Mirjam Brady SHE had lifelong fear of water until teaching herself how to swim by watching YouTube videos. Now Mirjam Brady is spending the winter diving into icy waters to “give back to the river” which saved her from plunging into depression during lockdown. The 39-year-old only discovered her love for the sport a few years ago, but said “life itself lost its colour” when the pools closed at the height of the pandemic and she had to stop. She tried other forms of exercise but the impact of not being in the water took its toll on her mental health – until she began wild swimming in the River Dee in Aberdeen.