Patty Brummet Bikes Across America to Make Waves for SAA

Posted on March 6, 2017March 6, 2017 Posted in #DefeatCancer, chicago, Events, Fundraising, Uncategorized1 Comment

A dream come true – A promise kept – An incredible journey

Patty Brummet is preparing for her third bike trek across the United States to support Swim Across America. Her journey of 3,160 miles begins March 5 in San Diego and ends on May 2 in St. Augustine, FL. The fight to cure cancer inspires her dream to bike America.

Patty waited until she was retired to start chasing her lifelong dream of biking across America. After a hiatus in 2016 due to a training accident, Patty is back to complete this feat a third time to benefit SAA – Chicago and Rush University Cancer Center.

She rides with a special jersey with names on the back to remember and honor cancer patients which she began compiling in 2014. “In 2015 I added 50 more names. In 2016 I added 31 more names. I wore this jersey on the most challenging days,” Patty wrote.

A swimmer as well, this is Patty’s 13th year participating in SAA – Chicago. She has personally raised over $81,000 for cancer research, prevention, and treatment and has a goal of $15,000 in 2017 (as of March 6, Patty has raised $13,481).

If you’re inspired by Patty Brummet’s ride, you can donate here or follow her adventure through her personal blog.

25 Years of SAA – Long Island Sound History

Posted on February 8, 2017July 28, 2017 Posted in Fundraising, Labs, Long Island Sound, News, Pool Swims, UncategorizedTagged 25 Year Anniversary, cancer research, history, Long Island Sound, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Swim Across the Sound, swimmingLeave a comment

2017 will mark SAA – Long Island Sound’s 25th year raising money to fight cancer through research, as well as provide for those who are going through treatment. We give thanks to all of you who have partnered with us throughout the years to make this event such a success. Below is a compilation of all historical photos, videos and flyers. We hope you’ll join us again this year to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. All historical photo albums can be found here.

2009:

2010:

2010 Photo Album

2011:

2012:

2013:

2013 Photo Album

2014:

2015:

GoPro Video from Team Scott!
2015 Photo Album

2016:

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2017 Captain’s Dinner Kickoff

Hard SAA Work Pays Off at Beneficiary Check Presentations

Posted on February 2, 2017 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Events, Fundraising, Labs, SAA on the Scene, UncategorizedTagged baltimore, beneficiaries, cancer research, check presentations, dallas, nantucket, seattle, tampaLeave a comment

Swim Across America celebrated the end of the year across the country by presenting checks to our esteemed beneficiaries. Here is a collection of smiling faces as the hard fundraising work is now seeing its impact multiplied in the fight against cancer.

14715486_10153999229471176_6832604995219048039_o — SAA – Tampa at Moffitt Cancer Center

15493732_1809136315994674_651158775955003935_o — SAA – Dallas at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center

saa-check-presentation-dec-22-2017 — SAA – Nantucket at Nantucket Cottage Hospital and Palliative and Support Care of Nantucket

15590254_10210628819253314_8483254570832790763_n — SAA – Seattle at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

15995272_10154076568091176_631550043631371425_o — SAA – Baltimore at The Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins

Supporting Promising Trials in Seattle

Posted on January 20, 2017January 23, 2017 Posted in Fundraising, Labs, NewsTagged seattle, Seattle Cancer Care AllianceLeave a comment

The following was shared by Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

In the past few years, immunotherapy has produced unprecedented breakthroughs in cancer research. SCCA’s Swim Across America Cell Therapy Laboratory (SAA-CTL) is at the leading edge of this work and SAA-Seattle funding has been critical in supporting the clinical trials that bring this research to patients. SAA-Seattle grants allow us to train technologists in the theory and practice of complex cell processing methods and helps provide sophisticated instrumentation required for these methods. An example of our SAA-Seattle funded research is the Chimeric Antigen T Cell Receptor (CAR T) immunotherapy, which involves selecting and genetically modifying certain lymphocytes to be able to recognize and kill tumor cells. In 2014, SAA-Seattle grants enabled us to initiate the first CAR T clinical trial at SCCA. This trial has produced remarkable results: the complete remission (CR) rate in refractory (unresponsive to other therapies) B Cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia was 94% and the CR rate in refractory Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma was 64%. This profound success allowed additional patients to be treated, including 35 new patients in 2016. Three more trials using similar technology are beginning in 2017.

