QuickTake:

Robin Mayall developed swimming-induced pulmonary edema, a life-threatening condition, and made the call to stop her attempt. Afterward, she was with family, her recovery “looking good.”

Eugene city employee and swimmer Robin Mayall was only a half-mile from completing her swim across the English Channel, when a sudden serious medical condition abruptly ended her journey.

Robin Mayall had been working toward the English Channel attempt for years.

Her decision to get out of the water may have saved her life. According to posts on Mayall’s Instagram account — made by her daughter, Asa — Mayall had covered about 98% of the roughly 21-mile journey Wednesday, Aug. 26, and was in sight of shore when she developed swimming-induced pulmonary edema, also known as SIPE.

The condition, which otherwise healthy swimmers can develop, causes sudden breathlessness and severe coughing and wheezing and can be fatal.

It is caused by a swimmer’s blood pressure rising dramatically due to intense physical exertion and water immersion, which puts pressure on blood vessels, especially in cold water.

Wednesday was the last day in Mayall’s weeklong window to cross the channel, but bad weather had delayed the swim.

Asa rode in the boat that followed Mayall on her journey and documented the swim through Instagram posts. Followers commented encouraging messages, and Mayall made steady progress throughout the day. At hour 13, Asa posted a photo of Mayall swimming in the dark, telling followers her mom was close to the French shore. 

Her next post announced her mom’s sudden onset of SIPE.

“With the shore in sight she became my hero by holding her promise she made to dad and I, that she would survive the Channel,” Asa Mayall wrote. “I am incredibly thankful and so proud of her choice, even though I know it is absolutely devastating.”

Inspired by a childhood hero, Eugene woman prepares to swim the English Channel

Robin Mayall, a long-time distance swimmer, trained day and night in Oregon lakes and the San Francisco Bay this past year to get ready for the crossing.

She got into cold-water swimming during the pandemic, but then was forced to overcome injuries from a car accident in 2022 before beginning her training with a well-known channel coach in 2023. She began planning her crossing in 2024.

Asa Mayall said in an Instagram post Thursday her mom’s recovery from SIPE (and some severe jellyfish stings) was “looking good.” 

Robin Mayall told Lookout Eugene-Springfield in a Thursday Facebook message that she was headed to France for some recovery and family time.

Lilly is a graduate of Indiana University and has worked as a journalist at the Indianapolis Star and in Burlington, Vermont, as well as working as a foreign language teacher in France. She covers education and children's issues for Lookout Eugene-Springfield.