Category: Uncategorized

SAA on the Scene

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Members of the Swim Across America family are active in their communities. SAA on the Scene shares stories from the “dry side” of our events where the SAA mission to make waves to defeat cancer is honored and recognized. Feel free to send submissions for future posts here.

Gerry Oakes Swim Across America Lifetime Achievement Award celebration
May 26th 

Thank you to Gerry Oakes for nearly 20 years of service. It is our privilege to recognize you with a Lifetime Achievement Award!

Craig Beardsley, Gerry Oakes, Matt Vossler
Gerry Oakes, Matt Vossler
Pam Danbusky reading a letter from Janel Jorgensen McArdle

 

Nantucket Day Celebration
Rose & Crown, Nantucket, May 11th

In the annual Nantucket Day celebration, the event committee was able to get 25 sign-ups at the event and had some good social media buzz going in the community.

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L-R: Jim Pignato (Co-Event Director), Stacey Williams (SAA-Nantucket Volunteer), Jill Roethke (Co-Event Director), Kate Bartleman (Nantucket Cottage Hospital), Kristen Dussault (SAA-Nantucket Committee Member), Charlene Thurston (PASCON), Beth Moyer (Nantucket Cottage Hospital) and Ginnia Faria (PASCON).

Swim Across America Visit to beneficiary Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa, May 2oth

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Rob Butcher, Amy Krakauer, Angie Lankton and family, Dr. Shari Pilon-Thomas, Megan Melgaard, Michael Jorgensen, Ryan Baucom, Eric Wunderlich, Javed Saleemi and Craig Cordell.

 

San Diego 7-Eleven FOA Golf Tournament
Tampa, May 12th

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Mark Gramlich, Susan Davis, Olympian Andrea Dickson, Olympian Ryan Berube, Diana Thomas, Falon Lesczcynski

SAA Family Tree (June)

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SAA Family Tree is a monthly focus on stories that display the impact all the members of the Swim Across America family have both locally and nationally. If you have a story or link you’d like to share, please send here.

  • An incredible New York Times story on the Levy family featuring Wills Levy, a bone marrow transplant donor that helped save his brother Andrew’s life. Wills participated at the SAA – SMAC Out Cancer Pool Swim in May.
  • A great feature on the 10th anniversary of the Greenwich-Stamford swim featuring proud participants Craig Lawrence, Victoria Dinkel and the Bass family.
  • SAA beneficiary Memorial Sloan Kettering and its pediatrics department was the  focus of a popular ‘Humans of New York’ series that raised a lot of awareness and funds for MSK.
  • Emily Crabtree of SAA – Chicago and the swim were highlighted in the Rush University Medical Center annual report.
  • Greenwich-Stamford swimmer Julia Neri was featured locally for being named valedictorian among other notable achievements.
  • Swim Across America was the Event Spotlight feature in SwimSwam Magazine’s Olympics Preview Issue. Pick up a copy and see how great the 4-page spread turned out!13245263_10153490105146176_5270864362521739117_n

Fun and Inspiration at SMAC Out Cancer

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The fourth annual SMAC Out Cancer Pool Swim was another great success, raising over $84K and counting at the San Mateo Athletic. This year’s swim featured 11 fun events, seven Olympians, and honored multiple heroes in the fight against cancer.

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The four-year total raised by SMAC Out Cancer stands at an incredible $296K to fund cancer research at beneficiaries UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Congrats to event director Diana Thomas for putting together another great event this year.

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The 2016 swim was named in memory of Jim Keller, who lost his battle with cancer in January. Keller was regarded as a brilliant and caring man that was a huge supporter of the San Mateo Athletic Club. He’s pictured here with Olympian Heather Petri in 2015.

The impact of the event was evident when the Olympians got to meet Wills Levy, a young hero that saved his brother’s life with a bone marrow transplant. The incredible and moving story of his younger brother Andrew’s battle with a rare and deadly cancer and unlikely recovery is featured in this emotional New York Times Magazine article. Olympians at the event included: Craig Beardsley, Mike Bruner, Susan Heon Preston, Roque Santos, Glenn Mills, Ellen Estes and Christine Magnuson.

