UPDATED 11 Aug 22: She smashed the swim!
UPDATE: PAN is happy to report all went to plan for Pauls’s Loch Ness challenge last week and thanks for all the PAN readers helping to raise over £5000 of an original target of £4000 for Cancer Research UK.
Paula told PAN: “I have been training since November (acclimatising in the local lakes) and all mum/wife duties have been put on hold. Thank goodness I have a wonderful family. All the training went amazingly to plan until about six weeks before the event when one of my back muscles gave way. Trying to follow a training plan with the advice of my osteopath was tough and I went into the event knowing in my head I could do it but very fearful of how much pain I might be in and whether my 54-year-old body would hold out.”
“I started at 5am with beautiful, clear conditions which shortly became dense fog for a couple of hours. Dense fog on Loch Ness, very spooky! It was very disorientating and I kept being told off by the crew for swimming away from the boat.”
“Thankfully, after the fog lifted, things settled down and it was sunny weather until a 3-hour downpour towards the end. The whole time I was very aware of my niggly muscle but thankfully at no time did it give up on me.”
“I had two official crew on board the boat plus my husband Jason, who said he worked harder than me(!) preparing half-hourly feeds and updating everyone on social media. The stars aligned – and I finished the swim in 14 hours and 46 mins and have never been so relieved to see dry land. I literally crawled up the beach to my group of supporters who were shouting and cheering. I’m officially retired now……. Until next time! Thank you again for your incredible support. Much love. Paula x”
If you would like to donate to Cancer Research UK you can still do so via Paula’s Just Giving page.
First PublishedJuly 25 2022: A remarkable swimming challenge will be taking place on Lock Ness next week by Paula Foreman a friend of the PAN office.
Paula is a friend and work college of my wife Katharine. Katharine’s cancer has returned. Paula will be attempting to swim the cold, gruelling, 23 mile length of Loch Ness in aid of Cancer Research after hearing Katharine’s cancer journey.
From Paula’s Just Giving page: ‘Paula was deciding on which charity to represent when she met a newly found work friend. On their second meet, Katharine told Paula that there was something that had been so much a part of her life, she wanted Paula to be aware so that she could get to understand her better as a friend.’
‘KC went on to explain that her cancer story started in 2013 with breast cancer and a full mastectomy – in 2014 she had bowel cancer and underwent a bowel resection. In 2015 the bowel cancer had metastasised to her liver and she had a liver resection. in 2018 the bowel cancer was found in her lungs which over the next 2 years resulted in 3 lung resections. All of these included a mixture of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.’
‘But did Paula have a poorly lady sitting in front of her – far from it – this lady was beautiful, strong, healthy and cancer free and had been for 3 years. The adversity this strong woman had gone through was astounding. It just goes to prove – it was worth the fight!!!! Decision made – Cancer Research was the charity that Paula wanted to represent.’
‘Since then, KC has sadly found that the cancer has returned but in the last few months a new treatment has been made available as a result of the research. KC will commence treatment shortly and, of course, we send her all our love and best wishes – Keep Fighting The Fight Katharine!!!!’
… Read on and please support cancer research through Paula’s swim here.
• Paula is no stranger to long distance swimming. After swimming various distance events around the country, including 10.5 miles in Lake Windermere, in 1992 she swam from England to France and, as if that was not far enough, the following year, she swam from England to France and back again! She became the 5th woman in the world to have completed the Double Channel. After 17 years of ‘resting’ from swimming, she more recently became a member of the World’s First ladies relay team to swim around the Isle of Wight. …