Swimtastic Eva!

Congratulations to Aqua Baby Eva Higgins who has been awarded a Kellogg’s ASA Swimtastic award for Disability Swimmer of the Year!

Eva and her mum Penny have featured on both DayBreak and NorthWest Tonight!

Eva has regularly attended her Aqua Babies classes since she was three months old with her teacher Mark Johnson. She achieved her five-metre certificate at a remarkable two years and one-month-old, went on to gain her ten-metre certificate at just two and a half and has gone on to swim more than 100 metres at the age of three.

What makes this all the more remarkable is that Eva suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. This affects her internal organs especially her lungs and digestive system, clogging them with thick sticky mucus. Eva takes over 30 pills and endures up to 2 hours of chest physiotherapy every day.

Swimming was already in Eva’s family, mum Penny swam for Essex County and Granddad Alan is a level 4 coach. Now with the understanding that the benefits of swimming for Eva far outweighed any risk to her and as her brother had already attended Aqua Babies courses it became the obvious choice!

Eva’s teacher Mark has been instrumental in enabling Eva to reach her full potential despite absences due to illness or treatment. Mark says “Eva is a very self-disciplined and determined little girl which her achievements show!”

Everyone at Aqua Babies are in awe of the Higgins family and applaud how they have responded to Eva’s condition. Their determination and positive approach to life has been a huge inspiration and is clearly reflected in her achievements in the pool. It has been a tremendous experience for us all to offer support and growth for Eva and her brother Abel and see how our program has impacted and benefited them. Amazing results have been achieved.

No one knows what the future holds, but for Eva it will more than likely continue to involve a great deal of swimming!