"I was desperate to feel alive again" – how adventure healed heartbreak after 11 rounds of IVF

“I burst into tears when I reached the hospital and the doctor confirmed I’d broken my leg,” Jessica Hepburn begins. “I’d just spent two gruelling months climbing to the top of Mount Everest, aged 51.”

“But after we started descending, another climber above me dropped their oxygen bottle and it came crashing down, hitting me and knocking me over into the snow.

“'I can’t get up,' I said, terrified.

“My left leg was throbbing in pain. As we were too high for a helicopter rescue, I had to crawl and hobble down the mountain for two days until we finally reached camp two, where I was rescued and taken to hospital.

“It wasn’t how I’d imagined completing the ‘Sea, Street, Summit Challenge’, which consists of swimming the English Channel, running a marathon and summiting Everest."

Sofa time

“While you might think I’ve been a sporty, adventurous person all my life, it’s quite the opposite.

“For years, I preferred chilling on the sofa watching trash TV after a hard day at my job as the Executive Director at The Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London.

“In my early 30s, my partner and I had decided to start trying for a baby. After an unsuccessful year, we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility and started IVF. The next 10 years were the hardest time of my life as we experienced multiple miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy.

“I was desperate to be a mother, but nothing was working.

“And just after my 43rd birthday, when our 11th IVF attempt failed, it was time to move on.”

Changing the narrative

“Realising that I'd lost a decade to project baby, I knew I needed to do something different. Life is short, and I was desperate to feel alive again.

“I thought about how when I was a little girl, I'd told my dad I'd swim the English Channel one day. Maybe this was the time to try?

“Heading online, I started researching the idea and came across a swimming coach called Jon who ran an open water swimming course on the island of Formentera in Spain. A few months later, I found myself flying out there and swimming in open water for the very first time.

“It was freezing cold and horrific, but it was the start of my journey."

Swimming the Channel

“After months of training, it was time to try to swim from England to France. Setting off at 1.30am on 2nd September 2015 in pitch black, I began the 21-mile journey from Dover to Calais. A support boat sailed alongside me as I navigated the freezing cold water, determined to make it to the end.

“It was tough going. I was violently sick and when I reached the middle of the Channel, I got badly stung by jellyfish all over my body and face, including my mouth. The pain of it all was horrendous, but I refused to give up.

“When I finally reached France after 17 hours, 44 minutes and 30 seconds of swimming, it was the best moment of my life.

“The challenge felt like my own version of labour – I forgot about the pain as soon as I left the water. Nature hadn't given me a happy ending with a baby, but it had handed me another, and swimming had healed my sadness.

“However, more sorrow was to follow when the relationship between my partner and I broke down, leaving me crushed."

Healing from heartbreak – by running a marathon

“With a newfound taste for adventure, I decided to throw myself into something else. As a Londoner, running a marathon had always been on my bucket list, so I signed up for the 2017 London Marathon.

“I was in a dark place after the breakdown of my relationship, but training gave me something to focus on. Running for the charity Fertility Network UK, I pounded the streets I called home, all while listening to my favourite radio programme, Desert Island Discs.

“In the episode with comedian Jimmy Carr, he spoke about how working out what you want from life is the most important question and once you know it, getting it is comparatively easy.

“Realising I wanted another adventure. I decided I’d climb the highest mountain in the world while listening to every episode of Desert Island Discs.

“And I did just that. Becoming the first woman in the world to complete the Sea, Street, Summit Challenge."

Lessons from the challenge

“Three years on from my summit, I feel incredibly proud and wouldn't change anything about it – even the trauma that I suffered from the accident. When things are difficult, you can learn and grow from them.

“For the many years when I tried to conceive, I felt so much stigma and shame that I couldn't do what other women could.

“But my experience has taught me that you can have an amazing life without children, even though the sadness will never go away.

“Adventure makes you feel energised and alive – whether it's a massive adventure or a micro one. I believe that we should all live our biggest, bravest, best lives and enjoy the time that we have on this beautiful planet.”