American teenager Maya Merhige withstood thousands of jellyfish stings during a 14-hour swim across the Cook Strait

Maya Merhige recently completed a 14-hour swim across the 13.67-mile Cook Strait in New Zealand, battling through strong currents and jellyfish stings.

Maya Merhige eventually stopped counting her jellyfish stings, such was the frequency with which they were getting scorched against her skin. At this point, Merhige was already several hours into her 27-mile swim across the Cook Strait in New Zealand and had slowly become immune to the small, burning sensations that covered her body. By the end, even her face – her nose, ears and lips – had been peppered with them. “Constantly, like 25 times a minute – over and over,” is how often the 17-year-old Californian estimates that she was being stung. That equates roughly to once every third stroke – an aggressive form of exposure therapy for someone who claims to be terrified of jellyfish. “Even when I was getting in the water, I was already like: ‘I’m so scared. I don’t want to see jellyfish,’” adds Merhige. “So the entire time I was just fighting myself mentally to kind of get over that fear.” Confronting her greatest fears is something that Merhige has done time and again while swimming in some of the world’s most challenging and unforgiving waters. Crossing the Cook Strait, which separates New Zealand’s North and South Islands, last month was another step towards her goal of becoming the youngest person to complete the Oceans Seven – a series of brutal open water swims around the globe.