The 5-3-1 charity swim was a great success with several participants completing all the distances on offer to swim a whopping 9km! Early reports indicate the event has raised over £1000 for the Lauren's Silver Swimmers charity. Louise and Stuart Silverlock were most grateful and sent the following letter through to Mark Jordan.
Dear Mark,
We wanted to write and thank you for organising the open water swim at Ardingly on 2nd August 2014 in aid of Lauren's Silver Swimmers. It was an extremely emotional day for us as it brings to the forefront again the loss we have to go through on a daily basis. Although the charity was something we wanted to achieve, it is still immensely hard to put into words how we struggle on a daily basis.
I would be grateful if you could forward this letter to everyone involved with the day along with our sincere thanks for the kindness shown to both myself and Stuart. It highlights in more detail the aim of the charity which I found somewhat difficult to convey yesterday.
As you know, we lost our daughter Lauren in December
2012 aged just 9. Lauren was born at 24 weeks and spent the first 6
months of her life in many hospitals around the country. As a
result of her extreme prematurity Lauren was diagnosed with
Cerebral Palsy. Lauren was a fighter from birth and seemed to take
great pride in proving all the medics wrong. We were told of many
things Lauren would be unlikely to achieve, although what they
didn't realise was her great strength and personality that would
prove everyone wrong. Lauren achieved everything in her short life
and much much more.
When Lauren was a year old she was given Aquatic Hydrotherapy treatment which was to prove invaluable to her overall wellbeing and body strength. However this treatment was given to her for only 6 weeks, having one half hour session each week. It was then up to us, as her family, whether we were able to continue to provide Lauren with further treatment, of which there was no question. The treatment in the water has outstanding results, allowing children like Lauren to achieve their full potential. This treatment however is expensive, costing in excess of £45.00 for a half hour session. Of course we did our best as a family to ensure she received this treatment weekly as it was clear that the benefits were huge. Lauren enjoyed her sessions and it gave her an experience that most children take for granted, swimming.
The focus of the charity is to be able to subsidise the cost of Aquatic therapy for children that would benefit from regular and constant treatment. Our long term dream is to build 'Lauren's dream', an aquatic pool available for all.
With the generous support of people like you and all of those involved with the swim, we will be able to help many of these children.
The generosity of everyone yesterday, giving their time to take part in this event, is something we will never forget. I know the final figures haven't been calculated as yet but the amount that has been indicated to us is truly amazing and it is thanks to people like yourself, dedicating so much time and effort in organising the event, that will enable us to continue to work towards 'Lauren's Dream.
Thank you to everyone that was involved in the day, the organisers, the people in the safety boat and canoes, the people on the side ensuring no-one skipped a circuit!!, and to all those that entered the water and swam for so long. I really am humbled at what I witnessed yesterday and feel thank you is not enough to show how much we appreciated you all giving your time for our charity.
Best Regards
Louise and Stuart Silverlock
For more information on our charity and upcoming events please email me lasilverlock@yahoo.co.uk .