Amanda Lowry smashes fundraising ocean swim for disabled mate

Amanda Lowry was followed by her support crowd as she prepared to swim to Rabbit Island to raise money for disabled athlete Johnny Sligo. Photo/ Andrew Warner

"Tangaroa's on my side today," Amanda Lowry said as she looked out at the sea.

"Let's just get my butt down there," she laughed, dressed in a wetsuit and swimming cap with goggles on the top of her head as if she was ready for battle.

The tetraplegic mum-of-two was wheeled down to the shoreline as her crowd of supporters followed behind her. She was about to take on her longest ocean swim to raise money for a good cause.

Paralysed from the chest down and having only 14 per cent body functionality, Lowry swam on her back from Mount Main Beach to Rabbit Island using her arms.

The swim was a fundraising effort for her good friend Johnny Sligo - aka Johnny Blaze - who had his leg amputated in September.

A Givealittle campaign had been set up to get Sligo a new prosthetic and other equipment that would allow him to get back to doing what he loved - sport.

More than $9000 had been raised since the page was set up on October 26 by Sligo's sister Cristalle and friends Angela Wallace and Lowry.

"It was really tough," Lowry said as she came out of the water.

"I had a lot of water splashing into my face."

She had expected to finish the swim in an hour but smashed it out in 35 minutes.

Lowry became a tetraplegic in a surfing accident four years ago but said she "feels at home in the water".

"I'm not afraid of the sea, I feel free when I'm in there, I'm weightless."

Sligo was waiting on the dunes as Lowry was carried up by her closest supporters.

"She's the toughest lady in the Bay - no, in the whole of New Zealand," he said.

All about the event

-Amanda Lowry completed her swim in 35 minutes
-It was a fundraising event to get Johnny Blaze a new prosthetic and gear
-More than $9000 has been raised for the cause
-To donate visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/johnnyblaze