THE MOTIVATION

Inspired by the strength and determination of my son Joshua, and his extraordinary journey through three rounds of open heart surgery from the ages of 11 weeks, 4 years and 13 years old, I have felt compelled to do something equally amazing in order to raise funds for the truly brilliant Royal Brompton Fountain charity.

THE CHALLENGE

As a keen swimmer since I was a boy, the thought of swimming the English Channel has always been a great fascination. So in the autumn of 2022 I challenged my friend and colleague Tom Gregory, a veteran of channel swimming, to form a channel swim team of six from our department at work to make the crossing this year.

Fast forward nine months and an intrepid team of 6 swimmers has been formed, and we are about to embark on our swim in September 2023 to raise funds for a great cause.

Each swimmer will swim for one hour, and then the next swimmer takes over until we get to France. The length of swim and timing will be entirely dependent on the tide strength and weather. We will also do a decent shift swimming in the dark!!

THE CHARITY

The Brompton Fountain is the children’s charity at Royal Brompton Hospital supporting cardiac, respiratory and critical care. The charity works closely with the teams within the paediatric intensive care unit, high dependency unit, children's ward, play services, family liaison and wider, multidisciplinary departments.

It provides a wide range of vital resources, funds medical equipment, accommodation, parent / carer amenities, improvements to the hospital facilities and projects and services to support young patients and their families which are not funded by the NHS. The charity ensures that patients who are undergoing lifesaving heart surgery and invasive procedures have access to the latest medical equipment and specialist resources to enhance the care they receive, aid their recovery, and promote wellbeing.

YOUR SUPPORT

By supporting this event you will be providing great inspiration to our team of six as we embark on our 33 km (20.5-mile) swim across the Channel.

Most importantly you will providing practical support, funding world class facilities and crucially helping to giving hope and joy to the children and their families undergoing critical and life changing surgery.

I thank you for your support!