Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and to hear more about why I’m taking on this swim.

On Sunday 20th August, I will take part in the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming race. The swim is from Asia to Europe between the two halves of Istanbul. It’s a 6.5Km swim. There will be approximately 2600 people taking part in the swim. The race starts in Kanlıca by jumping in off the ferry and finishes in Kuruçeşme.

Here’s the swim website (seems to work on Chrome, but not Safari): http://bogazici.olimpiyatkomitesi.org.tr/en

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When I talk to my swimmers about their events, I like to know their ‘why’. Why are they doing the event? Why is it important to them? This becomes the thing you turn to when training gets tough.

My why…  my big brother, Philip. In October 2022, Philip died at the of 54 from a Melanoma. Upon hearing his diagnosis, I naively underestimated melanomas. It turns out I was wrong about this…   ·      

🔹Most melanomas are caused by UV exposure and 86% of cases are preventable.

🔹Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer

🔹Melanoma is the UK’s most rapidly-increasing type of cancer, with around 16,700 new cases every year

🔹Melanoma is in the top 5 most commonly diagnosed cancers in the UKIn contrast to most cancer types, melanoma occurs relatively frequently at younger ages, from 15 upwards

🔹Melanoma is the second and third most common cancer in males and females respectively, between 15-44 years of age in England

🔹Recent figures indicate that 2,333 people die each year from malignant melanoma in the UK (or about 6 people a day)

🔹Men typically have a higher lifetime risk (1 in 36) of developing melanoma, than women (1 in 47)

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Having notoriously spent a few hours swimming between 2 countries (England and France), swimming between continents was on my ‘to-swim list’.  The untimely death of Philip made me realise that life is short and to stop thinking about doing the swim at 'some point' and to just go for it. As he’s the inspiration behind it, this swim is for him.

One of our squad swimmers, Roy Pritchard, also sadly passed away from a Melanoma in January 2023. He was one of our regular squad swimmers who never missed a week until he started his cancer treatment. His widow, Julie, said that he loved his swimming and so this is also for him. 

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Why am I fundraising for Melanoma Focus? They provide support and information for the ENTIRE melanoma community: patients, carers, the public and healthcare professionals. They also commission and fund innovative research.  For more information on what they do see their recent BBC Lifeline appeal: https://melanomafocus.org/bbc-lifeline-appeal/