SAA-Seattle has played a vital role in supporting groundbreaking research at SCCA. Thanks to SAA-Seattle funding, we have become a center of excellence for selecting particular cells that contribute to an “anti-cancer” effect while removing the other cells (naïve T lymphocytes) that can cause graft vs host disease. This concept has been a sort of holy grail for the treatment of hematological malignancies (certain types of leukemia) through transplantation and trials supported by SAA-Seattle funds have shown extraordinary results. These naïve T cell depletion and CAR T study results have been published in top tier journals.

We hope you’ll join us this September 9th at the 2017 SAA – Seattle open water swim to ‘Make Waves to Fight Cancer.’

Team Suffolk Making Waves

Posted on December 15, 2016December 15, 2016 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Events, Fundraising, Pool Swims, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Team Suffolk Pool Swim to Fight Cancer just had another incredible year, raising almost $50,000. The swim started in 2011, and leaders have done a great job passing on the baton to keep this SAA – Nassau-Suffolk event growing. The Lennon Family has been taking the lead the past few years and Kelly Lennon was recognized by the Huntington Town Board this year (see more below). Over the last 5 years Team Suffolk has raised more than $200,000.

Thanks to the Team Suffolk coaches (John and Frank) for embracing the event, supporting it and welcoming it as a chance for their community to come together and see their team show strength and support to family members or swimmers who might be battling cancer.

On Wednesday, Dec 7th Councilwoman Susan Berland and the Huntington Town Board presented Kelly Lennon with a proclamation for her efforts organizing Team Suffolk’s annual Swim Across America Pool Swim. Kelly has participated in each event, and was the team organizer the last two years. Kelly has personally raised over $35,000 for SAA. Kelly is an accomplished swimmer and will be attending SUNY Geneseo in the fall and swimming for Coach Paul Dotterweich and his BlueWave. Congrats Kelly!

SWIM ACROSS AMERICA ACHIEVES ACCREDITATION FROM BBB WISE GIVING ALLIANCE

Posted on November 10, 2016November 10, 2016 Posted in Events, Fundraising, News, SAA on the Scene, SAA PrideLeave a comment

bbb-accredited-charity Charlotte, NC – November 10, 2016 – By meeting key standards of board oversight, finances, results reporting and fundraising appeals, Swim Across America achieved accreditation by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. This accreditation signifies that Swim Across America is deserving of donor trust as they are a well-run nonprofit organization.

“Our relationship with our donors is rooted in trust,” commented Rob Butcher, CEO of Swim Across America. “We initiated the process with BBB Wise Giving Alliance and are pleased to share that we meet the standard of non-profit excellence. We are proud to earn the ability to display the BBB accreditation seal.”

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA) is the nation’s only comprehensive charity evaluator, assisting donors in making sound giving decisions. Donors know they can trust a charity if it is accredited by the BBB WGA. Their broad standards go beyond what the law requires and dives deeper than other charity monitoring organizations. Each BBB WGA charity report process involves a rigorous review using 20 holistic BBB Charity Standards, interaction with charity officials about corrective actions needed to address deficiencies, and quality control measures to assure report accuracy. Thousands of charities have reports available to the public at Give.org.

“The public can be assured that every charity evaluation is completed with careful, objective analysis of charity information,” says Art Taylor, president and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, “By achieving accreditation, Swim Across America has earned public trust having demonstrated its commitment to sound governance, transparency and achieving its mission.”

Swim Across America’s report can be viewed on the BBB Wise Giving Alliance website.

Show Off Your SAA Pride on LinkedIn

Posted on September 26, 2016September 28, 2016 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Corporate Partners, Fundraising, Labs, News, SAA Pride, UncategorizedLeave a comment

We appreciate your time, fundraising and participation as part of the Swim Across America family. As our organization grows, we will reach out from time to time to ask you to help us tell our story as a leader in cancer research funding.

If you have participated, volunteered or donated to Swim Across America, and you have a profile on LinkedIn, list Swim Across America under your volunteer activities. When you identify Swim Across America, our logo will come up next to your activity. We suggest you select the “health” option from the cause drop down. In the text box, identify what role you played and which swim(s). For example, if you participated, volunteered or donated to Tampa, identify as SAA – Tampa. You can list several swims if you have provided support over the years. LinkedIn is an ideal community for you to showcase causes that you support and we would be honored to have you recognize Swim Across America in your profile.

