Team Hope is in its 13th year of “making waves to fight cancer.” They are hoping to raise one million dollars to donate to cancer research.
Cancer, a word most dreaded. Different forms with varying prognoses hurt children, men and women, young, old and right in the prime of their lives.
Everyone has lost friends or family, and a cancer patient always fears it will come back. So many doctors and nurses attend to the sick. More doctors and technicians research how cancer works and how to fight it. One thing we cannot do is to sit back and do nothing. Until there is a cure, people need hope to continue to fight. Writing to legislators to demand funding for the National Institute of Health is critical to getting results. Seed money for innovative research being done close to home is key.
At the Swim Across America Lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Jedd Wolchok has developed immunotherapy that significantly lengthened the lives of some melanoma patients. He spoke to Team Hope swimmers last year at the Sound to Cove Swim, and one of his staff doctors joined the group for a one-mile swim.
Dr. Marc Symons at the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health has been studying brain tumors. In particular, how the harsh radiation treatment can be improved for pediatric patients. For many years, Symons has come to North Hempstead Country Club and to the Eisenhower Park Aquatic Center to meet and greet swimmers, thanking Team Hope for supporting his research. As he tells the swimmers, he cannot swim, but he can research. By working together, success is at hand. The research is expensive, government money is difficult to obtain, but support from Team Hope is welcomed.
Team Hope is comprised of families and friends from North Hempstead Country Club, under the steady guidance of Captain Mike Ford along with Swim Across America. This year, in the 100th year of North Hempstead Country Club, they are looking to raise $1,000,000 in donations to cancer research. “We are extremely grateful to our team members—past and present—and the generous friends who have sponsored them,” said Ford. “We are so proud of the accomplishments en of our beneficiary doctors and labs.”
Team Hope will be swimming on July 15 at North Hempstead Country Club, on July 20 at Eisenhower Park’s Aquatic Center and on Aug. 6 in the Long Island Sound. “We turn again to our friends and neighbors to ask for your support to help reach our goal,” said Ford. Corporate and employer matching donations are especially appreciated.
To make a donation or to swim with Team Hope, visit www.swimacrossamerica.org/goto/teamhopenhcc, or contact Ford at mnford@aol.com, Laureen Keenan at lkeenan@optonline.net, Kurt Keiss at kkiess@aol.com or Jen DeSena at jendesena4@gmail.com.
