Making Waves Against Cancer -- Swim Across America

There is still time for swimmers and volunteers to take part in the annual Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford event in Long Island Sound being held June 27.

Swimmers as well as boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders and land volunteers are welcome to join in the fight against cancer. The swim starts from the end of Shore Road on the Old Greenwich/Stamford border from 7:30 to 10 a.m., June 27.

So far, more than 150 swimmers and volunteers have already signed up for the event with the goal of having more than 200 swimmers in the water – all making waves in the fight against cancer. Swimmers and volunteers this year range in age from a nine-year-old swimmer from New York City to swimmers and volunteers in their 80s.

Swim Across America raises funds in the fight against cancer via swim events throughout the United States. Proceeds from the Greenwich-Stamford Swim go directly to the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), the nation’s only foundation dedicated exclusively to funding cancer gene therapy research. ACGT is headquartered in Stamford, on the shores of Long Island Sound where the swim is held each year.

Swim Across America to date has raised more than $60 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 will support cancer research grants administered by ACGT, which uses 100 percent of all funds raised to support the research grants.

Chairs for this year’s Swim are Michele Graham and Lorrie Lorenz, both mothers of teenage cancer survivors. Lorrie Lorenz’s daughter Brooke is a Lymphoma survivor and Michele Graham’s daughter Nicole is a Leukemia survivor. Both were diagnosed in high school and went through treatment. Brooke Lorenz is a 2015 graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and will be swimming in the event. Nicole Graham is just finishing her freshman year at Dartmouth College and will be a land volunteer this year.

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, and Arlene and Reuben Mark, all Greenwich residents.

“Co-chairing the Swim Across America Greenwich-Stamford Swim was a natural fit for me,” said Riverside resident Lorrie Lorenz, Swim Across America co-chair. “My family has been involved with Swim Across America as both volunteers and swimmers for six years. After my daughter Brooke was diagnosed with Lymphoma as a senior in high school four years ago, and after two surgeries and many grueling rounds of chemotherapy, I’m happy to report that she is now cancer-free and back in the water raising money for cancer research.”

“Our introduction as a volunteer for Swim Across America came through our daughter Nicole, who at age 16, was diagnosed with ALL leukemia in 2012,” said Michele Graham, Swim Across America co-chair from Old Greenwich. “After Nicole recovered from critical complications – including septic shock and strokes on both sides of her brain - she was the kickoff speaker for the Swim Across America event in 2013; in 2014 she was co-captain of the team Chemosabi as well as an intern for the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy. Now today, after recently completing chemotherapy, she is once again dedicating her time to this inspiring event.”

Graham said, “When my daughter was undergoing chemotherapy and struggled to recover from the devastating complications, I was overwhelmed by how much the community rallied to our side and supported us.”

Graham aded, “Co-chairing Swim Across America is our chance to give back and support everyone whose life is touched by cancer. No one’s cancer is easy. Nicole and Brooke are fortunate. They are cancer survivors. Our goal is to raise funds for cancer treatment and prevention research so that everyone can be a survivor.”

Sign up to swim, volunteer or donate at swimacrossamerica.org/greenwich.

Contributed photos: Swim Across America co-chairs Lorrie Lorenz and Michele Graham.