Katie's motivation

My Mum was diagnosed with the rare condition Aplastic Anaemia in May 2022, which is a serious blood condition that occurs when someone's bone marrow cannot make enough new blood cells for the body to work normally. 

She had become extremely exhausted and lethargic, kept getting viruses and wasn't able to fight them off, and extensive bruising appeared all over her body from innocuous little bumps. She finally booked a doctors appointment where he was horrified at her blood levels and told her to drive straight to A&E. After many tests, hospital visits and two bone marrow biopsies they diagnosed severe Aplastic Anaemia.

My Mum's blood counts were dangerously low and she was having several blood and platelet transfusions every week which saved her life. She was thankfully able to go through immunosuppressive therapy treatment which slowly kick-started the cells into working again. She is still living with AA and is closely monitored but it is now managed with medication. 
My Mum has been transfusion free for over a year and we are extremely grateful to the NHS and her amazing consultant and nurses at Whiston and Ormskirk hospitals. 

To help raise funds for research and to help other families living with AA, I will be doing a Dip-a-day in December in my freezing cold ice bath in the garden! Most of my dips will be in the dark after work and with temperatures dropping, the water could dip as low as 2 degrees Celsius. I will be posting a picture each day on my Facebook page to record my chilly dipping journey (once my fingers have thawed out!) 

I'm very grateful my amazing friend Becky is joining me in this crazy challenge and I know we will get each other through this!

 Becky's motivation

To help Katie along with this challenge, and because she inspired me to buy my own ice bath, I have decided to join Katie for her Dip-a-day in December challenge. I’ve also signed up to the Polar Bear challenge so some of my dips will be swims, but I hope you agree they count! It will be incredibly challenging so I’m hoping by doing it together we can encourage each other. 

Cold water has a lot of health and well-being benefits, as well as aiding recovery from our swimming training, so I’m hoping the challenge helps us improve our mental health and creates some good habits.

If you can spare any amount no matter how small, we would be extremely grateful. Any amount will make a big difference! 

Thank you

Katie & Becky

Katie Moore