Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Chicago community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiary, Rush Medical Center, at swimacrossamerica.org/chicago.
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Nassau/Suffolk community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiaries at swimacrossamerica.org/ns.
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Long Island Sound community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiaries, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Cancer Center, Cancer Support Team, and Weill Cornell Medical Center, at swimacrossamerica.org/long_island.
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Nantucket community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiaries, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket, and Mass General Cancer Center, at swimacrossamerica.org/nantucket.
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Motor City Mile community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiary, Rogel Cancer Center, at swimacrossamerica.org/detroit.
Almost a year-and-a-half after sadly losing Gina Mannix Wente to breast cancer, who was just 32-years-old and a beloved wife, mother, daughter and sister, more than 50 of her relatives and friends are suiting up again to make a big splash with “Team Gina” at the 33rd annual Swim Across America – Long Island Sound open water swim on Saturday, July 26, held on the shores of Long Island Sound in Larchmont, New York.
Gina Mannix Wente
The team has hit the ground running and is already one of the top fundraising teams, raising $33,255 to date for the July charity swim. For Team Gina, diving back into the water isn’t just a tribute – it’s a way to keep Gina’s competitive spirit and generosity alive – all while fueling cancer research that could help others battle this terrible disease.
Gina grew up swimming at the Larchmont Shore Club, captained undefeated squads at Ursuline and the College of the Holy Cross, and later coached for the New York Athletic Club. She balanced that passion with a finance career that took her to GE Capital and Ferrara Candy. In 2021 she married Dave Wente. Their daughter, McKenzie, arrived in 2022, and their son, David Charles, was delivered early at just 29 weeks on February 1, 2024, weeks after Gina’s sudden cancer diagnosis. Gina sadly passed away on February 26, 2024, just 3-1/2 weeks after welcoming her son.
Gina and her daughter, McKenzie
“Last summer’s swim, was as you can imagine, raw and emotional for all of us after losing Gina so suddenly,” noted Gina’s mother, Mary Mannix. “However, being all together at the swim and doing something that Gina loved was also very healing. We are coming back this year stronger and more energized than ever before. Every dollar we raise honors her love of the sport of swimming and helps fund the breakthroughs that can possibly help save other lives.”
“Cancer knows no boundaries,” noted Jean Fufidio, event director for SAA-Long Island Sound. “It impacts adults, young adults and children. Diagnoses of young adults globally have risen by 79%. But here’s how Swim Across America Long Island Sound is making a positive impact. A recent Time Magazine story, ‘The Race to Explain Why More Young Adults are Getting Cancer’ mentioned the ground-breaking, rectal clinical trials done by one of our very own fellow doctors, with a 100% response rate. A subsequent trial that was expanded to other gastrointestinal MMRd type cancers and published in The New England Journal of Medicinein April showed an astounding 80% success rate with immunotherapy alone – no surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. That is making an impact.”
Members of Team Gina swam at the 2024 SAA-Long Island Sound open water swim
Proceeds from SAA-Long Island Sound benefit Swim Across America’s local beneficiaries: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, Cancer Support Team and Weill Cornell Medicine. Registration, volunteer sign-ups and donations are open at swimacrossamerica.org/longislandsound.
Now in its 33rd year, SAA-Long Island Sound open water and pool swims have contributed nearly $30 million towards cancer research, resulting in FDA approved immunotherapy treatments of Keytruda, Opdivo and Yervoy. What’s more is the money raised locally stays local, providing cancer care and research grants to The Cancer Support Team, a Westchester-based home care program offering free services to patients and their families; to New York Presbyterian Children’s Hospital Pediatric Oncology Lab; to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Research Laboratories of Dr. Diaz and Dr. Kung Kids Department of Pediatrics;and to Weill Cornell Medicine Research Laboratory of Dr. Wolchok and Dr. Merghoub.
Swim Across America & CLASH Endurance are teaming at the CLASH Endurance Daytona festival weekend. The charity swim will be on Sunday, December 7th, in Daytona International Speedway’s famous Lake Lloyd. Learn more at swimacrossamerica.org/daytona
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America – Tampa community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiary, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, at swimacrossamerica.org/tampa.
