Swim Across America Nantucket Raises $1M for Cancer Care, Research

Hundreds of residents from Nantucket gathered on Saturday, July 26, at Jetties Beach for an open-water swim event to benefit cancer care and research. The 13th annual Swim Across America Nantucket event raised a record $1 million to support local oncology research and cancer care.

Although blustery conditions and an extremely low tide limited participation to only a dip into the water due to safety issues, participants nonetheless showed up for a good cause.

The $1 million-plus funds raised on Saturday exceeded last year's total of $885,000. This year's figure is expected to increase during the coming days.

“It shows you what the power of community can do,” said Jim Pignato, co-director and founder of SAA Nantucket, in a statement shared with the Nantucket Current. "I thought we would get there eventually. To do it today is amazing. It really goes to show that when the cause is important and you have the community support behind it, really great things can happen. That's what we saw here this morning.”

Pignato's collaborator in the Swim Across America event, co-director and founder Jill Roethke, echoed the sentiment: “It starts from the kids doing lemonade stands to our sponsors, the swimmers, the volunteers, and I think now people truly understand what Swim Across America is all about,”
she said. “People understand the important services that we provide, between the oncologist coming from Mass General, our nurses that we call our angels, PASCON, and the research, and we're just all coming together to make waves to fight cancer.”

Ryan Murray, a class of 2011 graduate of Nantucket High School, spoke during the event about his diagnosis and recovery from stage 4 colorectal cancer at age 30. Murray described how he returned to his hometown of Nantucket from the West Coast and received treatment at the Swim Across America Infusion Center at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, where he was born. Today, he said, “I am cancer-free.”