By Dan D’Addona.
As Lake Michigan warms up, one woman will swim a stretch of the Great Lake for a good cause.
D’Arcy Toffolo, 41, of Denver, is planning a 20-mile swim in Lake Michigan on June 28. Toffolo will start at South Haven, Michigan, and end at the Big Red lighthouse on the south side of the Macatawa Harbor in Holland, Michigan.
The solo swim, while a personal goal, is also aiming to raise awareness on behalf of NOAH, the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.
“Swimming is in my blood,” Toffolo said. “I grew up swimming in Lake Michigan and very much look forward to returning for this important and incredibly personal goal. Similarly, albinism is something you are born with. My niece, who is 4 years old, has albinism, and she, too, is why I swim.”
Albinism is an inherited genetic condition that reduces the amount of melanin pigment formed in the skin, hair and/or eyes. It also impairs vision. One in 20,000 people are born each year with albinism.
Toffolo started competitively swimming with Lake Forest Swim Club at age 9. Every summer since age 11 she would swim the 2 ½ miles from Castle Park to Big Red during family vacations in Castle Park in Holland, Michigan. She capped her swim career as a sophomore at Boston College, sidelined by a chronic illness that left her anemic and unable to compete. After college, she began racing triathlons and has completed nearly a hundred, including eight Ironmans, four of those the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
Toffolo is being coached by open water swimmer and world-record-holder Sarah Thomas, also a Colorado native. Thomas swam 104 miles in Lake Champlain last year – non-stop – and was recently awarded Colorado Sportswomen of the Year. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, a battle she is still fighting today.
Toffolo hopes to build toward a swim acrosse Lake Michigan in 2019.