Swim Across America Moves Indoors to Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich

The 11th Annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim scheduled for Saturday morning, June 24, is being moved to the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich at 4 Horseneck Lane, Greenwich, Connecticut, due to the forecast of thunderstorms. The annual Swim will take place in the Boys & Girls Club pool instead of Long Island Sound. 

Even with this last minute venue change, close to 300 swimmers are expected to participate - one of the largest groups in the 11 years of the Swim. Every year, more swimmers and volunteers come together and raise money in the fight to defeat cancer. 

At this Saturday's Swim, Swim Across America is seeing more local high school swim teams and their coaches signing up, such as Greenwich High School swim team coaches Terry Lowe and Lorrie Hokayem who are leading Team Julian, as well as Greenwich Academy, Brunswick School, Ridgefield High School, LaGuardia High School and Darien High School swim coach Marjorie Trifone with Team Blue Wave Swim & Dive. Teams are also a big part of the Greenwich-Stamford Swim with more than 20 teams already registered. One of the largest teams is Team Julian, with members swimming in honor of Julian Fraser, a 2014 Greenwich High School graduate and captain of the GHS swim and water polo teams, who sadly passed away earlier this year after an eleven month battle with cancer. Julian’s father Alec Fraser will be the honored speaker at this year’s Swim.

 

“A very big and very moving part of the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim is hearing the stories of ‘Why I Swim’ or ‘Why I Volunteer’ from our participants,” noted Michele Graham, one of the co-chairs of the event and the mother of a teenage cancer survivor. Michele’s daughter Nicole, also a 2014 Greenwich High School graduate, is a leukemia survivor.  Lorrie Lorenz, the other co-chair, is also the mother of a teenage cancer survivor with her daughter Brooke, who was diagnosed with lymphoma her senior year of high school. Brooke will be celebrating six years of being cancer-free at this year’s Swim and Nicole will be celebrating five years cancer free.

In this one-year alone, 1,688,780 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and there will be 600,920 cancer deaths in the U.S. This staggering statistic offers compelling proof of the need to continue devising new approaches to research and treatment. Whether it is through swimming, volunteering, giving or cheering on loved ones, Swim Across America welcomes anyone and everyone who wants to be a part of the fight against cancer.  

Tori Dinkel of Ridgefield, Connecticut, one of the Swim’s top fundraisers and a swimmer that has participated all 11 years of the Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America event, sums up her “Why I Swim” this way: 

W is for Wetsuits - who doesn’t look cool in a wetsuit!

His for hundred percent! 100% of donations received by ACGT go directly to cancer research!

Y is for Yale University and the innovative lab being used to research new treatments for blood cancers.

I is for immune therapy and RNA that might be the answer and funds are needed to figure that out.

S is for Dr. Samuel Katz at Yale University, an ACGT Swim Across America grant recipient - Sam, you’ve got this!

W is for Wavemakers - my team - and a fabulous group to be a part of.

I is for I want to make a difference!

M is for Mather Hospital, Dr. Vacirca and all of the people who helped my Mom, Catherine Clark.”

For Kate Pollock, a land volunteer this year, the reason she volunteers is even more personal. On September 11, 2015, Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer — only a few months after her twin sister’s same diagnosis. At that time, her son was five months old and her daughter had just turned four years old. Kate states that she is “not just a cancer survivor, but a thriver.” In 2015 and 2016, she underwent four biopsies, a lumpectomy and a month of radiation. For the next five years, she will take medication to help prevent metastasis of the cancer. Kate says that, “while the road hasn’t been filled with roses and confetti, I made it through what will hopefully be the hard part and now I’m doing great.” Kate is volunteering in honor of fellow survivors — her sister Liza Pollock, her Mom Martha Brandt-Pollock, friends Susan Carver, Nicole Magaldi, Alexis El Sayed, Meredith Fein Lichtenberg and cousin Gina Zinn. She is also volunteering in memory of her friend Patty Hewitt’s Mom, Darlene Catherine Nock.

