Diana Nyad is an inspiring person who never gives up. Diana Nyad is 64 years old and has dreamed of swimming the Straits of Florida since she was 8. Diana was determined to chase her dream, and she wasn’t going to give that up. On Monday, September 2^nd, at just before 2pm ET, she willed her way to Key West Beach, just 53 hours after jumping into the ocean, Diana became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a protective cage. On Saturday, August 31, she jumped into the ocean in Havana, Cuba at 8:59 am. She had a crew of 35, including divers who swam out in front of her collecting and moving jellyfish out of her way. This was Diana Nyad’s fifth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. She has had gut wrenching setbacks of jelly fish stings, rough seas and awful waves, and asthma  attacks. This time she was determined.

Her challenge was to swim 103 miles through shark infested waters. Her mantra this year was, “find a way.” She left Cuba behind and keep swimming toward Florida. She was instructed to follow the path that was cleared for her but she replyed “I’ve never been able to follow it in my life.” After every stroke she swam deeper into record history. On Saturday night, she broke Penny Palfrey’s record for the farthest anyone has swam without a protective cage.

As she was walking to the paramedics, she got three messages. One, “ We should never, ever give up.” Two, “ You are never too old to chase your dreams.” And finally, “ It looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.” Because of the 103 mile swim, the next morning Diana had slurred speech because of a swollen tongue and lips. During the swim, Diana was vomiting because of too much salt water in her system and sang lullabies to help her relax. Diana sums up her experience by these words: “I think that a lot of people in our country have gotten depressed, pinned in, pinned down with living lives they don’t want,” she continued, “ I do write all the time about—you tell me what your dreams are. What are you chasing? Its not impossible. Name it.”