It was a case of Mission Accomplished (finally) for St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane patient and former Navy Clearance Diver Ashley Semmens when he completed a world-first last month – ‘finning’ across the English Channel.

Ashley, 41, completed his challenge which had been 18 months in the planning, “but a feat that I’ve been training my whole life for.”

The military veteran ‘finned’ 40km across the Channel from Dover to Calais on his back just using his legs with fins (flippers) on his feet, which no one had ever attempted before. He battled strong tides and cold channel water conditions smashing his original target time.

He had hoped to complete the Fin Challenge in 15-18 hours. But with a support crew on board the pilot boat feeding and hydrating him every half an hour and a documentary crew in tow recording his epic journey, Ashley completed the crossing in the super quick time of 11 hours and 49 minutes.

Ashley was one of the 1 in 5 Australians who suffer chronic pain. In 2012 his Army Bushmaster vehicle was blown up by a Taliban roadside bomb in Afghanistan while he was on active duty, causing him a serious back injury.

The bomb blast, just three months into his tour, left him with damaged and bulging discs and meant he had more than a decade of chronic pain which he covered up from his military superiors and self-medicated with alcohol and prescription painkillers. He feared admitting chronic pain and mental health issues would end his beloved military career.

He was eventually discharged on medical grounds and continued to experience the ongoing roller coaster of chronic pain, PTSD, depression as well as contemplating suicide. Ashley was referred to St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane pain medicine physician, Dr Ramsey Jabbour. 

Dr Jabbour recommended a graduated approach to treating his chronic back pain starting with one of the less invasive interventional pain procedures, radiofrequency ablation (also called radiofrequency neurotomy) of pain nerves in his vertebrae.

The treatment in 2023 was successful, enabling Ashley to return to full training and to map out the greatest sporting challenge of his life - finning across the English Channel. He also used the event as an awareness campaign and fundraiser for the Navy Clearance Diver Trust, raising just under $200,000 which will be used to provide emotional and practical support for fellow Navy veteran divers.

The English Channel crossing on Friday the 13^th of June, came after an agonising 11-day wait for the fickle weather, which delayed the start of his attempt and meant a frustrating wait in the famous Channel port of Dover.

To read more about the Ashley Semmens journey from Afghanistan to France, click here for the original story.

To read more about St Vincent’s Private Hospitals pain medicine services and specialists click here.