I have had asthma my entire life and swimming was always a challenge for me. We went white water rafting with a church retreat once and there was a rapid the instructor/guide said we could swim through if we wanted. Stupid me (can barely swim) and one of my girls (my daughter is a good swimmer) decided to swim through it. I nearly drowned and they had to haul my butt into the raft, my daughter breezed through it.