Revolutionary CRISPR Gene Editing and Other Cell and Gene Therapy Editing Takes Center Stage in Finding Ways to Effectively Treat Cancer
Swim Across America, the nonprofit funding innovative clinical trials and patient-centered programs for cancer,is proud to announce the award of two $450,000 grants to two of its beneficiaries, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy(ACGT) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to support the work of novel gene and base editing techniques used in advanced cancer research, including targeted therapies, immunotherapies and cellular therapies. The two-year grants will specifically support the work of scientific investigators Joseph Fraietta, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania through ACGT, and Pietro Genovese, PhD, at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, for their work in groundbreaking cell and gene therapy cancer research. This financial support paves the way for more effective therapies across many cancer types including solid tumors, offering potential new hope for patients with hard to treat cancer types or limited treatment options.
“Gene editing, including CRISPR, are some of the most promising frontiers in cancer research allowing for advances in targeted therapies, immunotherapies, CAR-T cell therapy and early/minimal residual disease detection, diagnostics and cancer vaccines,” said Rob Butcher, CEO of Swim Across America. “These grants to Dr. Fraietta through ACGT, and Dr. Genovese at Dana-Farber, will help accelerate the advancement of potential gene-edited cancer treatments that could transform how we treat patients and their quality of life. Just as our previous funding has helped develop immunotherapy treatments that are saving lives today, we believe these pointed investments will help accelerate the next generation of cancer breakthroughs.”
Joseph Fraietta, PhD
Joseph Fraietta, PhD, through Swim Across America–Fairfield County beneficiary Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, is developing an innovative “off-the-shelf” cell therapy for aggressive cancers. His research uses a precise gene-editing tool called a “base editor” to create more effective CAR T cells that can target cancers with KRAS mutations, found in 20-25% of all cancers including lung, colon and pancreatic cancer. His team is also developing “micropharmacies” – immune cells engineered to release powerful cancer-fighting signals directly at tumor sites while minimizing side effects.
Pietro Genovese, PhD
Pietro Genovese, PhD, at Dana-Farber, is taking a revolutionary approach to treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Rather than targeting cancer cells directly, his team is creating “stealth” healthy blood cells engineered to survive cancer treatments while allowing the selective elimination of cancer cells. This innovative strategy could provide less toxic treatment options for AML and other blood cancers where traditional therapies often harm healthy cells along with cancerous ones.
“With the current funding landscape and resources potentially constrained, nonprofit organizations play a vital role in ensuring innovative cancer research moves forward,” said Evan Vosburgh, MD, Research and Grants committee chair for Swim Across America. “These targeted grants support precisely the kind of high-risk, high-reward research that could revolutionize cancer treatment, but might otherwise go unfunded. By supporting early-stage research in cell and gene therapy, we’re helping bridge critical funding gaps and accelerating the development of potentially life-saving treatments.”
Swim Across America has raised more than $100 million for cancer research since its founding in 1987 and has a strong track record of funding transformative research, including clinical trials that led to FDA-approved immunotherapy medicines Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy and Tecentriq. The organization was also a grant funder of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s landmark clinical trial that achieved a 100% success rate treating advanced rectal cancer patients with dostarlimab.
About Swim Across America Swim Across America hosts open water and pool swims in numerous communities nationwide, from Nantucket to under San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. More than 150 Olympians support the organization, including Michael Phelps, Kate Douglass, Missy Franklin and Ryan Lochte. The organization supports more than 60 cancer research projects annually and has ten named Swim Across America Labs at major institutions nationwide. To learn more visit swimacrossamerica.org or follow on social media @SwimAcrossAmerica on Facebook and @SAASwim on Instagram.
Read or watch local stories featuring the Swim Across America-Nashville community to learn about their impact. Learn more about the event and beneficiary, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, at swimacrossamerica.org/nashville.
Swim Across America 