A 38st financial manager who shed 8st training to complete a 6km open water swim was suddenly struck down by kidney failure and potentially deadly sepsis. Now he has been told by doctors that swimming had saved his life.
Father-of-two Stuart Kilmister, 51, had only swum a few lengths at a time when he agreed in December 2018 to enter the ambitious open water challenge known as the Bantham Swoosh. This saw him gradually building up to 6km or 300 lengths of his local pool and losing 8st in the process.
He was delighted in July 2019 when he completed the river swim in Devon in just 2hrs 16mins. Then Stuart, who lives in Worcester with his wife Ange, 52, a recruitment consultant, and their two kids, police officer Andrew, 27, and Sarah, 22, who works at McDonald’s, soon discovered it had been a lifesaver.
