- 2 years ago
28 June 2024
When Andi Bennett signed up to swim the English Channel 18 months ago, she literally had no idea what she was signing up for.
The reason she was so oblivious to the challenge was that she was at a dinner with friends at the time and, in good company and good cheer, swimming the channel seemed like such a great idea that she signed up to do it not once but twice – first in a relay team and then solo.
Bennett is no stranger to incredible feats of human endurance having completed some 40 marathons, ultra-marathons and ironwoman events, so going the distance was not a concern. But when she discovered there were strict conditions around the swim, and that fewer people had swum the channel than had climbed Mt Everest, she began to comprehend the extent of the challenge.
“I was thinking it was a marvellous idea, to be honest, not realising the implications,” she told MedNews when we met in London last week. “It was mid-winter when I signed on. The following day I got in the water and it was freezing, around six degrees. I realised very quickly this was a much bigger commitment than I had first thought.”
Andi Bennett is well-known in Australian pharma having worked in Sydney for much of her career after moving to Australia from the UK in her twenties.
She worked for J&J, Merck, Novartis, STADA, Hahn Healthcare and CSL, got married and had two children, and was Head of Communications and Patient Engagement at Novartis Oncology ANZ when a medical incident involving her mother’s partner set her on a course back to her native England.
“Mum and her partner John came to visit me in Australia and John had a stroke on the plane,” she says. “After they got home, he had some very strange symptoms and was diagnosed with a very rare Alzheimer’s disease. I realised it was time to come home.”
Bennett secured a job in London with ViiV Healthcare as Business Operations Director for its International Region, returning to England in September 2022 with her partner and their twins, now aged 12.
“I was so lucky to find a job that allowed me and my family to come home,” she says. “It’s a great job and I’m so very grateful for the opportunity, but when you come to a new country as an adult, building up a network of friends is actually quite difficult.
“I’ve always done crazy things in Australia like marathons and ultra-marathons and was at a dinner party with an old schoolfriend and we started talking about all the iconic things we could do as a family in the UK. As things became louder and more raucous, my friend’s husband suggested we swim the channel. By midnight, I’d signed up.”
Bennett met her first relay team member by chance, seeing him swimming with a channel hat on and randomly introducing herself.
“I nearly jumped in the water and hugged him,” she says. “I’d never met anyone who had swum the channel!”
The team of three completed the channel crossing last year, each doing an hour in the water and reaching France in under 12 hours.
“Our time was quite remarkable but we were quite late in the year and the water was warm, which means more jellyfish,” she says.
“Unfortunately for us, the water was like jellyfish soup. There were thousands of big, big, stingers going over my face and hair. It was horrible, but of course by then I had also signed up for the solo swim.”
It’s worth noting that swimming the channel is a certifiable event, but to get certified, swimmers must wear only a backless swimming costume, goggles, a cap and ear plugs, and are not allowed to touch a support craft. Around 150 people attempt the swim each year but few succeed; the cold, tides and jellyfish take their toll.
“I’ve had to really dig deep and ask why I am swimming this again because it is not clear in my mind,” she admits. “It was quite a flippant decision to swim the channel, so I am now trying to find my purpose for the why I want to do this. I think I can do it but I’m not sure, and feeling like I am going to fail is not a reason not to try.
“I can swim 15 hours, but your ability to do things in cold water is vastly diminished, and I’m struggling to get past that. You also have no idea how long you will even swim as it all depends on the tides. It has made me dig the deepest I’ve ever, ever had to.”
In searching for purpose, Andi has chosen to raise funds for The National Brain Appeal, which is looking to establish the world’s first rare dementia unit at Queen’s Square in London. She is almost halfway to her goal of £5,000.
“Having had a career in advocacy, I’ve seen a lot of patients and a lot of carers but in caring for John, I saw Mum experience more heartache than I have ever seen in a carer,” she says. “They had bought a boat and were planning to sail the Mediterranean when John was diagnosed. They never went. Instead, her entire life was consumed being a carer.
“John had a fall a few months ago and broke both wrists, his nose, ribs. He never regained his ability to walk but it was just considered part of dementia. It’s really shocking to see but being near my mum has been the most crazy privilege. I’m glad I came back.”
John passed away only a month ago and Bennett hopes that in raising funds for a rare dementia unit, other families may not have to suffer as much as her mother and John did. Yet for this honorary Aussie, swimming the channel is much more than a fundraising exercise.
It’s about conquering something seemingly insurmountable, and overcoming her own fear of failure. Whether she succeeds we won’t know until she attempts the crossing in September, but Bennett will at least hold at least one title – the only person from Australian pharma who has even attempted it, and that is something worth crowing about.
To contribute to Andi’s fundraising efforts, click here.
©MedNews 2024