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Ashleigh Beacham, Ontario Teen's Finishes Lake Ontario Swim For Charity

Teen Finishes Lake Ontario Swim For Charity
The Huffington Post Canada
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TORONTO, ON - AUGUST 18: 15 year-old Ashleigh Beacham swam the 52 km across lake Ontario Sunday to raise $10,000 for the local Make-a-Wish foundation. She landed to a small gathering of family and supporters at Marilyn Bell Park, just west of Ontario place in the early evening. (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Asheligh Beacham, a 15-year-old teen from Komoka, Ontario, has finished a 52-km swim across Lake Ontario and raised thousands of dollars to send a young leukemia patient to Disney World.

"There was a time I didn’t know if I’d make it, but I persevered. I just kept thinking of Josh,” Beacham told the Toronto Sun on Sunday after finishing her swim.

Josh Donellan, a five-year-old boy with leukemia, will be going to Florida because of Beacham's efforts and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She's already raised more than $10,000 for the charity.

Beacham began her swim at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday and finished around 18 hours later, reported the Toronto Star.

“The hardest part for me was probably the dark. Those first couple of hours in the dark were terrifying, I didn’t know what I was doing . . . It was so disorienting,” she told The Star.

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