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Wills Levy (center) with Olympians at SMAC

The event features fun events not usually associated with SAA pool swims including an aqua aerobics boot camp, and out-of-water fitness challenge and a dance party. Check out the whole photo library to see all the breathtaking images from the event. If you’re interested in starting a pool swim in your community, learn more here.

SAA Impact in Seattle

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Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, the beneficiary of the SAA – Seattle swim has released their latest Impact Report. This report details how the Swim Across America Cellular Therapy Laboratory is responsible for all therapeutic cell processing at SCCA. Funds from SAA – Seattle also support the Pancreas Cancer Specialty Clinic. You can download the Seattle SAA Impact Report to learn more.22010282331_14ae7bfd0f_z

From the Swim Across America Cellular Therapy Laboratory:

“Over the past six years, SAA – Seattle funds have supported cell-based immunotherapy trials aimed at increasing graft versus cancer effect and reducing Graft Versus Host Disease. Those studies and follow-on protocols to refine the technology and incorporate more donor options are continuing. In addition, SAA – Seattle funds have prepared us to process cells for the Chimeric Antigen T Cell Receptor (CAR T) clinical trials.

The first CAR T protocol for SCCA patients is producing extraordinary results in which cancer patients that had been unresponsive to or relapsed from other therapies are experiencing complete remissions…we expect at least 3 more CAR T trials to start and SAAS funding will allow us to train staff and test processes to build the much needed capacity to support this rapidly expanding work.”

From the Pancreas Cancer Speciality Clinic:

“The STTR Molecular Diagnostics Repository SAA – Seattle is supporting evaluates the genomic, metabolomic, proteomic and immunological profiles of pancreas cancer, helping to create and share information and access samples more quickly and affordably…SAAS will fund 2-3 researchers’ pilot studies to advance the science, hopefully paving the way for future full scale proposals. We are grateful to the SAAS for its continued support of the Pancreas Program.”

SAA on the Scene

Posted on Posted in #DefeatCancer, Events, Fundraising, Labs, News, SAA on the Scene, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Members of the Swim Across America family are active in their communities. SAA on the Scene shares stories from the “dry side” of our events where the SAA mission to make waves to defeat cancer is honored and recognized. Feel free to send submissions for future posts here.

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT) Discovery Celebration
Harvard Club (New York) – April 14 

Greenwich-Stamford co-chairs Michele Graham and Lorrie Lorenz, and SAA Director of Events Craig Beardsley were in attendance to learn how dollars granted to ACGT are defeating cancer.

Swim Across America AYA Lounge One-Year Anniversary Celebration
Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa) – April 26

SAA – Tampa Event Director Rob Shapiro and committee members Alicia Reyes-Shapiro, Tony Scicchitano, Janice Scicchitano and Olivia Fridgen participated in the one-year anniversary of the Adolescent and Young Adult Lounge opening. We profiled AYA in our lab series profile.

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SAA – Long Island Sound Swim Kickoff Event
Larchmont Yacht Club – April 27

The 24th annual Long Island Sound Open Water Swim Kickoff event took place on April 27th. Beneficiary representatives from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Columbia University Medical Center and Cancer Support Team attended the event. Dr. Jedd Wolchok, MD PhD (of MSK) and Dr. Andrew Kung, MD PhD (of CUMC) spoke at the event sharing breakthroughs being made to defeat cancer in their labs.

2016 Larchmont Kickoff

Craig Beardsley (SAA Director of Events), Jean Fufidio, Dr. Jedd Wolchok, MD PhD, Dr. Sadna Budhu PhD, Tony Sibio (SAA – LIS chair and event director)

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Robyn Gartrell MD, Dr. Andrew Kung, MD PhD, Lucille Winton, Katie Shields, Dr. Jedd Wolchok, MD PhD, Dr. Sadna Budhu PhD, Dr. James Garvin MD PhD, Tony Sibio (SAA – Larchmont chair and event director)

Boston Team Relay Challenge Recap

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The 5th Annual Boston Team Relay Challenge at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool took place on April 9. Eleven teams swam and had fun raising over $70,000 for Dana-Farber and Mass General Hospital for Children Cancer Center. The relay swim challenges each team to swim as far as they can collectively over 2 hours. Teams with higher fundraising leading into the event day get additional yardage added to their total to support their efforts.

