Sandra Burns

Every lap is a promise!

If you see me disappearing into a pool this summer, don’t panic. I’m not training for the Olympics. I’m just voluntarily swimming what feels like the distance to another province. 🏊‍♀️😂

I’ve signed up for the Heart & Stroke Swim Challenge, and my goal is to swim 5 km… although knowing me, 10 km has somehow entered the conversation. Apparently, I make questionable life choices for a good cause.

Now, full disclosure: I’m definitely not Summer McIntosh. I’ll be counting laps, questioning my decisions around lap 37, and bargaining with myself after every turn.

But this challenge is about so much more than swimming.

My dad died from heart disease when he was just 45 years old. Losing him changed my life forever, and the years that followed were some of the hardest I’ve ever faced. Grief never really leaves—it just learns how to travel with you.

Now life has come full circle in a way I never wanted.

I’m facing the beginnings of serious heart disease myself.

That reality could have made me stop. Instead, it’s the reason I’m starting.

This swim is for my dad. It’s for everyone whose lives have been touched by heart disease and stroke. And it’s for me.

It’s my way of saying that I’m not done yet. That I still have fight left in me. That I’ve still got it.

Will I be exhausted? Absolutely.
Will I complain about counting hundreds of laps? Without question.
Will I keep going anyway? You’d better believe it.

Every lap is a promise—to my dad, to myself, and to everyone still fighting—that we don’t let heart disease write the ending.

If you’d like to cheer me on, follow my progress, or make a donation to Heart & Stroke, I’d be incredibly grateful. Every bit of support helps create a future where more families get the time together that mine didn’t.

Now… excuse me while I go see if I’ve accidentally signed myself up to become part fish. 🐟💙