What is it about a challenge that lures even the most sane of us to take on huge risks? Why would someone risk their own life just to prove they could accomplish a feat?

For Pat Gallant-Charette, it’s the fact that she still can take these risks while her brother can’t.

After her brother died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 34, Pat decided then and there she was going to change her life.

At the age of 46, several decades after she gave up the sport, she started swimming again. Before she knew it, she was competing in grueling 2 mile open-water swims near her home in Maine.

The more she swam, the better she felt. She started setting her sights on bigger goals.

After two failed attempts, Pat swam the 21 miles from Dover, England, to the coast of France this past summer, becoming the oldest American woman to ever swim across the English Channel.

The 60-year-old says time after time, swimming keeps her teaching her a valuable lesson — she’s not getting older, she’s getting stronger.

She explains how her perspective on aging keeps changing with every stroke she takes, whether it’s across the English Channel or during her world-record swim across the Straits of Gibraltar.

She explains how she’s learned to never give up and how she can achieve anything as long as she tries.

Plus, find out how you can take part in her annual Swim For Your Heart, a worldwide event featuring thousands of swimmers that raises money for heart disease awareness right in their individual communities.

Want to learn more?

— Listen to our interview with George Brunstad, the oldest American to swim across the English Channel