Founded in 1987, Swim Across America has hosted charity swims with one goal: to raise money for innovative cancer research that would lead to breakthrough treatments and therapies. Since then, Swim Across America has raised over $100M to fund the next generation of pioneers in oncology and cancer-support care. 

Last spring, Miranda -- my partner of nearly twenty years -- was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Our lives were upended as she underwent an aggressive course of treatment that lasted over a year. Friends and family rallied to help Miranda, myself, and our young children through difficult times. Although confronted with a nightmarish scenario, we were well positioned to find excellent caregivers at MGH, where Miranda could benefit from recent advances in cancer research that made her particular type of aggressive cancer treatable and curable. We are keenly aware that so many people without access to excellent care, or with different cancer diagnoses, face a very hard and different set of challenges than what we went through. 

In the depths of Miranda's illness, one of the ways that helped me be a better caregiver and keep my own anxieties at bay was by swimming. Whenever and wherever I had the chance -- often thanks to a friend covering for me on the home front -- I went for a swim. For the first time in my life, upon getting into the water, I swam without stopping until it was time to get out. Swimming then and ever since does more than help me exercise or offer a momentary escape from the troubles of the day: it teaches me lessons about full-body endurance, and how the only reason we are here is thanks to the people near and far, past and present, who have nurtured us through both good and hard times.

To mark the occasion of Miranda's end of treatment, and to do my own small part to help increase the chances that other cancer patients and their loved ones benefit from the same advances and level of care that Miranda received, I am participating in a fundraiser swim for Swim Across America on Saturday September 7th. All proceeds raised by swimmers in the event, organized by SAA's Rhode Island Chapter, will go to funding cancer research at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.  If you can pitch in a few dollars to help me meet my modest but hopefully doable goal of $500 by Friday September 6th, I would be thrilled. 

Thank you for helping me #MakeWavesToFightCancer.