A WOMAN’S determination not to let a disability affect how she lives her life has culminated in her swimming the English Channel.

Thanks to 20 gruelling months of training, amazing support from her friends and family – and plenty of bara brith – Amanda Love completed the swim in August, raising more than £6,000 for charity in the process.

It was just five years after she underwent a full discectomy (the removal of a spinal disc) following years of back problems.

“The disc had gone through my spinal cord and wrapped itself around the nerves of my right leg,” said Amanda, a housing officer from Pembrokeshire County Council.

“Gradually it deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t walk as it was too painful.”

The operation to remove the disc took place in early 2014 and two years later Amanda knew she had recovered as much as she was going to. Although her back was much better, the damage to her nerves meant she was left with very little feeling in her right leg and foot and was unable to continue running.

Amanda admits it wasn’t an easy period of her life. “It takes some time to mentally and physically accept and become used to the ‘new normal’,” she said.

But after a discussion with friend, ultra-runner Julie Evans, she decided that her disability did not have to define her have to mean giving up things she loved – and so they entered Ironman Cozumel in Mexico. “I know it sounds mad,” she said. “But it was very important to try and do the things that make me me.”

With her competitive swimming background, she and Julie figured that her speed in the swim would give her enough time in the bank to allow her to walk the marathon and still finish within the timeframe allowed, with her left leg compensating for her right leg on the bike ride.

Completing the event was a huge turning point and spurred her on to contemplate swimming The Channel – which she’d had in the back of her mind for a while.

“I knew I would be turning fifty this year. There is a period when your children are grown up enough not to need you so much and your parents are well enough, when you have a bit more time to yourself, and a friend said to me if you don’t do it now you might never get another chance!” said Amanda.

To swim The Channel you have to complete a qualifying six-hour sea swim in temperatures of less than 16 degrees which Amanda completed in October 2018. She then embarked on 20 months of training, consisting of pool swimming at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, sea swimming, and strength and conditioning at Bfit Health and Fitness Facility in Milford Haven.

At least once each week, she would put in a long training day where she would get up at 4.30am and go to Bfit for a 45 minute strength and conditioning session before arriving at the pool at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre just after 6am, where she would swim for four to five hours (12 km).

“That was the winter training,” she said. “As the sea temperature warmed up, I did more sea swimming to get used to the cold because wetsuits are not allowed. Some of the longest training swims were six hour swims from Broad Haven, around Stack Rocks, across to the far end of Newgale and back to Broad Haven, about 12 miles in total and again the following day.”

Her friend Mel Miles, who works in education at Pembrokeshire County Council, would support Amanda’s sea swims by kayaking beside her, helping with the feeding regime and not least protecting her from curious sea-life.

“Without Mel the Channel swim wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “Mel would hold her paddle over me when the fulmars decided to divebomb me. The wildlife were very interested in me; a gull took a sandwich out my hand once and a seal followed me for about 45 minutes, every so often nudging the soles of my feet. Mel would also throw food and drink at me, so we could work out what I could stomach whilst swimming. Initially eating as I swam would make me quite sick but we worked out through trial and error what would provide the energy I needed for endurance swimming and was palatable in the sea.”

Amanda’s training swims also included a swim circumnavigating Ramsey Island with friend David Astins, a six hour endurance race in a lake in Reading and a 14 km swimming race in the river Thames, culminating in her final week of training which saw her A woman’s determination not to let a disability affect how she lives her life has culminated in her swimming the English Channel.

Thanks to 20 gruelling months of training, amazing support from her friends and family – and plenty of bara brith – Amanda Love completed the swim in August, raising more than £6,000 for charity in the process.

It was just five years after she underwent a full discectomy (the removal of a spinal disc) following years of back problems.

“The disc had gone through my spinal cord and wrapped itself around the nerves of my right leg,” said Amanda, a housing officer from Pembrokeshire County Council.

“Gradually it deteriorated to the point where I couldn’t walk as it was too painful.”

The operation to remove the disc took place in early 2014 and two years later Amanda knew she had recovered as much as she was going to. Although her back was much better, the damage to her nerves meant she was left with very little feeling in her right leg and foot and was unable to continue running.

Amanda admits it wasn’t an easy period of her life. “It takes some time to mentally and physically accept and become used to the ‘new normal’,” she said.

But after a discussion with friend, ultra-runner Julie Evans, she decided that her disability did not have to define her have to mean giving up things she loved – and so they entered Ironman Cozumel in Mexico. “I know it sounds mad,” she said. “But it was very important to try and do the things that make me me.”

With her competitive swimming background, she and Julie figured that her speed in the swim would give her enough time in the bank to allow her to walk the marathon and still finish within the timeframe allowed, with her left leg compensating for her right leg on the bike ride.

Completing the event was a huge turning point and spurred her on to contemplate swimming The Channel – which she’d had in the back of her mind for a while.

“I knew I would be turning fifty this year. There is a period when your children are grown up enough not to need you so much and your parents are well enough, when you have a bit more time to yourself, and a friend said to me if you don’t do it now you might never get another chance!” said Amanda.

To swim The Channel you have to complete a qualifying six-hour sea swim in temperatures of less than 16 degrees which Amanda completed in October 2018. She then embarked on 20 months of training, consisting of pool swimming at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, sea swimming, and strength and conditioning at Bfit Health and Fitness Facility in Milford Haven.

At least once each week, she would put in a long training day where she would get up at 4.30am and go to Bfit for a 45 minute strength and conditioning session before arriving at the pool at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre just after 6am, where she would swim for four to five hours (12 km).

“That was the winter training,” she said. “As the sea temperature warmed up, I did more sea swimming to get used to the cold because wetsuits are not allowed. Some of the longest training swims were six hour swims from Broad Haven, around Stack Rocks, across to the far end of Newgale and back to Broad Haven, about 12 miles in total and again the following day.”

Her friend Mel Miles, who works in education at Pembrokeshire County Council, would support Amanda’s sea swims by kayaking beside her, helping with the feeding regime and not least protecting her from curious sea-life.

“Without Mel the Channel swim wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “Mel would hold her paddle over me when the fulmars decided to divebomb me. The wildlife were very interested in me; a gull took a sandwich out my hand once and a seal followed me for about 45 minutes, every so often nudging the soles of my feet. Mel would also throw food and drink at me, so we could work out what I could stomach whilst swimming. Initially eating as I swam would make me quite sick but we worked out through trial and error what would provide the energy I needed for endurance swimming and was palatable in the sea.”

Amanda’s training swims also included a swim circumnavigating Ramsey Island with friend David Astins, a six hour endurance race in a lake in Reading and a 14 km swimming race in the river Thames, culminating in her final week of training which saw her