Bouncing Back - Anna Hulme's Story

When Anna Hulme completed the Great North Swim at Windermere in June it marked another incredible achievement for a 12-year-old who has used swimming and sport as a release from ongoing health problems - here her Dad, Alan, tells Anna's inspirational story.

12 years ago my daughter, Anna, was born at Ormskirk Hospital. At just one day old she developed an infection in her abdomen, which quickly grew more serious.

That evening she was rushed to Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool for an emergency operation. Five hours later we were informed that the infection had turned gangrenous and that all her large intestine and half her small intestine had needed to be removed, resulting in the condition Short Bowel Syndrome.

Anna was still gravely ill, on a ventilator and having antibiotics pumped into her intravenously. We were told that very few children had survived this condition and if she lived, she would always have ongoing health problems, along with the need for further operations.

Anna remained an inpatient in Alder Hey for the next 12 months, including one week in intensive care, six weeks in a neo natal ward and the rest of the year in a general surgical ward. She left the hospital and came home properly around her first birthday, still with ongoing therapy administered at home and returning to hospital at frequent intervals over the subsequent months and years for further treatment and operations, due to ongoing problems absorbing food and fluid.

Anna has been left with a permanent medical disability but refuses to let this stop her enjoying her sport. She has a voracious appetite, consuming around 6000 calories per day eating anything and everything throughout the day to keep her energy levels up, but otherwise just gets on with her life.

She has amazed everyone by using sport as a release from the frustration and stresses of her condition, competing to a high level in competitive swimming as a member of Ormskirk Otters Swimming Club. In 2009 she was named the Kelloggs / ASA Young Swimmer of the Year.

She has competed in athletics and cross country competitions and in biathlons, triathlons and aquathons, representing St Bedes High school Ormskirk and Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton Athletics Club and as a member of Tri Team Wigan.

Eager to take on more challenges, Anna decided to do the The Great North Swim at Lake Windermere in June - her first open water swim.

As a lot of people do, she found it a bit chaotic at the start of the race, being jostled around by the bigger swimmers and she also found the water a bit choppy at times, but she was determined to complete the course and was all smiles when she emerged at the end, having swam the half mile course in just under 16 minutes.

In completing the swim, Anna raised approximately £250.00 for 'Diversions' (www.diversions.org.uk), which is a charity set up to enable children with bowel and bladder dysfunctions to meet other children with similar disabilities, whilst enjoying various activities. It also provides a forum for parents to meet and discuss their feelings and thoughts with other parents who are having similar experiences.

Anna hopes to compete in the Great North Swim again next year and to raise much more money for this worthy organisation (she might even persuade me to have a go!). When she sets her mind to something, she is determined to go through with it. Only a few hours after coming out of Lake Windermere she was back in the pool for two hours training!

She is a fighter and a living testament to the skill of the surgeons, consultants, doctors and nurses at Alder Hey.