Cancer Survivor Robyn Starnes Helps Make Waves to Fight Cancer

When Robyn Starnes was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2014, the news hit her like a freight train. “Even though I knew that it was a possibility, it still turned my world upside down. I felt broken, like something was wrong with me. I’d never known anyone my age, at just 36-years-old, who had battled cancer,” said Robyn. Now, nine years later, Robyn is a cancer survivor and has found a new home and strong community of supporters in Swim Across America. And she wears her surgery scar like a badge of honor. On Saturday, September 23, 2023, Robyn and hundreds of other swimmers (amateurs all the way to Olympic swimmers), land volunteers, boaters, kayakers and stand-up paddle boarders will be making waves to fight cancer at the 13th annual Swim Across America - Dallas open water swim held at Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall, Texas, to benefit innovative cancer trials at the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. Swimmers and volunteers interested in participating can register at swimacrossamerica.org/dallas. There are ½-mile, 1-mile and 2-mile swim lengths available, or those who prefer to participate virtually can do so through the Swim Across America My Way program.

“After my surgery, I couldn’t talk for a month, I gained a lot of weight, and I felt depressed,” said Robyn. “Knowing that my life would forever look different is what got me back into swimming; something I hadn’t done in decades but would eventually lead me to Swim Across America. The scar I was so worried about in 2014 is my badge of honor in 2023.”

Robyn’s visit with a specialist was prompted by her primary doctor, who felt nodules on her thyroid during a routine exam. She feels lucky to have received thorough medical care and quick treatment for her thyroid cancer – one of the most treatable cancers.
Wearing her “survivor badge,” Robyn sought a way to get involved in activities that raised money for cancer research and survivorship support. A conversation with a friend introduced her to Swim Across America – Dallas.

“Thanksgiving in 2021, I was talking with a friend’s sister about how we both grew up swimming competitively,” recalled Robyn. “She told me about ‘this thing called Swim Across America,’ and asked if I’d heard of it. As she explained what it was, I was floored because I felt like it combined everything I loved – swimming, community and raising money for cancer research. I’m pretty sure I signed up for the 2022 Dallas open water swim the next day!”

The rest is history. Robyn started asking friends, family members, and anyone in town to support her Swim Across America efforts. She quickly exceeded each fundraising goal she set, raising $4,500 ahead of her swim. Her journey felt as if it came full circle on event day. “My first Swim Across America - Dallas swim was also the eight-year anniversary to the day of my thyroidectomy surgery. If that’s not fate telling me that I’d found my home, I don’t know what is.”
Currently, Robyn is the number one individual fundraiser for the September 23, 2023, open water swim, already raising $3,300 and will be swimming with a friend with their “Team Fabulous!”

“Over the years, I’d participated in local charities that raise funds for the cancer community, but I was moved to tears at my first Swim Across America - Dallas event,” said Robyn. “Everyone there had a story and they wanted to share it with you. To me, it felt like a groundswell. That THIS was the group that was going to make things happen. Whether I was talking to a fellow swimmer, supporter, volunteer, Olympian, researcher, doctor, sponsor, or donor… everyone knew we were all part of the same mission.”

Established in 2011, Swim Across America – Dallas has raised more than $3 million for its local beneficiary the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and each year welcomes more than 450 swimmers and volunteers to help make waves to fight cancer.

Swim Across America was founded in 1987 with its first open water event in Long Island Sound. Since that time, the nonprofit organization has raised more than $100 million to fight cancer. In its 36 years of making waves to fight cancer, more than 100,000 swimmers and 150 Olympians have swum the circumference of the earth three times, uniting a movement to fight cancer that has created a groundswell of support spanning all generations. Today, more than 24 communities hold open water swims and hundreds of charity pool swims each year, from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, which support innovative cancer research, detection and patient programs.

Swim Across America’s funding of clinical trials for patients helped contribute to four FDA approved life-saving immunotherapy cancer treatments: Yervoy, Opdivo, Tecentriq and Keytruda. In June of last year, a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was published in The New England Journal of Medicine that showed a 100 percent success rate in treating patients in a phase 2 clinical trial for advanced rectal cancer with dostarlimab, an immunotherapy treatment produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was funded by early-stage grant funding from Swim Across America. More than 60 scientific grants are funded each year and there are now ten dedicated Swim Across America Labs at major institutions including: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, John Hopkins Medicine Dallas, Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, Infusion Center at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and San Francisco, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, The Swim Across America Pediatric Research Lab at Columbia University Medical Center New York, and The Swim Across America Laboratory at Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

To learn more about the Swim Across America - Dallas open water swim on September 17, or register to swim, donate or be a land or water volunteer, visit swimacrossamerica.org/dallas.

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 or follow on Facebook @SwimAcrossAmerica or on Instagram or Twitter @SAASwim.