Andy Alisberg of Greenwich is swimming with the team Peter’s Defeaters. Andy has four reasons why he is swimming: “1) Over the past 12 months, cancer has continued to intrude on the universe of people I know and about whom I care, including 26 year old Vietor Evans (a classmate of my daughter Katie since nursery school), my grad school suite mate Paul Stuka, our friend Robin Zorthian, and another friend who prefers to remain anonymous. 2) The memory of those wonderful friends whom we have lost to cancer in recent years burns bright and I again remember Peter Hinrichs, Wendy Landes, Jim Phelan, Holly Pressman, and Katha Diddel Sussman. I think of these people all the time. 3) There is a list that is way too long of friends who continue their battles,- Joe, Bob, Meline, Stacey, Fran, Scott, Linda, Doug, Robin, Ann, Chris, and Ronni. 4) I am inspired by the eloquent and moving words of our friend Meline Dickson, who kicked off the 2016 Swim by addressing the assemblage and recounting her story of how she learned that she was afflicted and how she has faced her challenges. It is important to note that Meline, as well as others I have mentioned, is a beneficiary of the type of immunotherapy research that the Greenwich/Stamford Swim Across America and the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy funds. Last year, my son Will joined me and he is eagerly participating this year. Thanks to the generosity of you, our generous and kind friends, we raised over $25,000 last year.”

 With this being the Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America’s 11th year, the event has in past years:

  • Raised more than $3.1 million to support the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) - 100% of all donations to ACGT go directly to support cancer cell and gene therapy research
  • Inspired 1,881 swimmers to swim in Long Island Sound making waves to #defeatcancer
  • Included swimmers ages six to 82!
  • Had the help of 950 land, beach and sea volunteers 
  • Swam 2,500+ total miles

The Greenwich-Stamford Swim Across America event has supported the research of several ACGT-funded scientists. This year’s Swim will support Dr. Samuel Katz, an assistant professor of pathology at Yale University who is studying the use of immunotherapy using RNA to attack cancer cells in blood cancers; and Dr. Crystal Mackall, associate director of Stanford Cancer Institute, the director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford, and director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Department of Pediatrics at Stanford Cancer Center, who is using the ACGT Swim Across America grant to focus on immunotherapy to treat osteosarcoma.

Nationally, Swim Across America has raised more than $65 million in the fight against cancer with swims throughout the United States since its founding in 1987. In Connecticut, the annual Swim Across America event is an open water swim with ½-mile, 1.5-mile and 3-mile options. Proceeds of the fundraising efforts support cancer research grants administered by ACGT. 

While Swim Across America is a national organization and offers dozens of swims from Boston Harbor to under the Golden Gate Bridge, its roots are firmly anchored in Connecticut and along the shores of Long Island Sound. Darien, Connecticut, resident Matt Vossler and his lifelong friend and college roommate Jeff Keith founded Swim Across America.

About Swim Across America

Swim Across America, Inc. (SAA) is dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events.  With the help of hundreds of volunteers nationwide and past and current Olympians, Swim Across America is helping find a cure for cancer through athleticism, community outreach and direct service.  To learn more visit swimacrossamerica.org/greenwich or follow on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Special thanks to the generous sponsors who have made the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event possible: ACGT, Barbara and Edward Netter Foundation, Geneve Corp., Aquafina, The Lapin Foundation, Cindy and John Sites, Quinnipiac University and Purdue. And national sponsors: NCA SEF, Swim Outlet, Dolfin, Malibu C, Finis, Accenture and Cisco. As well as in-kind donations from Aux Delices, Upper Crust Bagel Company, Donut Delight, COBBS Bread, Dannon, Westy Self Storage, Greenwich Whole Foods and Vineyard Vines. Media sponsors include: Serendipity and Fairfield County Look.

 

Swim Across America--Greenwich-Stamford

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Submitted by Stamford, CT

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