Carver law student swims for mom, more
Joins nearly 200 raising funds for cancer research
Toni Sousa’s fight against pancreatic cancer took her Saturday to the shores of Castle Island, where nearly 200 swimmers glided through the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for research to cure the disease.
Among the swimmers was Sousa’s 23-year-son, Dalton, and more than a dozen of his friends who raised more than $15,000 for the charity swim organized by Swim Across America, a nonprofit organization founded in 1987.
Sousa, 51, a Carver resident, took in the scene from a wheelchair. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January and is being treated with chemotherapy.
“It’s nice to see them go out there for one cause,” she said.
After completing his 2-mile swim, Dalton Sousa said he hopes to make the event into a tradition. He grew up swimming competitively and belonged to the swim team at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I..
“We’re doing this for a great cause,” said Sousa, who is now pursuing a law degree at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, N.Y. “It’s fun to just get out there and do something that I grew up doing and be able to raise over $15,000.”
He said he was happy his mother could be there.
“I didn’t know if she was going to be able to make it out,” Sousa said. “Things haven’t been great all the time throughout treatment so it’s been really cool just to get her out for this event and get to have my family here.”
His sister, Cora, 20, said watching the swimmers do laps around the half-mile course “makes me want to do it next year.”
She encouraged people to donate to cancer research.
“We can find a cure,” she said. “We just need the support to find it.”
Toni Sousa is being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth.
“It’s a journey. It’s a lot,” she said. “You get sick, but you make the best of it.”
Swim Across America said it began hosting events in Boston in 1996 and steers donations to research of pediatric and brain cancers and programs that support cancer survivors. Before the swim, organizers presented an oversize check for $425,000 to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mass General for Children.
Jamie Mannion, the Boston events director for Swim Across America who swam competitively at Harvard University, said he recently learned of the death of an adult swimmer he had coached. He said he also got news that one of his friends recently underwent surgery to treat cancer.
“Everyone’s been impacted by cancer and it just keeps happening,” Mannion said. “I’m hoping someday we don’t have to do this anymore. But I think for the near future we’re going to have to keep growing the event.”
The organization seeks to back early-stage research in hopes of giving scientists money needed to develop their ideas and become eligible for more funding, Mannion said.
The Boston chapter has given grants to a research team led by Dr. Bryan Choi at Mass General for Children Cancer Center. Swim Across America said Choi’s team got approval in April to begin a Phase I trial for a therapy it developed to treat ependymoma, an aggressive solid tumor brain cancer that occurs most often in children.
The organization also supports research by Christopher Recklitis, a psychologist at DanaFarber who studies cancer survivors. Lydia Chevalier, 33, a psychologist who works with Recklitis, was swimming in the event for the second time. Donations from Swim Across America help pay for research assistants, a fellowship position, and pilot projects at a Dana-Farber clinic for pediatric cancer survivors, she said.
In 2013, Chevalier said a friend, Jamie Greenberg, died of leukemia at age 22. Greenberg was a philosophy student who was applying to graduate school while undergoing cancer treatments and his death contributed to her decision to pursue cancer research, she said.
“He’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met,” Chevalier said.
During her swim last year, Chevalier said she was nervous, but followed organizers’ advice to “think about why you’re doing it while you’re out there.”
“I actually was able to think about Jamie a lot,” she said. “It was a really nice way to kind of keep him alive.”
Eva Miklos, a research assistant in Recklitis’s lab, said she is a lifelong swimmer, but had never attempted to swim a mile in open water.
“I’m nervous, very nervous, but I’m excited,” she said before her swim.
The path to the water was cordoned off with rope decorated with pennants where participants wrote responses to the prompt, “WHY I SWIM.”
“For Uncle Joe,” read one. “Dani’s Mom,” said another.
Three teenagers who participated belong to the swim team at Ursuline Academy in Dedham.
“I have a lot of family members who have battled cancer,” said Lizzy Power, 16. “To be able to raise money for something that’s this important is really meaningful.”
Onyeka Nwazojie, 16, said a family friend was recently diagnosed with cancer.
“It’s really powerful what a big impact this organization has,” she said.
Nina Vermette, 16, said she swam in honor of a YouTuber known as Technoblade who died of cancer last year at age 23. Technoblade’s channel was devoted to Minecraft, a video game.
“I was just trying to keep my pace going, remember why I was swimming,” she said. “I’m proud of myself. It was actually a lot more fun than I originally anticipated. It’s easier to do when you have your friends and your swim team to do it with.”