Rob Goldsby
Though he admits he's not that great a swimmer, pediatric oncologist Rob Goldsby, MD, is going to take the plunge to raise money for UCSF Children's Hospital patients with cancer.
On Saturday, Sept. 23, Goldsby, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF, will join former Olympic swimmers and a host of others for a relay swim in the San Francisco Bay for Swim Across America, an organization that has been raising funds for cancer research, treatment and prevention for the past 20 years.
This is the first year Swim Across America is sponsoring an event in the Bay Area, but organizers are convinced it will be a winner. They chose UCSF Children's Hospital not only because of its commitment to making the event a success, but also because of its unique Survivors of Childhood Cancer program, which gives each child a record of the type of cancer, treatment received and any therapy-related risks to that treatment. For example, some treatments may cause heart problems later in life, so the patient will know he or she needs to get regular heart checkups. All of the information is on a laminated card, so the patient can have it for every appointment.
In addition, patients will come in for follow-up visits, so that oncologists can see whether treatments have had any other effects.
"Some therapies have changed over the years," Goldsby explained. "We used to give children cranial radiation, but we learned this sometimes resulted in learning problems. So now we give medication into the spinal fluid instead."
Goldsby hopes that continuous follow-up will result in learning more about treatments. "We will learn from looking back," he said.
Goldsby added that funding for this kind of research is more challenging, so events like Swim Across America will raise much-needed funds to help research on quality of life issues.
"In the 20 years that Swim Across America has been around, it has always been a dream of mine to take our events out to the West Coast," said former Olympian and Swim Across America Executive Director Janel Jorgensen. "San Francisco is the perfect venue to expand our footprint and we are very excited to be partnered with UCSF Children's Hospital for our event this September in the bay. Our hope is to raise enough funds to further the quality research that Dr. Goldsby and his team are conducting at the survivorship clinic."
Olympians Unite
Olympians at the San Francisco event include:
Boston resident Janel Jorgensen has been a member of the Boston Swim Across America family for 14 years. She was a part of the 1988 Olympic Team and a silver medalist in the 400-meter medley relay. In 1987, she earned two gold medals at the Pan American Games, and in 1991 she became a member of the Pan Pacific Games Team. Over her four years as a Stanford Cardinal, Jorgensen captured 17 NCAA championship titles. Jorgensen still owns the university records for both the 100-meter fly and the 400-meter individual relay. She has formerly held American records in four separate events.
Ray Carey competed in the 1996 Olympics, swimming the 200-meter butterfly. After doing three Boston swim events over the years, Carey is looking forward to staying closer to his home in Menlo Park, CA, and agreed to help with the San Francisco inaugural event.
Olympic gold medalist Mark Henderson, who competed in his first Swim Across America event in Boston Harbor last year, is looking forward to having the event in his hometown this year. Henderson's competitive and highly decorated swimming career lasted for more than 20 years, and includes both Olympic and national honors. When Henderson received his gold medal in the 400-medley relay in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, his butterfly split was considered the second fastest split in the history of swimming at that time. Henderson also was a member of the United States National Swim Team.
Jeff Float seemed destined to swim. "With a name like Float," he said in an interview with USA Swimming.org, "what else was I going to do?" Float has been in the pool ever since he joined Arden Hills Swim Club, home to greats such as Mark Spitz and US Olympic Coach Sherm Chavoor. When Float was 13 months old, he contracted meningitis, which caused him to lose his hearing. He says he chose the pool in part because he didn't need the ability to hear in order to excel in swimming. Float was a member of both the 1980 and 1984 Olympic teams. During the Los Angeles Olympics, he and his teammates set a new world record in the 800-meter Freestyle relay. Today, Float lives with his wife Jan in Sacramento, where he works as a real estate agent and swim coach.
To learn more about the San Francisco Swim Across America event or to sponsor a swimmer, go
here.
Links:
UCSF Children's Hospital
