It was such a showing of love and togetherness… when things get hard, we know all those people are there for us.”
Annabel Nicholls and 5 friends (“Team Ada”) raised over £5000 for Fanconi Hope wild swimming, running and walking long distance.
Annabel had always been a keen swimmer, but with a 3 and a 5 year old, it was hard to find the time to get in the water. So, she set herself a challenge: To swim the length of one of the lakes in the beautiful Lake District where she lives. The furthest she’d ever swum was 4 km, so she chose Wastwater, which at 5.5km would test her strength and resilience. Skills she knew she was going to need.
Annabel’s daughter Ada was born with FA and diagnosed at 9 months old. Like many families faced with the diagnosis, they quickly felt overwhelmed by the grim news churned out by the internet. “Luckily, the hospital put us in contact with Fanconi Hope” she said, “the information sheets were excellent, communicating a sense of hope rather than scaremongering”.
When she decided to do the swim, she knew immediately that she wanted to do it for Fanconi Hope but had never done any fundraising before. “It was a completely new thing for me” she said, “but with Just Giving it was easy.”
As soon as she mentioned the idea, a few of her friends said they’d like to join and so they used the ‘Team’ option to allow them each to have their own fundraising page but be linked together as “Team Ada”. Each person could then share their updates on social media and engage their networks.
“We had an amazing response.” Annabel told us, “People want to do something to help, and there’s often nothing they can do, but donating really became a way of showing love, support and togetherness. When things get hard, we know all those people are there for us.”
Annabel’s friend Laura decided to join her in Wastwater. “Not everyone fancied swimming the deepest, coldest lake in the Lake District, but that didn’t matter, we each picked out our own challenges, aiming to raise as much money as we could between Ada’s second and third birthday.”
Two of Ada’s nursery school teachers, Carol and Paula did fancy a bit of lake swimming and took part in the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere. Giles, another friend, did the 50km Ambleside Trail, while another friend Emma completed the Bullock Smith Hike, a 56 mile walk around the Peak District.
For the part of the team swimming Wastwater, logistics were everything. “My husband Chris volunteered to kayak alongside us feeding us Jelly Babies” Annabel says, “and between us and Laura who was swimming with me, we have five kids, so the childcare aspect was almost the hardest part! In the end there was only one day we could do it.”
Setting off from Kendal on the morning of the 10th of August 2023 they were worried it might be wet and windy but when they arrived at Wastwater the lake was flat calm, and the sun sparkled off the water. Donning wetsuits to protect against the cold (the water temperature was only 15 degrees) Annabel and Laura got in the water for what would be their longest swim to date.
“I looked left, it was beautiful, breathed right, stunning, looked down gorgeous. It felt amazing” Annabel told us, “We had such a build up with all the fundraising that I didn’t want it to end. Nevertheless, there were times when I found it difficult. Then I just thought of Ada. Doing a bit of a swim is nothing compared to what she will have to go through, so I just kept going. By the time I got out the other side, I’d raised another £400!”
For Annabel, the swim wasn’t only a personal challenge and a chance to raise money for a worthy cause, it was also about being a role model for her children, particularly Ada, “As her mum, I want to show her that life is there to be lived, that strong women can do cool things. In a way, FA encourages us all to get out and live as much as possible.”
If you’d like to be interviewed for our next newsletter, please contact katie@fanconihope.org