By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
WILDWOOD, N.J., May 30. A weekend-long "Plunge for Patients" will be held in Wildwood, New Jersey the last weekend of June — June 29 and 30 — as the major fundraiser for The Johns Hopkins Patient and Family Fund, reports Viki Anders, RN, the meet director and an accomplished open water and Masters swimmer.<\/p>\n
The fund assists cancer patients and their families with expenses not covered by insurance. Anders describes the two-day affair as "a unique event involving both athletes and cancer patients at the event site."<\/p>\n
Anders first hit on the idea for the Johns Hopkins Patient and Family Fund after swimming around Manhattan Island in 1995. "Not wanting to repeat that difficult swim on an annual basis to raise money," she says, "I started the Plunge for Patients in 1996."<\/p>\n
What started as a small open water swim has grown into a large, weekend event. On Saturday morning there are beach runs. Saturday evening is a beach party (highlighted this year by Anders' wedding ceremony). <\/p>\n
Sunday morning are the ocean races, including 1 mile and 3 mile races, and a "Beyond the Breakers" novice swim, where parents may accompany their children free of charge. All Breakers participants receive medals.<\/p>\n
"What is unique about our event," says Anders, "is that local hotels and motels donate rooms so that cancer patients may attend. <\/p>\n
"All of the patients (or families if the patient is deceased) write a story, which is given to the athletes prior to the races. The patient's name is placed on the athlete's arms, and teams of athletes dedicate their race to that patient. The athletes get to meet the patient and\/or the families after the race at the post race party."<\/p>\n
The party also features three slide presentations: one to dedicate the event to a patient who has passed away; one is a memorial to all patients who have lost their battle with cancer; and the last one is a celebration of the past six Plunges for Patients, this year entitled "Love Changes Everything." <\/p>\n
"And," adds Anders, "the big event this year is my marriage to a wonderful guy. Some of the wedding attendants are my patients."<\/p>\n
For additional information about the event and an entry form, contact Viki Anders at:
\n andervi@jhmi.edu <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Phillip Whitten WILDWOOD, N.J., May 30. A weekend-long "Plunge for Patients" will be held in Wildwood, New Jersey the last weekend of June — June 29 and 30 —<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n