My Passion with Michelle Lefton: 'Just one day' – thought that got me across the Channel

I have always been a keen swimmer but hadn't ever considered taking on a challenge of this magnitude until I was inspired by the strength of my cousin, Richard.

He swam Lake Windermere in 9.5 hours with minimal training, in severe conditions after a leg operation. When Richard lost his battle with cancer at 30 years old I was determined to honour his bravery with a Channel swim in aid of Kendal-based charity, Cancer Care.

I swam Lake Windermere in 2002 and knowing how hard that was I trained tirelessly for the 24-mile Channel swim which took me 17 hours to complete. I began the training in 2009 by repeatedly swimming in Lake Windermere in freezing conditions and, as you are not allowed to wear a wetsuit when swimming the Channel, I trained without one as well. I was often so cold that it took an hour of vigorous shaking after getting out of the water before I began warming up.

The training schedule consisted of 5am swims before work and long hours at the weekend which takes a lot of dedication. I also put on a stone in weight through eating six meals a day in the months leading up to the challenge.

No amount of practice can prepare you for the relentless conditions you encounter though. The time you are allowed to swim is dependent on the tide and when I was given my 2pm time I knew that I would be swimming through the night.

There were white horses on the waves and it was exceptionally rough. At one point I was faced with a wall of jellyfish, literally hundreds of them, but I just had to swim thorough, and then it started hailstoning.

I never thought about giving up and somehow managed to maintain the same pace throughout. Looking back I'm not sure how I did it but recall telling myself over and over that it was "just one day" and to keep going. While I was the one swimming, it wasn't a solo effort at all thanks to the support of people who donated money and my parents, aunt, boyfriend, navigator and coach who were alongside me in the boat.

I was thrilled to have raised more than 5,000 for the charity and I'm proud to have completed this major challenge.

The Channel swim has highlighted a passion for pushing myself and this month, a team of six of us are doing a relay swim of Windermere eight times to set a world record. We start at 7.30pm on Friday, hoping to complete it by 7am on Sunday morning.