There are swims for the charity and then there are the swim marathons.
Dickie Inman has just completed what can only be described as a swim marathon as he completed a summer swim across three of the biggest lakes in Cumbria – Coniston (in June), Ullswater (in July) and on Saturday Windermere (the region’s longest 11 miles).
Dickie , who lives in Hampsthwaite near Harrogate, has – as he front crawled the 23 miles – raised more than £18,500 for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity. That money will support the charity’s work to establish more specialist nurses in NHS hospitals in this region, who provide a bespoke kind of personalised care and support for children and families living with some of the most serious and complex health conditions.
Richard and his family had a taste of what this might be like when, ten years ago, their baby daughter Flo was born with a condition known as VACTERL association, which causes a range of birth defects affecting multiple organs and body systems. For Flo this
included a hole in her heart, an imperforate anus, spinal anomalies, dysplasia mal-rotated kidney’s, bladder abnormalities, spinal anomalies, a submucous cleft palate and a hearing deficit. The Leeds General Infirmary felt for many months like the family’s
second home.
Dickie, 58, said:
It was by chance that I picked up an article about Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and it resonated with me.
I knew what it was like to have a poorly child and, while Flo is doing well and now in year 6 at school, she’s had 25 surgeries and continues to be under the care of the hospital.
But I can only imagine what it must be like if that early experience we had managing on a few hours’ sleep, trying to understand conditions, manage appointments, plan treatments, had continued in the same way for the rest of her life.
It changed my outlook, I meet parents with poorly children, and I can understand a little more of what their life is like, a life that is often hidden from public view. People don’t understand the whole range of emotions that go with caring for a sick child.
The knock-on effect of that on working and family life. These parents just take on this overwhelming stressful role. Imagine what a godsend it would be having someone help you co-ordinate that care and support you across the weeks and months
and years.
Dickie works for Serco (whose Foundation has themselves supported the charity, donating £150,000 over three years), has run marathons and endurance challenges before, but now – with two hip replacements – swimming was the only option.
Dickie said:
Flo’s at an age where dads are not quite as cool as they seemed when children are small. But she thinks this challenge is quite cool, and that feels good.
And I know that like all fundraisers, while the job is to enrich the lives of others, it has enriched my life in so many ways, too.
