Swimming saved my life after shock cancer diagnosis – now I’m helping others make waves

MUM-of-two Jo Myles was saved by swimming – after a shock breast cancer diagnosis.

The Edinburgh 50-year-old went through really dark periods as she waited for test results and treatment. But starting cold water swimming in the freezing waters off Edinburgh changed her outlook.

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Now she’s told her story, along with other Scots sea-lovers, in a new book called The Ripple Effect.

Today Jo, owner of Myles hairdressing and a yoga teacher, writes for The Scottish Sun about her journey to the waves and how, as she nears the end of her cancer treatment, her life has taken a completely new direction.

SWIMMING has always been the love of my life.

I’m a Portobello girl and grew up close to that Edinburgh beach so that was my stomping ground as a young kid.

My mum and my friend’s mum used to drink in the Sands Hotel next to the swimming baths and we used to be left on the beach, running amok.

We could be found singing the Rocky theme tune, punching the waves.

But five years ago, my world crumbled. I’d found a lump in my left breast and found out it was cancer. I’m a single parent. I’ve got two girls, both of whom were in primary school at the time, and it shook my world.

I was told it was cancer. I had periods of time waiting on results, when the world became a dark, scary place.

I kept thinking to myself: “Am I going to be the person who’s told they can’t do anything or that I’m not going to be here for my kids?”

But if there’s one thing a life-threatening health issue can give you, it makes you value every single day, every single breath.

It made me look inwards, desperate to make positive changes in my life. I wanted to make every day count.

First up was being as healthy as possible — no alcohol, a plant-based diet, meditating.

I first had to go through a mastectomy and then a second surgery, lymph node removal.

I was offered chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which I took as well.
Those were challenging times and the chemo was by far the scariest — having your energy zapped, not being able to walk your kids to school in the morning.

But we had a bit of a motto in our house, which was not to forget that this was medicine — good medicine against the dark, unseen, scary thing you could not really feel.

So, fast- forward. I got through it and, coming to the end of my treatment, had this mind-set that I was going to get out and live.
I remember going on the Sports Ware-house site and thinking, “Right, I’m going to order us all wetsuits. We’re all going to be that outdoorsy family”.

The day the wetsuits arrived, it was a busy week-end and we still had our food shop for the week to do. So I said: “We’ll go down to the supermarket and, once we’ve got our shopping in, we’ll jump in the water.”

I hadn’t realised that, walking around the supermarket with wetsuits and clothes on top, we’d be just about passing out from the heat.

Anyway, we went in the sea and splashed about — and I loved it.
A few months later we were heading towards winter and I was listening to a podcast that featured Wim Hof.

I wanted to try his whole cold-water thing so got in the water without a wetsuit.

The first group swim I did was just before lock-down and I just can’t be more thankful for that as it kept me anchored for the months to come.

It helped with my focus, with mental health, and gave me a lot of strength.

I used to go down to the sea every morning, starting in March. I chased the sunrise as it got earlier and earlier. I had this mindset of, “I’ve got another day, another day to celebrate”.

I started taking pictures and videos, trying to catch something.
Then I decided to make a social media page — and Swimrise Portobello was born.

Through that I’ve connected with some amazing people and built friendships that will last a lifetime. My life has now taken a completely different direction.

I did Pilates training some years ago so revisited that and started offering Pilates classes at a local church in Porto-bello, followed by a sea dip.

That’s now evolved into me completing my yoga-teaching training and specialising in restorative yoga. I also completed reiki- healing training and am organising retreats with wild swimming.

Three weeks ago I had the second phase of my breast reconstruction — they had offered reconstruction in two phases, one side at a time, and that meant I was very lopsided.

I joined a gym and can remember how self-conscious I was when in the changing rooms. But a Winter Solstice skinny-dip in the pitch-dark changed that.

There was loads of fun and laughter — out there, naked, all the self-consciousness was gone. I realised the next time I was in the gym, I felt alright.

It was an unexpected gift from that fun and silliness.