Over the course of 20 years, Swim Across America has raised more than $25 million for many of the nation’s top cancer research centers. Along the way, a number of current and former Olympians have helped, but so have thousands of swimmers and volunteers.
Greg Miller, 41, of Snoqualmie, Wash., is one of those swimmers. Miller and a group of volunteers took a dip for Swim Across America Seattle this weekend.
After undergoing surgery to remove his cancerous right kidney last year, Miller, who previously was a dedicated runner, took up swimming for exercise as he healed.
“I got more and more into it,” he told Seth Truscott in an article for the Snoqualmie Valley Record. Miller credits swimming with helping him lose more than 25 pounds and getting him more fit than he was when he ran. The furthest he’s had to swim is about a mile and a half. He can swim a mile in about 25 minutes.
Miller and company swam two miles near Mercer Island’s Mercerwood Shore Club.
Funds from the event go to support research at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which includes the adult and pediatric cancer-care services of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Photo courtesy of themikelee, via Flickr