Going to great lengths to win

“I was the youngest of three girls and my mum wanted us to learn to swim as a life skill, but all three of us really took to it. It think being the youngest meant I had something to prove; being the baby I wanted to beat them,” says Becky who still lives at home in Mansfield. She joined a swimming club when she was eight or nine, but didn’t start racing until she was 11.

“My first big competition was the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2003, when I was 14. After that, I thought I can really do this. After my GCSEs, I took a year off to focus on competitive swimming and I haven’t looked back.”

She became the face of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when she becamse Britain’s most successful swimmer in a century, bringing home gold medals in the 400m and 800m freestyle.

It was about this time that her elder sister Laura fell ill.

“No-one knew what was wrong with her. We thought she had the flu. Then she got worse and everyone thought she had meningitis. She was taken into the hospital and put in a neurological ward where she had a fit.

“We were then told that was suffering from encephalitis. We’d never even heard of it. I was only 15 and was really shocked this was happening.

“My mum started researching it and came across the Encephalitis Society. They were so helpful and informative which really helped us understand what was happening to Laura.”

Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain, usually caused by infection. The condition is indiscriminate, striking adults and children alike, showing no respect for age, gender, ethnic origin or culture. Mortality rates are high and of those who survive many are left with an acquired brain injury.

Laura has made steady progress since she was struck by the disease in 2005.

“She does still get headaches but she has made a great recovery and is now a PE teacher,” says Becky, who was in Malton yesterday to launch the new headquarters of the Encephalitis Society.

“I was approached by the Society around the time of Beijing and asked if I’d consider being an Ambassador for them. I immediately agreed.

“It means a lot to me and my family that I can use my success in the swimming pool to help the Society increase understanding of the disease in the hope that other families don’t have to go through what we did, as well as hopefully help raise funds to undertake additional research.”

And she will have more chance to raise the profile of the charity after last week successfully qualifying for the London Olympics this summer.

“To have a home crowd will be incredible and I am really excited to have qualified.”

Her qualification means no let up in the training regime which keeps the 23-year-old at the top of her sport. For the last ten years she has got up at 5.15am and trained morning and afternoon.

“We do ten sessions a week and each session is two hours long. It is gruelling but we do it as a team and it is nice to have friends around you. We are all like brothers and sisters.”

When not in the pool Becky relaxes by going shopping or to the cinema, but she likes nothing more than a good old Sunday roast at home with the family.

The Encephalitis Society

The Malton-based Encephalitis Society is the only resource of its kind in the world and has been based in Ryedale since 1994.

The Society answers over 2000 calls for support and information from people affected and their families in the UK and Ireland, each year. Their website receives 2000 hits from all over the world each week and the staff team do what they can to respond to the many requests and emails received from across the globe.