On June 22, 2019, more than 300 swimmers and 100 volunteers will participate in the 13th annual Swim Across America Fairfield County open water swim. The swim takes place in Long Island Sound on the Old Greenwich/Stamford border at the headquarters of the swim’s beneficiary, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT). This year is expected to be bigger than ever with a goal of raising more than $300,000 to go toward crucial cancer gene therapy research.
Kicking off the swim on Saturday will be a motivational presentation on “Why We Swim and Volunteer” by Mike Brock of Old Greenwich, Connecticut, whose wife Shân is a stage IV colon cancer patient. When diagnosed in 2014, Shân was given less than a five percent chance of surviving five years. Today, five years after enduring 42 chemotherapy treatments and three radiation treatments, Shân is enrolled in an immunotherapy clinical trial at Yale University. She is the first person in the world to receive three immunotherapy medications simultaneously - and progress is thankfully being seen. Shân’s first scan after eight weeks showed nearly a ten percent reduction in tumor size. Shân’s subsequent scans have shown further small reductions in tumor size. “It’s amazing to note that the last few years have seen exponential growth in the number of clinical trials available for many different types of cancer with some extraordinary curative results,” said Mike Brock. “This gives hope where there was none before. But many of these novel clinical trials and treatments require and continue to require funding. That’s why it’s so important to fund Swim Across America Fairfield County and the swim's beneficiary ACGT.” Come Saturday, Mike Brock and he and Shân’s youngest daughter Brontë, will be swimming in the open water swim and Shân will be volunteering as a kayaker, keeping watch over the swimmers. “Swimming and kayaking are our small contribution to helping make waves in the fight against cancer,” said Shân.
Swim Across America Fairfield County is held at the headquarters for the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT)
96 Cummings Point Road, Stamford, CT
Parking is available in the Conair parking lot at the end of Cummings Point Road - walk east across street to where the Swim is held and come to the beach