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Victoria woman to swim across the Georgia Strait raising money for charity

Jill Yoneda will begin a 70 km swim across the Georgia Strait and back to raise money for Canuck Place Children's Hospice on Friday.

Jill Yoneda will begin a 70 km swim across the Georgia Strait and back to raise money for Canuck Place Children's Hospice on Friday.

Yoneda will be the first to double-cross the Georgia Strait from Nanaimo to Sechelt and back in a continual open water swim that is estimated to take 24 hours to complete.

The Victoria woman is now in her early 40s and her love for the water goes back many years. She trained as a competitive swimmer from a young age and enjoyed scuba diving but suffered a type 2 decompression accident in 2004.

The doctors discovered a hole in her heart, which meant that she could never scuba dive again. Instead, she took up free diving and earned three national records in the extreme sport.

Yoneda has been diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease, compartment syndrome, and a rare condition called Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, which led to over 15 surgeries and two spinal disc implants.

"Instead of sitting back and feeling sorry for myself it was more of an acceptance of those personal limitations and boundaries -- how they make me present in my own life and how I chose to live and value my experiences," she says.

She has been preparing for the swim by spending long periods of time submerged in cold water as the water temperature is expected to be about 10 to 12 degrees C during her swim.

A team of friends, family and a paramedic will accompany her in kayaks and on paddle boards keeping track of her logbooks and food.

"When it gets tough then I think about the kids at Canuck Place and what they and their families have to go through and that always will give me the push to keep going," Yoneda says.

Canuck Place provides paediatric palliative care and helps over 728 children with life-threatening illnesses in B.C. at no cost to their families. The charity offers medical respite care, pain and symptom management, end-of-life care, therapy programs and bereavement counselling.

"Jill has had numerous physical setbacks and it's so inspiring for us to to partner with her as she courageously takes on something as big as this swim," says Shawn MacInnes from Canuck Place.

"For her to then turn around and say that she wants to inspire courage at Canuck Place as well -- that's really special for us. We're just so proud of her and what she has already accomplished -- we can't thank her enough," MacInnes says.

 Jill Yoneda at Canuck Place Children's Hospice with Chase BakerJill Yoneda at Canuck Place with Chase Baker

The Swim for Courage is her third marathon open water swim -- last year she swam from Port Angeles to Victoria.

She will start from Neck Point Beach in Nanaimo at about 4:30 p.m. on August 3, swimming through the night and throughout Saturday.

Another swimmer, Susan Simmons, set out on August 1 at 11 a.m. to swim from Victoria to Port Angeles and back crossing the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Simmons is raising money for the MS Wellness Centre to establish an aquatics program for people living with multiple sclerosis.