Champion swimmer Neil Gilson became the first person to swim all 10 of Switzerland's largest lakes, a challenge inspired by his son Jack, who has a rare condition. The 40-year-old, who runs the Sandy Cove hotel in Berrynarbor, North Devon, with his wife Lucie, finished his final swim on Wednesday, and Guinness World Records recognised the achievement.
Emotional finish with children
For the last 200 metres of his swim across the 72km-long Lake Geneva, Gilson was joined by his children Chloe, 12, and Jack, 10. Blinking back tears of happiness, he told The Mirror: “I can’t believe it - I’m incredibly proud.”
Neil said: “I had tears in my eyes, my goggles were steaming up. To see both my children swimming alongside me was pure joy. But for Jack, it’s something we never thought would be possible. It was a dream come true. I’m over the moon.”
World records and fundraising
Completing the last leg in 23 hours and 15 minutes, he did not quite break his 2024 time of 22 hours, which set a world record. However, he set new world records with all his other lake swims. The challenge has raised more than £7,000 so far for PANS PANDAS, a small charity that cared for his son after he developed the condition.
Jack was 18 months old when his behaviour changed dramatically overnight. Neil says: “Jack developed severe anxiety and became really nervous about everything. He had a bad tic, where he would rub his ear on his shoulder, which became constant. He barely ate anything and had extreme tantrums. It was traumatic for us as parents - we were frantic with worry.”
Diagnosis and recovery
Doctors initially thought Jack had autism, then later Tourette syndrome. When Jack was three, Lucie chanced upon a viral social media video showing a family on ITV’s This Morning talking to a doctor about their son. Neil says: “The headline was something like ‘mould turned my son evil’. Now, I obviously don’t like the word evil, but at the time - we could relate.”
The couple tracked down Dr Tim Ubhi, from the London PANS Clinic, and made Jack an appointment. Blood tests confirmed he had the streptococcus bacteria in his system. Neil says: “He was having a misdirected immune response to the illness, which his body was unable to clear.” Jack was diagnosed with PANDAS, a condition that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly attack the brain, triggering abrupt behavioural and neurological changes.
Given a longer course of antibiotics, Jack then had his tonsils removed. Neil says: “We started to get our little boy back. It was incredibly emotional. We haven’t looked back.” Infections like winter bugs still cause flare-ups, but Jack now understands what’s happening and can tell his parents.
The 10-lake challenge
Swimming 382 km in all, Neil battled extreme fatigue, strong currents and freezing temperatures. As well as Geneva, he swam Lugano (30.7km), Constance (65km), Biel (15.7km) and Neuchantel (37.4km) last year, achieving new world records for all of them. This year came Maggiore (59km), Zurich (37km), Zug (13.8km), Lucerne (36.2km) and Thun (16.6km), setting five more world records, before ending on Lake Geneva.
Neil set off at 2pm on Tuesday and stepped back onto the shore at 11.15am on Wednesday. He says: “It was a tough, really tough swim, though. I got unlucky with the currents. And then it was a long night. I started falling asleep while I was swimming. Then I got really cold because I was so tired. I wanted to quit, to throw the towel in, so many times. But I pictured my family at the end, and their faces. And somehow I kept going. I did it for them - I did it for Jack.”
Jack adds: “I felt proud to help Daddy finish his challenge and hope it helps lots of other children - I also felt a bit nervous being in the lake. I’m happy that Daddy has finished and hope he has helped other children have a better life.”
