Hubbers, as some of you may be aware, I have been participating in the Midmar Mile 8 Mile swim for some time now. In fact, I have completed six to date.
2022 was gearing up to be momentous as my daughter, at age 16, has become eligible to compete in this event as well and we were super excited to do this together. 2021 was strange as Midmar was cancelled due to COVID-19. We did, however, get permission to swim the 8 Mile event though and this was done on the Thursday and Friday, with no boat transport. A decision by the organisers was taken to swim Finish-Start-Finish-Start which was quite a change as I'd never swum Midmar backwards before. It was so successful though, that a decision has been taken to repeat this this year with the 8 Mile no longer taking place with the group swims but as a separate event on Thursday and Friday again.
The excitement of completing this event with my daughter was quickly dashed however, when on 21 August 2021 I was involved in quite a serious MTB accident that left me with a fractured vertebra in my thoracic spine, a broken nose, and serious dose of roasties, some of which required stitches. The neurosurgeon ruled me out of any exercise for six months. I healed a bit and was given permission to get onto a stationary bike at the end of November, although no resistance was allowed. Full recovery has been slow though with constant pain almost daily. The pain has disappeared over the last week or two and I'm gently getting into the pool again, with a view to hopefully being able to accompany my daughter on her first 8 Mile, although my ability to keep up with her, even at full fitness, is doubtful at best. She has promised that she'll hang back for us to complete our last mile together though.
Now the kicker, we are doing this for CHOC (Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa). These guys do amazing work, not only in assisting with the provision of care for childhood cancer sufferers, but also by providing accommodation and transport to the parents of these little fighters. Often this support is the difference between whether these kid's parents are actually able to bring them through to the major centers for treatment or not. In short, it's life saving. Please go an have a look on their website to see what they do: www.choc.org.za
Over the last four years swimming & cycling for CHOC, I have raised almost R100,000 for them and am super excited that my daughter has chosen CHOC as her charity of choice as well. We are obliged to raise R10,000 each for this worthy cause, failing which we are liable for this sum ourselves. Whilst I normally add to the total myself anyway, the time off work due to injury, coupled with the economic issues caused by COVID (I'm a commission only earner), makes this year a little tough to carry this.
Please can I ask that you consider supporting our cause? It's as easy as as online shopping and any amount will be greatly appreciated. Please send this to anyone who may be interested as well. I'm happy to do some stupid stuff to acknowledge your donations, although it'll need to be contingent on full recovery.
Check out or fund raising pages and have a look:
Jason Raath is raising funds for CHOC | kydrin foundation
