Jim O'Brien of Wilton, Connecticut, has been a long-time supporter of Swim Across America and this year on Saturday, June 23, he will be swimming again with his team "Kicking Cancer for Karen, Chris & Friends."
"This year we are swimming in celebration of our friends AnnBeth, Jenn and Charlotte who show amazing strength and admirable courage! And JP Kealy - You inspire us! And Scott who has hurdled and beat cancer. And for Mike Prongay who passed away this year after a five year battle with his cancer," noted Jim O'Brien. "We celebrate my wife Karen's remission from breast cancer. After 7+ years she is doing great. We remember Chris and also swim in memory of Coach Kelly, Coach Joan and dear friend Toni who lost their battle with cancer. TOO MANY TOO SOON have been taken by cancer. We have all been touched by cancer in our lives. It is a horrible disease that with your help we can fund research to find better treatment options, prevention, and a cure."
Jim and his teammates will be swimming in Long Island Sound. Jim swims the 1/2-mile swim, while his daughter Kristine will swim 1.5 miles.
In the past 12 years, the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event has raised more than $3.4 million for crucial support of the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT). One hundred percent of all Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford funds donated to ACGT go directly to support cancer cell and gene therapy research. The Swim has supported nine different scientists over the past 11 years. This year’s Swim will raise funds to support four ACGT scientists: Crystal Mackall, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, who is working on immunotherapy treatments for osteosarcoma; Samuel Katz, MD, PhD, at Yale University who is working on novel new immunotherapy treatments for blood cancers; Greg Delgoffe, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who is working on immune-based therapy and vaccines for melanoma; and Nori Kasahara, MD, PhD, of the University of Miami who is working on virotherapy for brain cancer.
Today, Swim Across America has raised more than $75 million in the fight against cancer. More than 120 Olympians support Swim Across America, including Michael Phelps, Craig Beardsley, Donna De Varona (a honorary Greenwich-Stamford co-chair), Rowdy Gaines, Janel Jorgensen McArdle (who grew up in Ridgefield, Connecticut), Bobby Hackett, Ryan Lochte, Glenn Mills, Christina Teuscher and many more.
Co-chairs of the annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford swim are Michele Graham of Old Greenwich, whose 21 year-old daughter Nicole is currently undergoing treatment for relapsed leukemia, of which she was diagnosed when she was 16; and Lorrie Lorenz of Riverside, Connecticut, whose daughter Brooke has been close to seven years cancer-free from lymphoma. Both Nicole and Brooke graduated from Greenwich High School.
Honorary co-chairs of the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event are Olympic Gold medalist Donna de Varona and her husband John Pinto, John and Cindy Sites, Mary Henry and Howard Rubin, Arlene and Reuben Mark, and Richards of Greenwich.
For those interested in participating in Saturday's Swim, visit http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/greenwich. It's never too late to donate, swim or volunteer. Pool swims and virtual swims are also available.