 51 lengths at my local pool, bringing my counted total to 1011: I have swum the 25 km, and added a few more, just in case I had any ‘over counting errors’ over the last few weeks! (Sometimes when I’m swimming I get into a zone and forget momentarily to count – though more often than not I just go back to the last number I remember counting, so may have done a few more, rather than less!)
I had pledged to swim 25 km (1000 lengths of a 25 metre pool) for a fund-raising stint for my top ranked charity, Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have done this via Swimathon again this year. As usual I left things a bit ‘last minute’ and had only done 80 of my total by 14th February and then did nothing more until 14th March! Silly me. I had also promised myself I wouldn’t have to go out after dark, so have tried to do all the swims in the day time. This was successful except for last night… though it wasn’t dark, it was after 8!
The motivation for this swimming lark had several strands.
Firstly I’m a nurse – a district nurse – and I have seen how the support of Marie Curie nurses can really help families – the care is free to the patient and the family and this is funded primarily by charity fund-raising, supplemented in some areas by health authority funding.
Secondly, for a short while I worked for Marie Curie and so have a personal interest (I couldn’t cope with night shifts too often though and that is why I stopped)
Another more selfish motivation was to see if I could establish a regular exercise pattern that I could follow after the challenge has finished… and by telling myself I don’t have to go in an evening slot and making a regular time to go, I may have achieved this. I am certainly fitter than when I started. But can I keep it up?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Brilliant Pseu, congratulations, a wonderful acheivement for a great cause!
I’m sure you will carry it one for pleasure, it is the best form of exercise.
Well done again, we’re all proud of you 😀
Blush. 🙂
Well done Pseu 🙂
Good for you Nym,
A good cause too. Do you have fund raisers such as auctions? If so I would happily donate some pens to be bid upon.
Good for you. Pseu.
Very generous offer, Ferret.
I only usually get involved with my local Swimathon and not fund raising in general, except by the regular emptying of the local shop’s collection tin. However I’m sure your local Marie Curie office would be very glad of such an offer…
a quick search suggests you have a hospice in your area run by Marie Curie organisation
http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/en-gb/nurses-hospices/our-hospices/newcastle/
and they also offer home care:
http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/en-gb/nurses-hospices/our-hospices/newcastle/services/?Tab=3
Congratulations Pseu. That is admirable.
Still, do we not collectively value the provision of care for cancer patients? If so, how come people like you have to swim for it?
Although Marie Curie Cancer care uses ‘cancer’ in their title, they do cater for other terminally ill patients nowadays, as the provision for those patients dying slowly of diseases other than cancer wasn’t being properly catered for… even to a lesser extent than cancer patients. And yes, care for cancer patients still does rely on charity to a degree. It does seem odd when you look at the whole picture.
What is good about the care Marie Curie can offer is that it is truly individual and one to one and that is rare – so it is a very satisfying job to do. Once booked for a shift at a patients house that nurse or care assistant can give undivided attention.
Congratulations, Nude-o-swim.
Snigger!
OZ
Nym,
I made th eoffer via you so to speak.
I have already donated pens to Breast Cancer here, Royal British Legion Riders and Help for Heroes.
In truth it isn’t all that generous. If I stick a stack of business cards next to the auction lots I get a tonne of business from the unsuccessful bidders.
OZ,
I believe a cold shower is in order. 🙂
(Secretly, that was some funny shit, wish I’d thought of it.)
Well done Pseu!
Brilliant, well done!
As someone who spent the whole day yesterday raising money for charity I doff my cap.
We’re two of a kind,I’m delighted that you completed your personal challenge and raised money for a good cause.
Well done publicizing it here, (I do it all the time) you never know, some day…….
My heartfelt congrats.
Thank you all.
OZ- watch it. Or I may have to get that whip…..
Ferret, please don’t feel I’m not grateful for your offer. (It’s just I don’t think I can take on any more ‘arranging’ of anything just at the moment.)
Pseu – 😀
OZ
Nym,
Understood, you have done more than your fair share and thats for sure.
If you feel the need in th efuture, the offer will always stand.
When my niece was about ten she was cajoled into walking across the Forth Road Bridge and back about twenty times, to raise funds for a good cause. She was not pleased about it in the first place, and she was even less pleased by the end of it.
I think sponsored feats have their place, if the participant wants to do that thing anyway. Then, all in, they make a lot of people happy.
But wouldn’t it be better if good causes were financed by the people who could most afford it?
Ferret, I thank you 🙂
Julie, in an ideal world, the right care would be available at the right time and free to the user, funded by those we voted in. But it ain’t an ideal world, sadly.
How true, Pseu.