Step 1: Select “VIEW MORE”

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Step 2: Select “VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE”

Step 3: Enter “Swim Across America, Inc” and fill in the details of your experience!

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Saving Lives at the Johns Hopkins Swim Across America Lab

Posted on September 22, 2016September 23, 2016 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Fundraising, LabsTagged cancer, fundraising, Johns Hopkins, open water swim, swimmingLeave a comment

Stefanie Joho joined SAA – Baltimore this year to share her uplifting story. Four years ago at 22-years old she was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. Stefanie went through repeated chemo with no positive response, and the cancer spread to stage 4. Her doctors gave her weeks to live. Desperate and not willing to give up, her sister googles and finds Dr. Luis Diaz at our beneficiary Johns Hopkins Medicine.

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Dr. Diaz told Joho to come immediately to JHU where she participates in an immunotherapy clinical trial of Keytruda funded–yes funded–by your donations to Swim Across America. The trial saved her life (she has “no evidence of disease NED”), she has a bright future and Keytruda is now FDA approved. Read Stefanie’s story in the New York Times and if you are inspired by the work being done through Swim Across America labs, please consider donating to SAA: http://bit.ly/SAAdonation.

Genetic tests for mismatch repair deficiency are commercially available. But insurers might not pay for the drugs — Keytruda and Opdivo cost $150,000 a year — based on such a small study. The study was paid for by Swim Across America and other charities, and the National Institutes of Health. – New York Times

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$200,000 to Fund Research at Tampa Moffitt Leads to $3M in New Funding from NCI

Posted on August 12, 2016August 15, 2016 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Fundraising, Labs, News, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Immunotherapy approaches are designed to stimulate the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer and can result in responses lasting for years. One strategy to improve immune responses against tumors is to isolate immune cells from the tumor, grow the cells to very large numbers in the laboratory, then transfer them back to the patient as adoptive cell therapy (ACT). At the Tampa Moffitt Cancer Center, patients with metastatic melanoma have been treated with ACT in clinical trials. At the time of the initiation of these trials, the expected survival time for stage IV metastatic melanoma patients was 6-9 months. Currently, patients treated on the ACT trial are tumor-free at 46, 52, 54, 57, 59 and 66 months. Funding from Swim Across America has led to the development of additional clinical trials in patients with metastatic melanoma that combines ACT with other immunotherapy approaches that is expected to boost results even further. The crucial funding from Swim Across America has allowed for the development of improved ACT strategies resulting in additional awards to Drs. Amod Sarnaik and Shari Pilon-Thomas totaling greater than $3 million. These awards include a National Cancer Institute K23 training grant, an American Cancer Society Research Scholar grant, and a sponsored Research Agreement with Lion Biotechnologies.

Picture 1 L-R: Dr. Amod Sarnaik, Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas
Picture 2 L-R: Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas, Dr. Amod Sarnaik

Pool Swims Across America

Posted on August 8, 2016 Posted in #DefeatCancer, Fundraising, Pool Swims, UncategorizedLeave a comment

In Pool Swims Across America, we feature local pool swims that raise awareness for cancer research. If you’re interested in getting your local swim team or pool involved, learn more here.

June 21: Garden City Pool Swim

11-year old Alexandra Eldredge raised over $2,000 in her fifth year supporting SAA.

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July 10: Mudpuppies Swim Across America Memorial Event for Dr. Brian Goldman

Thank you to our Olympians, National Team alums, Masters swimmers and host Mary DeMilia for the Mudpuppies pool clinic to Fight Cancer‬ — it raised $6,600 in honor of Dr. Brian Goldman, who founded the Mudpuppies.

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July 13: Heather Stark’s B’nai Mitzvah Cancer Defeat

Shoutout to Heather for hosting a SAA pool swim as her B’nai Mitzvah project in Ivyland, PA – great job, Heather!

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July 21: Stardust Pool Swim to Fight Cancer

It was a great evening for the 6th annual Stardust Pool Swim to Fight Cancer in Morris Township, N.J. The event aimed raised over $15K for the SAA lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Thanks to Dr. Taha Mexghoub from MSK for speaking to all the swimmers!

July 24: Innis Arden Golf Club Pool Swim

Innis Arden in Connecticut raised over $4,700 for Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

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July 31: Metuchen Municipal Pool Swim 4 a Cure

A little rain didn’t stop the Metuchen Municipal Pool Swim 4 a Cure from making waves. Love the dedication and over $6,300 raised!

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