From the 1st October I will be starting a swimming challenge to raise money for The Walton Centre Charity.

On the 31st March 2023 my mum was admitted to Walton to have a benign petroclival meningioma removed from the left side of her brain, near to her brain stem. This was done over two surgeries, with a total time of 28 hours in the operating theatre. We were given a very scary list of possible complications, and I am so happy to say mum came home after a lengthy recovery, with only some hearing loss.

While mum was recovering in hospital the Walton Centre were incredible & helped not only mum, but our family throughout the recovery. The nurses & support staff at Walton centre were wonderful caring for mum and helped her through every step of her difficult recovery. From helping her do basic things like brushing her hair when she couldn’t, to making sure she had marmite for her toast in the morning!! The Walton centre charity work with the hospital to go above and beyond for patients, to the point they had a lovely golden retriever go round the wards to say hello to all the patients – a visit mum loved!!

Mum was in hospital for 8 weeks in total, so my challenge is to swim the distance between her home & the hospital in 8 weeks, this is 32 miles, a drive my family did nearly every day. This works out as 4 miles a week, or 258 lengths. I am starting this challenge on October the 1st, as it is the mark of 6 months post op for mum. I ask that my family & friends please support me during this challenge & if able to, make a donation to this amazing charity so they are able to carry on the work they do.

Frances Marsland