MSWA Albany Swim dives into 10th year of supporting people living with neurological conditions

The MSWA Albany Swim is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Saturday — and Marina Pietropaolo has been involved in all 10 events. The eight-hour relay swim has been held at the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre every year since 2012, raising funds for MSWA services. Last year, the event raised a total of $37,051 with 109 participants across 10 teams. Ms Pietropaolo, an MSWA Ambassador, has been involved in the swim every year with her team, Team Marines, who have raised more than $100,000 for MSWA over the years. The team are currently the top fundraisers for Saturday’s event, and Ms Pietropaolo hope they will be able to get to $10,000 this year. The cause is close to home for Ms Pietropaolo, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, at the age of 25. “It has changed my life in every way, and I’ve had lots of challenges through those years as well,” she said. “But we’re in the year 2022, and I’ve seen the advances of research and medicine come a long way.” There are more than 25,000 Australians living with the progressive disease which affects the central nervous system, and has no known cure. Ms Pietropaolo said she has had no new lesions in the past 12 years, and views the event as an opportunity to support others living with MS. “Because I started to feel better, I wanted to give back to MSWA, because I wanted to help those who weren’t as fortunate as me,” she said. Ms Pietropaolo said when the event was first announced she was excited to raise money to support people like herself living with neurological conditions — until she realised she was signing up for an eight-hour swimming marathon. “I couldn’t even swim,” she said. “I could breaststroke, but I wasn’t a very strong swimmer. “After the first couple of years I thought ‘right, if we’re going to stick this out for the long haul I need to learn how to swim a lot better’, and I have. “I can last the day a heck of a lot better than I did in the early years, because I certainly was not a swimmer.” This year, Ms Pietropaolo will complete the swim with the support of her swim team, made up of mums from her children’s school, as well as the kids’ own team, Mini Marines. “It’s a beautiful community, I’m very well supported with the community of people I have around me,” she said. “I’m very, very fortunate, all I’ve got to do is say ‘this is what we’re doing’, and they will just give me whatever I need.” Late registrations to participate can be made on Saturday. Visit www.mswaswim.org.au.