Meet 12 Year Old Christophe Maleau, The Lad Who Successfully Swam From Saint Lucia to Martinique In 13 Hours

“I held on singing songs to myself, thinking about the encouragement I received on social media,” he said.

Not only was Maleau’s eyes on the prize, the 12 year old was being an activist and raising awareness on breast cancer as well as encouraging his mother who is suffering from the disease and is currently in her remission phase, St. Lucia Times reports. The month of October is set aside each year to raise awareness on the disease.

“I was hungry at times during the crossing, I sometimes wanted to stop because I was tired,” Maleau admitted. “But when this idea crossed my mind, I told myself that I had no right. I had to continue for the cause I was defending.”

His father also added: “Christophe got it into his head that he wanted to help cancer patients, so he does it by swimming.”

Christophe Maleau was welcomed in his home country by a cheering and excited crowd, and medical officials conducted checks on him to ensure he was physically well. Maleau joins the likes of fellow accomplished Martiniquan swimmer, Jacques Sicot, as well as French Olympic and European swimming champion, Gilles Rondy, to have successfully swum across that channel.

“It was he who ended up encouraging me,” his father said. “At the end there was swell, bigger waves and of course I was a little worried. But when he looked at me, I felt he was fine. He didn’t want to give up. It was out of the question.”

This isn’t the first time Maleau has accomplished a challenge, St. Lucia Times reports. He completed a 6.4 km swim in 2017 and proceeded to successfully swim between the Martiniquan towns, Diamant and Schoelcher, in the space of 10 hours in 2018.