Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Nassau/Suffolk community benefiting Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Feinstein Institute of North Shore, and MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital, SHARE Cancer Support. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/soundtocove.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Chicago community benefiting Rush University Cancer Center. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/chicago.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Nantucket community benefiting Nantucket Cottage Hospital and Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/nantucket.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Tampa community benefiting Rogel Cancer Center. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/detroit.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Charleston-Kiawah community benefiting MUSC Hollings Cancer Center. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/kiawah.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Nashville community benefiting Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/nashville.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Houston community benefiting MD Anderson Cancer Center. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/houston.
Here are some recent stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have had in the Tampa community benefiting Johns Hopkins All Chidren’s Hospital. If you would like to register, volunteer or donate, please visit swimacrossamerica.org/tampa.
June 9, 2022—The New England Journal of Medicine published a paper on June 5 that 12 patients completed a phase 2 clinical trial for advanced rectal cancer and showed a 100% clinical complete response to dostarlimab, an immunotherapy treatment produced by GlaxoSmithKline. The clinical trial was conducted at Memorial Sloan Kettering with early-stage grant funding from Swim Across America.
Reviews of the clinical trial and quotes in the New York Times from cancer experts are hopeful:
“I believe this (a 100% response) is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” commented Dr. Luis Diaz, an author of the New England Journal of Medicine paper.
Dr. Luis Diaz, Memorial Sloan Kettering
“There were a lot of happy tears,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper.
Depending on patient size and other factors, the cost to run a clinical trial can run into millions of dollars. Early-stage sponsors such as Swim Across America are necessary to fund the costs. Swim Across America’s grant for the MSK clinical trial helped fund the science and speed of sharing of information. Other funding partners of the MSK clinical trial are the Simon and Eve Colin Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, Stand Up to Cancer, and the National Cancer Institute. Swim Across America is delighted with the results and continues to provide grant support.
Swim Across America.
Swim Across America’s grant agreement with beneficiaries such as Memorial Sloan Kettering requires that 100% of an SAA grant must be spent on approved research and clinical trial programs. In 35-years, SAA has granted nearly $100M to innovative and otherwise unfunded ideas so that the time of oncologists such as Dr. Cercek and Dr. Diaz is protected to make progress and develop new treatments.
Swim Across America has a proven track record of identifying and funding early-stage ideas of promise. Swim Across America grants have played a major role in clinically developing FDA-approved immunotherapy treatments ipilimumab (YERVOY), nivolumab (OPDIVO), pembrolizumab (KEYTRUDA), and atezolizumab (TECENTRIQ).
You can volunteer or swim by visiting swimacrossamerica.org/communities
Swim Across America is excited to celebrate our team captains this year by introducing a team captain package! Once you register your team, you’ll receive the package in the mail that includes a new SAA baseball cap (pictured) and resources to be successful.
We hope you’ll be signing up to lead a team again this year and receiving one soon! There is also a new Team Captain Corner page on the website, where you can find everything from email templates to use with your teammates and donors, to online tools and social media resources. You can check out the page at www.swimacrossamerica.org/captains.
Swim Across America 