Susan Simmons Swimming For Possibilities
48-year-old Susan Simmons is a Canadian open water swimmer who was diagnosed ith Multiple Sclerosis 20 years ago. The Victoria, British Columbia native completed a 34 km charity swim across Cowichan Lake in Vancouver together with masters swimming teammate Alex Cape. “I’ve often wondered if I would do less than I do if I didn’t have Multiple Sclerosis.”
She is doing plenty with what she has. After picking up swimming 8 years ago, she built up her swimming endurance year-by-year and completed the crossing of Cowichan Lake in 11 hours 45 minutes.
She explained to news reporter Diana Andrews of how swimming has been helpful, “I have discovered that for myself, swimming in particular helps me with my MS. I started eight years ago, and at that time, I was very unhealthy, very low-energy, a lot of fatigue and a lot of MS symptoms that were getting worse.”
But with swimming, those symptoms have gone away. “What it’s meant is I’m able to actively participate in the world. I do it for me to keep me healthy, but I want people to know there is the possibility (fitness) may work for them too — it’s not going to work for everyone, but for some people, it will.”
Photo by Malcolm Chambers.
Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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