Swim Across America Fairfield County Celebrates 15 years

GREENWICH, CT — After the Swim Across America Fairfield County event was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, swimmers are eager to get back in the water this time around to raise money for a good cause.

Celebrating its 15th year in Fairfield County, this year’s swim will be held Sunday, Aug. 8. The swim takes place on the Greenwich/Stamford border in the waters of Long Island Sound at the headquarters of the event's local beneficiary, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, located in Stamford.

There are three different swim lengths for participants: half-mile, one-and-a-half mile and three miles. About 300 swimmers and 100 volunteers, including boaters, kayakers, paddle boarders and land volunteers will participate on Sunday.

According to SAA Fairfield County, in 2021, it is estimated that 1.9 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed and there will be 608,570 cancer deaths in the U.S.

Event co-chair Nancy Carr, a Greenwich resident, said the last year has been especially difficult with regards to fundraising. She stressed that cancer diagnoses did not stop because of COVID-19.

"We're thrilled to be back. Last year we had to miss because of the pandemic, and it was a tough year for everyone obviously, and it was a tough year for fundraising," Carr said. "But cancer didn't stop because of the pandemic. We're excited to be back fundraising, we're excited to be back in the water and getting everyone back out there. It's our 15th anniversary year, and we're hoping to come back strong and it sure looks like we are."

Carr isn't a swimmer, but she first got involved as a land volunteer in 2016 when her friend's son, Julian Fraser, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Julian, a 2014 Greenwich High School graduate and All-American swimmer and water polo player, passed away in 2017.

"I think cancer touches all of us," Carr said, noting that her mother and aunt are both breast cancer survivors. "I have many friends who are survivors as well, and in the past years, I've lost a number of friends. One of my childhood friends I lost many years ago when our kids were very little. In the last five years, I've lost two friends to pancreatic cancer."

Joining Carr as co-chair this year is Julian's mother, Cristy Fraser.

"I joined the Swim Across America community so that together, we can change the outcome of a cancer diagnosis,” Cristy said recently in a news release. "In 2019 I swam a half-mile and my husband Alec and sons Andrew and Matthew, have swam the three miles since 2016 at least. This year, I am challenging myself by swimming in the Fairfield County open water swim and raising as much money to fight cancer as I can. I have been so impressed by Swim Across America that I decided to accept a gracious request to be the co-chair for Swim Across America Fairfield County. I truly believe that its fundraising efforts make a difference in our fight against cancer."

Funds raised by Swim Across America Fairfield County go directly to support scientific cancer gene therapy grants administered by the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

This year’s Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy research fellows funded by Swim Across America Fairfield County include three world-renowned researchers studying better ways to treat pancreatic cancer, pediatric sarcomas and brain cancer.

The researchers are Dr. Sidi Chen (pancreatic cancer), assistant professor Yale University School of Medicine Department of Genetics, System Biology Institute and Cancer Center; Dr. Stephen Gottschalk (pediatric sarcomas), chair of the Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; and Dr. Noriyuki Kasahara (glioblastoma brain cancer), principal investigator at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Peter Carlson, another Greenwich resident, is captain of Team Julian. The team has over 70 members, and has raised over $100,000 for the event this year. Julian was a family friend of the Carlson's; he swam and played water polo with Peter's children.

Carlson first got involved with Swim Across America Fairfield County as a boater, but decided after a few years he wanted to get in the water. He has personally raised over $100,000 for cancer research over the years.

Like everyone else, Carlson has been impacted by cancer in one way or another. His father and sister have both had battles with skin cancer.

"I've lost a lot of close friends to cancer," Carlson said. "I swim for Julian every year, I swim for good friends and family who have been impacted by cancer, and hopefully in honor of them, and unfortunately for some, in memory of them." This Sunday, he'll be swimming three miles.

Carlson said his favorite part of the yearly event is just seeing everyone come together for a good cause.

"It's a great family of people that do this event year after year. It's great to see everyone there and everyone involved. From the volunteers to the kayakers to the boaters to the swimmers, everybody is putting in their time to volunteer for this event. That makes it a lot of fun to do it. The fact that we're raising money for a great cause makes it even better," he said.

Online registration to swim is cut-off 48 hours before the event, but walk-ins are welcome.

Recently new to the event is a campaign called SAA My Way, which came about last year because of the pandemic.

"SAA My Way is a way for anyone anywhere to participate and raise money for Swim Across America by doing any activity they want," Carr explained. "You can walk, you can run, you can bike, you can hike, you can say it's going to be your babysitting hours. It can be absolutely anything. That's a really important way that people who are not local, or people who are not swimmers but would like to fundraise and maybe can't make our event, can get involved."

For more information on Sunday's event and how to get involved, click here.