Your inspiring and emotional replies to our ‘amazing’ #LoveSwimming campaign

A number of people have been inspired to share emotional stories across Swim England’s social media channels following the latest #LoveSwimming campaign.

Moving Medicine called for doctors to consider prescribing swimming to aid illness and medical conditions.

It featured people who had been battling with a number of health conditions revealing how the benefits of being in the water had helped them recover from a variety of ailments

And comments posted on the Swim England Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages showed how a taking dip in the pool had helped others too.

Anna Helm replied to one of the first Facebook posts and shared the moving story of her son.

She wrote: “Such an amazing campaign! We unfortunately lost our eldest son after a two-and-a-half year battle with osteosarcoma recently. But swimming was something that he could carry on doing up until the later stages of his disease.

“He was an above knee amputee and I’m not going to lie, he wasn’t overly enthusiastic about going swimming (nor physio of any type at age 12/13 – he found these things ‘boring’) but it was something that he was still able to do and at quite some pace, unlike riding a bike or running, which he simply could not do any more.

“It wasn’t advised to us as such, but as he was part of a swimming club before diagnosis, I knew it would keep him active and get him out of the house, helping him both physically and mentally 💛.

“His brothers still swim & are part of a great swimming club, which I think has helped them keep fit and focused through their grief.”

I already do! It’s not suitable for everyone and not always met with enthusiasm but explaining the benefits and navigating around the practicalities helps

— Dr Amilia Alifrangis (@dr_amilia) April 2, 2019

Replying to a post about Helen Bull’s story, Tracy Hedley said: “I’ve done the same. My cancer left me with double vision and hip pain but I was able to occlude one eye in my goggles so swimming gave me the freedom to see in single vision without anybody being aware.

“In addition to my full time job as a pharmacy technician, I am a volunteer swim coach/ teacher but have spent the past 12 months using swimming to bring my own fitness back.

“I’ve taught myself new skills and even my hubby joins me sometimes. I feel so much better and my teaching has improved as a result of being in the water myself twice a week. Good Luck Helen. X”

Laura Whyte was inspired by Wanda’s story and wrote: “This really resonated with me – I have severe spinal degeneration and arthritis and being in the pool is the only time that I am not in pain!

“I have now gone on to recently qualify as a level two teacher and also a lifeguard so that I can share my passion and love of swimming with others. Beautiful story and thank you for sharing ❤.”

I’ve recently started learning to swim with @TurnerSwim and love it. I’ve still some way to go but as a 60 year old who had never had a swimming lesson before, I feel really pleased that I made the decision to learn, scary though it was at first.

— Jill Elizabeth Waite (@Jill_W_17) April 7, 2019

Sarah Shanahan shared her knowledge about Haemophilia, which is a rare condition that affects the blood’s ability to clot, saying: “The Haemophilia Society UK promote swimming as it is the number one best exercise for haemophiliacs, allowing them to strengthen muscles surrounding joints without putting as much pressure on the joints.

“Lots of haemophiliacs struggle with spontaneous joint and muscle bleeding when exercising so swimming really helps to alleviate the stress on the joint.

“My boys are both haemophiliacs and my daughter is a possible carrier of the gene – they all swim, the older two are competitive swimmers and LOVE IT!”

Swimming can help with a number of different aspects, including healing injuries as Keeley Twycross shared.

She said: “I am a swimming teacher. I had a really bad knee injury two months ago as I fell down some concrete steps and I couldn’t put any weight on my knee.

“I was off work for two days but when I went back, I went swimming to gradually get my knee moving and it really worked and healed a lot faster.”

Constant sore back? For Paul, #swimming was the answer.🏊 #LoveSwimming
Find your nearest pool 👉 https://t.co/vSjRga6X3Cpic.twitter.com/W4emcT06UT

— Swim England (@Swim_England) April 5, 2019

We also asked people to share their reasons why they #LoveSwimming.

Rebekka Gill wrote: “I #loveswimming because it has been my life since I was little. It’s always been my favourites sport and has always been my escape.

“The methodological rhythm of swimming length after length has been the best therapy at times for me. Time to process my thoughts. I also work for my swimming club and by the end of the summer, if all goes to plan, I’ll be a fully qualified swimming teacher at just 18!

“Swimming is more than just a sport to me; it’s a life skill, job, a passion and a community I’m proud to be a part of ❤.”

Leah Cozens wasn’t sure if she would ever swim, but posted on our Facebook page: “I love swimming because it was something I always wanted to do, but I was scared of the water and truly thought I’d never be able to do it.

“I never learnt, but at age 35, I decided to have some swimming lessons and three years on, I swim four times a week and absolutely love it.”