Ocean swimmer with MS maintains immersion in the waves

At Port Fairy’s East Beach in Victoria, Australia, even in the bitterly cold months of winter, it’s a normal sight to see a group of people in bathing suits, submerging a man in a wheelchair right into the ocean.

The man in the chair is Jim Pevitt, and he is helped into the sea four days a week for his ongoing ritual – a marine dunking – by dedicated volunteers.

Thanks to their support, Pevitt, a former surfer, fitness trainer and martial arts black belt, continues to enjoy the waves, despite the considerable challenge posed to him by Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – a potentially disabling disease of the central nervous system – with which he was diagnosed at 42.

Yet Pevitt hasn’t let the disability intervene in his devotion to the sea. “It’s like it’s my second home,” he says of the ocean. “MS can’t take it, nobody can.”

View the original video here.

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