2023-08-18 04:36:00
A young woman named Sophie is about to swim the English Channel with her body aching even from the touch of water. This 31-year-old, who lives in Godmanchester, England, started this adventure by challenging her own illness. Sophie Etheridge is hoping that the challenge of swimming the English Channel will shed new light on her life.
Sophie was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2011. It is a condition where the whole body hurts. Pain when sitting, standing or walking. Sophie was an excellent swimmer in her youth. In 2011, he was unable to swim due to a car accident. Fibromyalgia comes after this accident.
As her whole body was in pain, even Sophie was confined to a wheelchair. Often even peaceful sleep is impossible due to the pain. The pains were unbearable and constant. Sophie put aside many things she loved for fear of pain. Although Sophie loves swimming, she hesitates to continue it for fear of body pain.
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In addition to the pain, Sophie also suffered years of mental turmoil. After years, the thought of swimming again comes to Sophie because she can’t bear the stress. Sitting, standing, walking, even lying down is painful. If one touches water or a light wind blows, the pain will increase. Sophie realized that there was no way forward in life except to challenge this. With that, he decided to resume swimming.
After deciding to swim, getting into the water was a difficult task for Sophie. Sophie felt a lot of pain when she put her foot down in the water of the swimming pool for five minutes. But with the desire to swim, he slowly got closer to the water. It took almost two months to be able to swim slowly with pain. When swimming, the whole body feels like it’s tingling. However, the mental joy and peace that comes through it is immense. So Sophie wants to continue swimming despite the pain. Sophie still cannot use her legs while swimming. Sophie swims with only her hands to avoid excruciating pain.
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People with physical disabilities participate in competitions like swimming very rarely. Tired of swimming alone, Sophie started a group in 2021 called the Adaptive and Disabled Open Water Swimmers Group. It now has about a thousand members. Sophie gives them all the help they need to overcome their limitations in swimming. Sophie has also passed STA Level-2 Open Water Coaching in 2021.
English Channel is 48 km away. Swimming can be difficult if the weather is not favorable. But these are only preliminary challenges for Sophie. Sophie wants to be an inspiration to those suffering from fibromyalgia. Sophie Etheridge is also aiming to raise funds to provide swimming lessons to help people like her through this swim challenge.
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Content Summary: woman plans solo channel swim with her arms only
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