Mum and daughter get along just
swimmingly
 By Cornelia
Lucey
A young Irish mum and daughter have swum the equivalent of the 22-mile
distance of the English Channel to help raise money for a leading British
spinal cord charity.
Alison Graham and 16-year-old Keri — who suffers from epilepsy —
swam the distance for Aspire charity in a bid to tone-up, get into shape
and more importantly help the group reach a collective target of £500,000.
Alison had already shed half her body weight to come runner-up in a Rosemary
Conley Slimmer of 2006 competition — dropping from a massive 20
stone to just 10st 1lb. And now she plans to do the swim again this year
as their chosen ambassador.
The 38-year-old said: “My daughter saw the challenge in a magazine
and wanted to do it to help her tone up. I was a bit worried at first
because she’s epileptic and to have a seizure in a pool would be
dangerous. But she was fine.
“The swim is a great way to stay in shape and Aspire is a really
worthwhile cause. I enjoyed it so much. But the best bit was losing 23lbs
over the weeks.
“We swam four or five times a week doing an average of 32 lengths
each time. And this time they’ve asked me to be the ambassador because
of my weight loss.”
Alison and daughter Keri thought the swim would be a great excuse to do
something together.
It took Alison nine weeks to do the swim and took Keri just 10 weeks.
They did all of the swimming at their local leisure centre in Carrickfergus
between September and December raising £500 for Aspire.
Spokesperson for the charity Jenny Page said: “The Aspire Channel
Swim is the biggest fundraising event in our calendar as it raises a substantial
amount of urgently needed funding for people with spinal cord injuries.
“At the same time it gives the public the opportunity to participate
in a really good challenge.
“It has been an even bigger feat for Alison with her weight loss
plan and Keri with her disability — so we’re really proud
to make Alison our ambassador for 2007 and hope to raise even more money.”
For more information or to take part in the swim please call Aspire
on 08000 370 880 or log onto www.aspirechannelswim.co.uk.
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