By Sahar Foladi
Jacqui Swallow is on the road towards her first marathon fundraising for Beyond Blue, an organisation close to her heart.
The Dandenong resident is set out to run the 42-kilometre marathon in October after she says Beyond Blue literally saved her life in 2020.
Ms Swallow was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2002 and with it also came intense depression and anxiety.
On the brink of a suicide attempt, she gave Beyond Blue a call.
“When I called them, they could tell from my tone that I had clear suicidal intent.”
By the time the ambulance arrived, she’d made her attempt. She spent three days in a coma.
“Luckily they called the ambulance. Without Beyond Blue I wouldn’t be here.”
This will be Ms Swallow’s first marathon. Previously she has completed a 21 kilometre run in 2021 before she got pregnant.
“I’m nervous, proud and excited but the thing I’m most excited about is the funds for Beyond Blue.”
So far she has raised almost $500 with a target of $10,000.
Ms Swallow not only represents herself but also the 2.2 per cent of Australians diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
After taking mood-stabiliser medication had led to weight gain, she got running.
“Pretty much everyone on stabiliser put on weight. When I first got my diagnoses in 2002 I weighed 42 kilos, by 2020 I weighed 85.”
Her inspiration came from a movie, ‘Brittany Runs the Marathon,’ based on a woman who receives a rude awakening by her doctor that she’s obese.
“Even before the movie finished I was up from the couch. I went out in my running shoes and I ran less than a block got puffed and went home.”
But that didn’t put her off her mission to embrace a healthy lifestyle as she was considered obese according to the BMI.
“I spoke to my cousin Emilie who is a runner and she suggested I do something like Couch to 5k (C25K), an app for beginners.
“The aim is to get to the point where you can run for 30 minutes without stopping.”
Once she started, she didn’t look back. With each run she had a new goal to smash – counting up from a minute to five, 10, 20 and finally 30 minutes of running.
“I was over doing it. I was so enthusiastic I was running twice a day. It made me excited, it was something to look forward to.”
She lost 26 kilograms in the first year of running and now weighs 59 kilos.
Not only has she become a runner, but also an author after a fruitless Google search for ‘bipolar runner’ websites.
Disappointed when she didn’t find any search results, she took it in her own hands to be heard.
“I was hoping to find a blog or a podcast or a YouTube Channel or even a book about people like me, by people like me.
“I found that to be a sort of frustrating and isolating thing. Surely there are heaps of us out there? And if there isn’t, there should be.”
She has started on the memoir on her life titled, ‘Bipolar Runner.’
“At night I get on the computer and share my experience. I talk about the marathon but also mentally.”
Although she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 19, she felt something wasn’t right as early as when she was nine years old.
“When I was about nine years old I lost a friend.
“She was my best friend, and suddenly she just stopped playing with me and found a new best friend,” she said.
“Most kids would find this upsetting, but my reaction was way overboard, I cried myself to sleep every night for a year.”
The same episode followed at the age of 14, when her grandfather passed away.
Following that were panic attacks, insomnia and random flows of tears over nothing.
Ms Swallow now leads a content and healthy life, she bought a unit in Dandenong with her partner to live as a family of three and works as a teacher aide in Springvale.
She went back to complete her higher education at a university after she failed in the first year of her diagnosis.
Having spent a semester on exchange to London and listed on the honour roll, she completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts, majoring in dance, then a post-graduate Diploma of Primary Teaching.
https://melbmara2023.grassrootz.com/beyondblue/jacqui-swallow
Lifeline Australia 13 11 14
