Cambuslang man and his pals are all heart as they brave the freezing cold for charity swim

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A Cambuslang man and his friends took on a freezing cold water challenge wearing pink shorts to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

David Lloyd, 63, went for a swim at Prestwick beach in freezing temperatures to raise money for the charity and was dared to wear pink swim shorts during it by his granddaughter Jamie-Leigh McNeillie.

Jamie-Leigh, who is 16 years old, was born premature and diagnosed with absent pulmonary valve syndrome.

She had surgery to close a VSD (ventricular septal defect) – a hole between left and right ventricles – aged just two-weeks-old.

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The teenager had open heart surgery when she was in Primary 1 to replace the absent pulmonary valve, which wasn’t straight forward, and has heart murmurs.

Jamie-Leigh’s mum Natalie, 36, said: “Jamie-Leigh’s been at the hospital every year since she’s been a baby and has also had stents put in.

"She’s now transitioning over to adult services and is due to have her valve replaced which will probably mean open-heart surgery again. She takes everything in her stride apart from needles.”

“It’s never held her back and she’s doing amazing at school, but she doesn’t get that from me,” Natalie joked.

“My dad wanted to raise money for the British Heart Foundation and decided to do the cold water swimming. When we were down at Prestwick we could hardly hold our phones straight to take photos as the wind was that bad.

“He was going to do it himself and asked his pals to donate but they wanted to support him and decided they’d do it as well. He’s never done anything like this before. I’m very proud of them.

“The pink shorts started as a joke between Jamie-Leigh and her papa, so they all wore pink shorts, and chose Prestwick beach as it’s her and her papa’s favourite place.”

David was joined by his mates Stevie Gallagher, Tony Beattie and Peter Finnegan and his son Mark Finnegan and they all braved the shock of the cold water to their systems.

David said: “I actually loved it. Don’t get me wrong it was cold but I was buzzing when I came out of the water. The only thing my wife said to me was ‘don’t dive in’, then she turned round and said she saw me ‘diving over the rails as if you were a seal’. So I didn’t do as I was told.

“It was cold and one of the guys came back and said, ‘I love you Davie and would do anything for you, but I’m not doing that again’.

David, who works in Tunnock’s in Uddingston set an initial target of £300, which was quickly increased to £700, almost £2,000 has now been raised through physical and online donations via a JustGiving page.

Donations are still welcome via: https:// www.justgiving.com/page/david-lloyd-1729864441835?

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