Christine Brosseau and her pet, Sammy, were at the Hanmer
Valley Shopping Centre on Easter Saturday collecting pledges for the 1st Annual BIG SWIM FOR ARTHRITIS at the Howard
Armstrong Centre.The Foresters BIG Swim for Arthritis is the first event of its kind in
Canada
involving approximately 150 pools, from
one coast, to another. This national swimming event is designed to
increase awareness about the benefits of water-based activity for those
with arthritis, and to raise funds for The Arthritis Society. The event
takes place in pools across the country from
April 20 – 23, 2006
. Christine will be taking to the water with up to a dozen local swimmers in
Valley East
on April 21 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Christine, who herself is a
victim of rheumatoid arthritis, began swimming two years ago. She can
often be found in the pool several hours a day, taking advantage of adult
swims and public swimming sessions. Her goal is to complete the 5000
meters necessary to receive a “Gold
Medal” at the Foresters BIG Swim event. That will require her to
swim 200 laps of the pool in about three hours.
At this point in her training, with less than a week to go, she is covering 110 lengths of the pool in 90 minutes.
Moreover, she claims that she actually feels stronger once she gets past
the first 80 or 90 laps. The only thing keeping her from swimming any more
than that is the fact that the swim times are not long enough. She is
confident that her “training” program is right on schedule for the big day on April
21.
Christine has already achieved one of her two goals.
She passed the $500 in total pledges. Now all that is left is for her to
swim the 5000 meters and she is confident that she will accomplish that
personal goal as well.
All residents are
encouraged to provide Christine with a couple of dollars in an effort to
make life a bit better for the many people in our society who are affected
by this disease. We all wish Christine the best of luck in achieving her
“Gold Medal”.
If you would like to sponsor Christine, call her by phone at 897-6266
or email