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A COALVILLE woman has made a splash raising money for a spinal injury
charity.
Heidi Spiller, 35, has now finished swimming the length of the English
Channel — a massive 1,408 lengths of Hermitage Leisure Centre's swimming
pool.
All of the money raised — around £1,030 — will now go to Aspire, the
Association for Spinal Injury Research Rehabilitation and Reintegration.
Heidi decided to dive-in and help the charity after overcoming her fear
of the deep-end earlier this year.
She said: "Just before the summer holidays I swam 64 lengths, which is a
mile, and I felt like I wanted something more to aspire to.
"When I went back to the leisure centre I saw the information for the
Aspire Channel Swim and I thought I could actually exercise, lose weight and
do something good for somebody else."
Every day four people in the UK are told they will never walk again.
Aspire works with these people to offer practical support and innovation
from the time of their injury for the rest of their lives.
The charity works towards reintegration by creating an environment where
the barriers that divide able-bodied and disabled people are removed.
Having completed the task, Heidi said: "I feel fantastic — I'm jumping
for joy.
"People are asking me if I'm going to swim back now that I've swum to
France, but I'll give it a rest for now!"
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