Disabled swimmer Sophie Etheridge shares her story of swimming the English Channel
WORDS: DANIELLA THEIS
Sophie Etheridge fell in love with swimming as a child. “My older sister had her swimming lessons, but I was too young to join in,” says Sophie, 31, from Cambridgeshire.
“I used to scream and cry. Eventually, the teacher got so fed up that she just told me to get in the pool.”
Sophie’s love for swimming grew from there. As a child, she gained swim school badges through the Swimming Teachers Sophie collided with a car.
“I was really lucky that I got away with a sprained ankle and some cuts and bruises,” she explains.
But, despite months passing, the pain from the sprain never went away.
After a year, Sophie found out why. She was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) – a condition which predominantly affects limbs and often triggered through injury.
According to the NHS, the caused pain, until one coach suggested she try something new: using only her arms.
“She basically said ‘If it hurts, then why are you doing it? Your arms work fine’,” Sophie explains.
“I had to work out how to swim, and it was trial and error.”
From there, Sophie went on to train for – and join – several open water swimming events.
However, after noticing a lack of representation, the swimmer also used her voice Association (STA), becoming a swimming teacher as a teenager and joining a competitive swim team while working as a lifeguard, too.
However, an accident changed Sophie’s life.
While cycling to swim practice one evening in 2011, condition may be the result of the body reacting abnormally to an injury, leaving the person with persistent, severe and debilitating pain.
The condition ultimately left Sophie confined to a wheelchair and, at first, unable to do what she loved – swimming.
“I really struggled with my mental health for several years, because everything changed,” Sophie recalls.
Eventually, she decided to make a return to the pool. At first she struggled, as using her legs to raise awareness for swimmers with disabilities.
At a conference, she met Mike Goody who, after getting injured in Afghanistan, had his leg amputated but went on to achieve four gold medals at the 2014 and 2016 Invictus Games.
Goody introduced Sophie and her story to the CEO of the STA, who agreed to aid her efforts in raising awareness
