What a 70th birthday gift! 92nd length of the Golden Gate Bridge swim

This year’s Golden Gate Bridge Swim was both the most difficult and the most significant thus far for 70-year-old Petaluma woman.|

It was certainly nothing new for Kathie Hewko. After all, she had already done it 91 times before. But this year’s Golden Gate Bridge Swim was both the most difficult and the most significant thus far.

Hewko, a Petaluma Realtor, in her words, “crawled off the couch and into the Bay.” Just a week before her 70th birthday, Hewko completed the 1?-mile length of the Golden Gate Bridge swim from Fort Point in San Francisco to Lime Rock in Sausalito.

The swim was not only a birthday present to herself, but was her first open-water swim in more than a year as she continued to battle the effects of a 30-year battle with Lyme Disease and co-infections.

As her 70th birthday neared, Hewko began to feel better. She checked with her doctor and began swimming again, first in a pool and eventually in the bay.

Although still weak, she made the decision to give the swim a try.

“I thought that, if nothing else, my determination would get me over to the Marin side,” she said. She thought right. Determination prevailed and she marked off successful swim No. 92.

It wasn’t easy.

“It was definitely one of my more challenging swims,” she said. Although the weather was perfect, the bay was not.

“At the time of the swim it was 81 degrees, but the water temperature seemed like 58 degrees,” Hewko said. “We jumped off the boat about 8 a.m. into the Potato Patch. That is an area where the tides meet, and it is like a washing machine agitating. I like rough water, but this was definitely a challenge.

“The water calmed down after about 20 minutes. Just past the south tower, I was finally able to get into a rhythm. The water was relatively smooth the rest of the way.”

That doesn’t mean everything was smooth.

“The last part of the swim was a very big challenge as my tick borne disease - Babesia - caused breathing issues. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.”

That’s when the determination kicked in and Hewko did what she had set out to do, completing the swim in 39 minutes.

She said she felt pretty good for the first two days after the swim, but by the third day she was very tired.

“It did take a lot out of me, but I expected that,” she said. “I also lost my voice. I don’t know where it went,” she said, proving that wherever her voice went, it didn’t take her good humor with it.

Nor did it take her determination.

She still has a goal of 100 Golden Gate Bridge Swims.

Come heck, rough water or Lyme Disease symptoms, she plans to reach that goal.

Don’t bet against her.

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