One too many pints for Stuart Kilmister saw him spontaneously sign up for a challenge that would end up saving his life.
The 38st finance manager put his name forward to do the open-water Bantham Swoosh with his mate Andy when they were in the pub one night.
Training for the 6km estuary swim down the River Avon in Devon saw the 51-year-old lose seven stone in weight - but shortly after the big swim, he ended up in intensive care with kidney failure.
He was in and out of hospital for two years but doctors said that if he hadn’t gotten fit before falling ill, he likely wouldn’t have made it.
Stuart now says he owes his life to the race organisers and just last weekend took part in this year’s Swoosh, raising money for Level Water - a charity using the power of swimming to improve the lives of children with disabilities.
“It was very emotional,” Stuart, of Worcester, says of Saturday’s swim.
“Before the start, I had a moment just thinking about how it had gone full circle.
“I was back doing the same thing I was doing almost exactly three years ago.
“When the organisers Ian and Mark [from Level Up] got in touch to say they were doing it again post-Covid, to give me the chance to give back to them again, to something that effectively saved my life, it was a no-brainer...
“I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them.”
It all started back in October 2018 when Stuart was in the pub with his mate Andy.
They drunkenly signed up for the event together but had no recollection of doing so until Stuart saw the confirmation emails the next morning.
“I had barely swum 10 lengths in one go,” the father-of-two continues.
“Following the New Year in 2019, I set myself a target of doing 10 extra lengths a week.
“In the run-up, I trained like mad and lost seven stone so I could swim in a wet suit.
“I was swimming every day in the last three months before the race in the summer.”
Stuart, alongside a team of mates, raised 100k in total. He felt elated and was “over the moon” with his achievement.
But by September, he started to feel ill and wasn’t able to pass urine.
He took himself to A&E but the next day was transferred to Redditch intensive care to be put on dialysis - a procedure to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood.
Stuart was then moved to a special unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
His diabetes, a sepsis infection, and unbearably painful kidney stones had created a perfect storm, he says.
“It was hugely frightening,” Stuart recalls.
“I was out doing normal stuff on the Monday, Tuesday and come Wednesday, I'm in intensive care and not able to move.”
He was in and out of hospital from thereon, and by Christmas 2019, had his first nephrostomy fitted - a small tube inserted through the skin into the kidney to allow urine to drain from the kidney into a collecting bag outside the body.
“They [doctors] said if I hadn't just done the swim, and ‘if you hadn't been as fit as you were, then you wouldn't be here’," Stuart continues.
“Doing that swim has basically kept me alive.”
While his operation was essential, it put Stuart in a dark place.
Unable to take part in his newfound love for swimming, he struggled with his mental health and gained back the seven stone that he had lost.
He became withdrawn, wouldn’t go out, and avoided seeing friends over embarrassment.
And due to the pain, he struggled to sleep.
"Because I was swimming almost every day, it also become my way of dealing with any sort of stress or worry," Stuart explains.
"Swimming became a real joy for me, it wasn't just about the training.
"In and out of the hospital, it felt like it was one step forward two steps back.
"I thought it was going to be okay then something else would happen."
Stuart’s friends and family were super supportive, he says, along with his boss.
Whilst he was in hospital he was on sick leave, and when he could manage to work at home, his team supported him if it became too much.
He sought help with his employee assistance program and found it easier to speak to a professional about his problems, rather than those close to him over fear of upsetting them.
Stuart was also recommended to join a support group on Facebook where others with similar problems could share their stories, which “massively helped.”
By August 2021, Stuart had his final operation, where the tubes and bag were removed from his kidneys.
“It sounds stupid but the relief was instant,” Stuart says.
Just two weeks later, the tube exit site had healed and he was back in the water.
“I cried the moment I was back swimming,” Stuart, who now swims three times a week and has founded a wild swimming community - Worcestershire Wallowers - with more than 1,000 members on Facebook, adds.
He says the Bantham Swoosh is a "huge spectacle" with thousands diving into the water in wetsuits and swimming hats.
"It’s one of those events that changes lives and makes an enormous difference," he adds.
"As far as I’m concerned I will do it every year; I would do it tomorrow if I had to."
To learn more about the non-for-profit event by Level Water or to donate
For further information or to donate visit levelwater.org or you can donate to Suart's JustGiving fundraiser https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stuart-kilmister1 - where so far, he has raised more than £2,000 for Level Water.
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