Talk about wild swimming! Personal fitness trainer Lee Philip Evans, who went through “two or three years of hell” when he was first laid low by M.E., will be taking on an ultimate challenge for the ME Association at the end of July.
Weather permitting, he will be attempting to swim as far as possible around the perimeter of Bala Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Wales, on 31 July.
“Hopefully, I will get all the way round in 12 hours but we’ll have to see. I was working for a mountain bike trail centre at the time and loving life – but ME made me spend years in bed or on the sofa. It was two or three years of hell”, said Lee.
“I became ill after a liver infection and was given every test you could think of. It wasn’t until I was 25 when a specialist physio gave me my diagnosis of M.E. I thought ‘Great… fantastic news! I can now work out what to do to make myself better’.
“As a sufferer of ME myself. I think this is a brilliant charity and want to do more to raise awareness for the charity and to show other sufferers that there is hope.”
Adopting a fitness regime which clearly would be inappropriate for many other people with M.E., the 40-year-old found it worked for him!
He went back to the gym to work on his resistance training in order to put on muscle and he worked carefully on his nutrition, substantially upping his daily calorie intake.
Lee has obviously found a route back to health which has worked for him and that’s great!
But the ME Association definitely wouldn’t recommend his fitness regime to others whose health could be harmed by it.
Lee will be supported in his attempt to swim round the 3.7 miles long x 0.5 miles wide lake by a friend, David Chandler, who will be in a kayak. He gives huge thanks to his sponsors, Bldr Sports and Orca Wetsuits.
If you’ve been inspired by Lee’s story and would like to contribute towards his MEA fundraiser, please visit:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/leeevans12hourswim
Pictures of Lee Philip Evans in training for his epic swim for the ME Association round the edges of Bala Lake, North Wales
IMPORTANT NOTICE
For people with ME/CFS who are thinking about taking on a physical fundraising challenge, or if you are organising an event that might involve people with ME/CFS, please read this notice from Neil Riley, Chairman of the ME Association.
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Consultant, The ME Association
tony.britton@meassociation.org.uk Mob: 07393 805566
