Swim Across America – Fairfield County announces the addition of a Kids’ Splash added to the annual open water event that raises funds to fight cancer
New Kids’ Splash named the “Queen Willa” sids’ splash in honor of five-year-old Willa who is battling B Cell ALL
This year’s 18th annual Swim Across America – Fairfield County open water swim on Saturday, June 29, is adding a NEW Kids’ Splash! Now even the youngest kids can make a big splash. Children up to age 11 can participate by splashing a short distance along the beach. Parents are welcome to join in and must accompany non-swimmers or those under age 6. The inaugural Swim Across America – Fairfield County Kids’ Splash is being called the “Queen Willa” Kids’ Splash to honor courageous five-year old Willa Kosh, of Greenwich, Connecticut, who is royally and fearlessly battling pediatric leukemia, specifically B cell ALL. Queen Willa is the nickname that was given to Willa a year ago after she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Willa’s Mom Tina Carpenteri, co-owner of the area’s famous Garden Catering restaurant says, “The use of Queen with Willa’s name is a fitting nickname for someone who likes to be the boss, especially when playing ‘Willa’s Restaurant’ with friends. She is funny, fierce and can gain the attention of a room with her infectious laugh and smile. Her spirit and resilience have helped us get through the hardest days.” Tina also noted that Willa’s prognosis is good and she has been responding well to treatment, but she is only half-way through a two year treatment protocol that includes chemotherapy, along with steroid pulses and other medication to assist in the process of battling the cancer cells.
The Queen Willa Kids’ Splash will take place at the Swim Across America – Fairfield County event held in Dolphin Cove in Stamford, Connecticut. Participants will splash a short distance off the beach and make their way to a giant Swim Across America float and back to the beach. Children ages six to 11 can swim independently and children younger than six can be accompanied by a parent or adult and take the opportunity to splash and play in the water. The Kids’ Splash is a wonderful way for the whole family to show their support for those impacted by cancer.
Registration is $25 per child, and each registered participant will receive a t-shirt, towel and swim cap. While there is no fundraising minimum for Kids’ Splash swimmers and splashers, they are encouraged to fundraise if they would like. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, supports critical cancer research with the swim’s local beneficiary Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (ACGT), which is actually headquartered at the site of the swim.
“Let’s show Willa and all those battling cancer that they are not alone – and even the smallest among us can make huge waves to fight cancer!” said Nancy Carr, event director for Swim Across America – Fairfield County. “We are so excited to bring the fun Kids’ Splash to our annual swim. We always have a lot of children at the swim cheering on their older siblings and parents and now with the Queen Willa Kids’ Splash, they can participate too!”
Three swim distances are available at the June 29th swim: a half-mile, 1.5-mile and 3-mile swim – and the Kids’ Splash. Also new this year is a High School Cup trophy to be awarded to a Fairfield County area high school team (a combined swim, dive and/or water polo team), who together fundraises the most. To register as a swimmer, boater, paddle boarder, kayaker or land volunteer, click here.
Founded in 1987, by Darien, Connecticut, resident Matt Vossler, Swim Across America nationally has raised more than $100 million to fight cancer. In its 37 years of making waves, more than 100,000 swimmers and Olympians have swum the circumference of the earth three times uniting a movement to fight cancer that has created a groundswell of support spanning all generations. Today, more than 24 communities hold open water swims and charity pool swims each year, which support innovative cancer research, detection and patient programs.
Swim Across America grants helped support the research and clinical trials for FDA approved immunotherapy medicines; Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy, and Tecentriq. Swim Across America is also a grant funder of the successful clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering that was published in The New England Journal of Medicine and showed a 100 percent success rate in treating patients in a phase 2 clinical trial for advanced rectal cancer with dostarlimab, an immunotherapy treatment. Swim Across America awards grants to more than 60 projects each year and there are ten named Swim Across America Labs at major institutions including: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, John Hopkins Medicine Baltimore, Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, Infusion Center at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and San Francisco, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, The Swim Across America Pediatric Research Lab at Columbia University Medical Center New York, and at Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.
To learn more about the June 29 Swim Across America – Fairfield County open water swim or to register to swim, volunteer, or to donate to the cause, click here.
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