“I couldn’t swim before April...now I’m swimming 750m in Loch Lomond” Claire shares her “Go Swim” fundraising challenge.
Fundraising for Cystic Fibrosis 
My partner has a son who has cystic fibrosis, so I’ve always wanted to fundraise for CF. I’ve seen that medical advances have come a long way in the past couple years, especially with the new medicine Kaftrio, it’s just made such a difference. So I thought it would be a good thing to fundraise for, and also because the Trust is such an amazing charity! When I first found out about CF, the life expectancy was around 20 years, and now with the medical advances, the age range has gone up significantly so I think it’s even more important to be able to fund new research, but also to fundraise for the CF community as well.
About Go Swim
I found out about the Go Swim fundraising challenge on the Trust’s website. There’s the 'Get Involved’ and ‘Events’ pages on there and one of the events listed was Go Swim, so I just clicked on it and signed up for it. I will be swimming 750 meters in Loch Lomond in Scotland and I actually started this challenge from scratch. Back in April, I couldn’t swim at all, and I just thought that if I do something different it would bring in a lot more sponsors than if I decided to skydive or something like that. I felt like something different and something a bit more challenging would be the perfect thing for people to actually want to sponsor.
It was definitely a little bit scary. It is, however, much more satisfying because you’re taking on this big challenge and it has been a huge achievement to be able to do it at all. And even at the end of it, it will still make such a difference in my life. So I have actually really enjoyed preparing for it.
Claire
Training for the challenge 
It wasn’t too bad actually. I started off in pools, and found an adult swimming instructor, then started taking swimming lessons there. Then once I was done with that, and I could swim a little, I started training in open water. I did do lots of training for it, but I live in London and the Go Swim is in Scotland, so the open water temperature difference is quite a significant drop. It will roughly be about 15 degrees there, and I’ve been swimming in about 22-23 degrees here so it will be cold for sure!
Overcoming the fear
It was definitely a little bit scary. It is, however, much more satisfying because you’re taking on this big challenge and it has been a huge achievement to be able to do it at all. And even at the end of it, it will still make such a difference in my life. So I have actually really enjoyed preparing for it. But it can still be quite nerve wracking sometimes. Now, I’m excited but also nervous. I’m definitely excited that I’ve raised quite a bit of money for the Trust already so that’s pretty good! My initial goal was £500 and I didn’t think that I would raise that much, but now it’s up to about £3400, so it’s amazing really! Plus I’ve never done any fundraising before this swim so it’s sort of my first big fundraiser.
Advice for others starting their fundraising journey
Just believe in yourself! Because I couldn’t swim before April, every month while preparing I thought that it might be a little bit too much of a challenge. But have a think about it, believe in yourself, and if you believe you can do it then you’ll be able to do it. It’s obviously a brilliant thing and I’m just so glad that I’ve raised a good amount for the Trust.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic condition which causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system. It affects more than 10,800 people in the UK. One in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it, usually without knowing.
Since 1964, we've supported people with cystic fibrosis to live longer, healthier lives - and we won’t stop until everyone can live without limits imposed by CF.
Fundraising carried out by our community helps us fund vital research and support those living with CF. Find out more about what you can do to help everyone with CF live a life unlimited.
