Swimming the extra mile for charity

TAKING the plunge . . . Fiona Southall

sisters Fiona Southall and Rebekhae Lindsay will undertake the challenge of a lifetime when they take to the deep, cold waters of Windermere.

The pair will plunge into the 220ft deep lake in an event which is expected to see around 10,000 swimmers ploughing through the waves.

Neither sister has done anything like it before, and their biggest fears? “Apart from having a panic attack midway and drowning, we are quite scared of the large pike in there,” said Fiona.

“They can be three feet long and we are scared of them nibbling our toes.”

But, said Fiona (39): “If people with cancer can overcome the chemicals that poison their body with chemotherapy, then surely we can overcome our fear of deep water, lake monsters and blue-green algae.

“We are just hoping we can do the mile and we don’t come in last.”

The pair are taking part in the Great North Swim to raise money for The Christie Hospital.

The mother of 12-year-old Martha, Fiona, of Scowcroft Lane, knows only too well how the hospital helps cancer victims.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago, and underwent surgery at the Royal Oldham Hospital, then chemotherapy and radiotherapy at The Christie.

It was Fiona’s idea to do the charity swim, and she recalled the reaction of Rebeckhae (36), who has two children, Izaak (16) and Jonah (13), and lives in Worsley Place, when she told her of her plans.

“She said ‘swim a mile cross Windermere? With fish? Are you mad?’ but she went home and had a glass of wine and decided she would take up the challenge too.”

The sisters have successfully swam a mile — 53 lengths — of Oldham Pool in preparation, as well as driving to Windermere “to see what a mile looks like”, and visiting an aquarium to get a closer look at the fish they may be swimming alongside.

Fiona is now in remission, and last year climbed Ben Nevis to raise money for Oldham Cancer Support Centre.

She said: “The treatment I got from The Christie was just excellent. I really felt in safe hands, the care from all the staff was fantastic,

“This is my way of saying thank-you, and I am also doing it because the mother of a close friend is currently having chemotherapy for lung cancer.”

The three-day Great North Swim starts tomorrow when swimmers cast off in droves of 300 to swim either half a mile, a mile or two-mile routes.

The sisters will swim on Saturday at 12.30pm, and people can sponsor them at www.justgiving.com/maud jane.