The top team overall was the Gator & Apex team, a club team in the greater Boston area. Not only did they swim the farthest, they raised the most coming in at almost $20,000! Congrats to Gator & Apex team as well as Kerry Swords for being top individual fundraiser for the event.

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Pool Swims Across America

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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.

The Cheshire Pool Swim to Fight Cancer raised $6,400 on April 23 in Cheshire, CT. A big round of applause for high school junior Kevin Erickson for organizing and to the members of the Yale men’s swim team for coming by to participate in the great cause. Great work by everyone that came out to Cheshire Community Pool to make waves to defeat cancer!

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The inaugural Belleair Country Club Pool Swim took place on May 1 at Belleair Country Club in Belleair, Fl. The BCC Breakers did a great job hitting their fundraising goal in their first year, raising $4,030 to contribute to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa!

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SAA Tee Time in Central Florida

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The first event of the calendar year featuring Swim Across America as an official charity of the 7-Eleven Franchise Owners Association took place on April 6 in Orlando. The weather was beautiful for the 7-Eleven Central Florida Franchise Owners Association Charity Golf Tournament to benefit Swim Across America (Tampa) and Moffitt Cancer Center.

The SAA family was well represented with Craig Beardsley, Craig Cordell (SAA – Tampa), Alison Pease (SAA – Chicago), Olympian Rowdy Gaines, Susan Davis (Nestlé), and Mark Gramlich (Kellogg’s) in attendance. The tournament successfully raised $20,711.00 for the SAA – Tampa which benefits the Tampa Moffitt Cancer Center.

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Check Presentation for SAA – San Francisco

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(L-R) Mike Bruner (Olympian), Dr. Robert Goldsby (UCSF beneficiary), Susan Helmrich (SAA-SF Co-Event Director), Dr. Julie Saba (UCSF Oakland beneficiary), Heather Petri (Olympian and Honorary Chair SF-SAA) and Anthony DuComb (SAA-SF Co-Event Director).

On March 14, members of the Swim Across America – San Francisco family took part in a special check presentation at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.

 

San Francisco Co-Event Directors Susan Helmrich and Anthony DuComb represented Swim Across America along with Olympians Mike Bruner and Heather Petri as they presented a $450,000 check to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Dr. Robert Goldsby  (UCSF) and Dr. Julie Saba (UCSF Oakland) both spoke at the event and thanked all the SAA swimmers, kayakers, volunteers, olympians and donors for their contributions to defeat pediatric cancer.

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Event Flyer
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(L-R) DuComb, Helmrich, Dr. Saba, Dr. Goldsby

How Far Have We Come?

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SAA By the Numbers

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Shake off the ice and snow- spring is officially upon us and we’ve awoken from the deep freeze! To get everyone back in gear and excited for this year’s schedule of open water events (starting May 4th in Atlanta!!) we figured we’d run some numbers. Haven’t you ever wondered just how far we actually have swum across America at this point?! Let’s find out!!

We went a looooooong way in 2013…
The mileage our swimmers have covered in open-water events alone is impressive. In 2013, we collectively swam 5447.5 miles in open-water events, meaning last year, we swam across America about 1.82 times!

We have swam back and forth a few times…
Unimpressed so far? Not for long! Since our inception, assuming all of our swimmers each swam an average of 1 mile each, we’ve swum across America about 10 times. Yes- 10 times across the country since our first open-water swim!

We’re making an impact…
While the miles we’ve covered alone are cause for celebration, the funds we’ve raised for cancer research deserves its own look. The amount we’ve raised since our first swim is over $50 million, which equals over 2,501,250 pairs of Speedo Vanquisher goggles, 1,001,001 women’s swimsuits or 156,274 pool lane lines.

It’s all thanks to you…
And get this: we’ve had about 30,000 swimmers in our open-water events since our beginning. If we assume equal numbers of American men and women with average wingspans of both genders, this means that holding hands, our Swim Across America family would stretch about 31.84 miles long!

Let’s do it again!
How many times will we make it across America this season? You can help us beat last year’s collective distance and add to our Swim Across America family by registering for a 2014 swim!