Cancer patient swims lake for charity
Louisa Welsh overcame nerves, erratic waves, and thoughts of an approaching surgery to treat breast cancer to swim Lake Ohau and raise more than $7500 for charity.
The 58-year-old Auckland woman is awaiting surgery to remove a four-millimetre lump from her left breast on March 25, less than a month after conquering the glacial South Canterbury lake to benefit the Child Rescue Charitable Aid Trust on February 29.
She had put off her second surgery for the ‘‘low grade, slow-growing’’ cancer – more than a centimetre was cut out during the first – in order to prepare for the three-kilometre swim alongside the Ben Ohau Range and to Alpine Village.
Part of Child Rescue’s finance support team for the past eight months, Welsh was ‘‘very grateful’’ she had raised
‘‘Those kids that suffer [from sex trafficking], their conditions are rough. That gave me a bit of encouragement when I freaked out.’’ Louisa Welsh
$7674 to help children escape sex trafficking.
‘‘I’m blown away by the generosity of friends and family and people I don’t even know.’’
Welsh said she ‘‘felt like David about to take Goliath on’’ ahead of the swim, and faced her first challenge as soon as she entered the water: she couldn’t get her breathing right.
‘‘I don’t know if it was down to nerves or the cold, but I felt this tightness in my chest.
‘‘It was a little bit more difficult than I anticipated.’’
She shifted between freestyle, backstroke, sidestroke, and her own ‘‘backward breaststroke’’ to adapt to the waves crashing over her, filling her mouth with water.
When she wanted to quit, she thought of the children she was raising money to help.
‘‘Those kids that suffer, their conditions are rough. That gave me a bit of encouragement when I freaked out.’’
Welsh was supported by Twizel coastguards with two rescue boats and a speed boat, as well as husband Bevan and friends.
‘‘Ten people came to support me.’’
It took her about an hour to complete the swim, while the water temperature hovered between 11 and 12 degrees
Celsius.
She capped off her gruelling morning with a visit to the Twizel Salmon and Wine Festival.
‘‘It’s such a picturesque and stunning part of the country.’’
Those who want to contribute to Welsh’s campaign can through her Givealitte page.