The swimmers don't know the women they're raising money for. They aren't familiar with their often wrenching cancer stories. And they won't know their struggles to stay alive. But on Saturday and Sunday, none of that will matter.

What will matter is finishing the 70 laps in under an hour and raising more than $225,000 in pledges and donations for the Women's Cancer Resource Center, an Oakland nonprofit group that assists about 4,000 women battling cancer in Alameda and Contra Costa counties every year.

Like Reid, about 40 percent are low-income women living at or below the poverty line. Some are homeless.

"Low-income women are dealing with a multitude of issues, like how to keep a roof over their head and how to live from paycheck to paycheck," said Dolores Moorehead, program director for the Women's Cancer Resource Center. "Then they are diagnosed with cancer. Many don't have insurance, and they have to make treatment decisions while they are living on the fringes already."

The swim event, expected to draw more than 400 women and at least 40 male swimmers, is the center's biggest fund-raiser of the year. The group relies on it to raise roughly 25 percent of its $900,000 yearly operating budget, said Executive Director Mary Tunison.

Without the swim, the center wouldn't have the resources to help people like Reid, a 45-year-old El Sobrante woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

Then a friend referred her to the Women's Cancer Resource Center, which has a hot line, a 3,000-volume lending library, informal peer-led support groups and information on treatment and care.

"It's hard to put it into words," Reid said. "The resource center is this incredible support system that steps up and does research for you. They also give you information on what's happening when all these things are being thrown at you and you have to decide what to do."

Their research helped her decide on a once-a-month, slow process of chemotherapy over three years. This allowed her to get back to landscaping and gardening after just two months off.

"We would have lost the house if I hadn't been able to keep working," Reid said.

With the U.S. Census reporting last month that nearly 45 million people (or more than 15 percent of the population) didn't have health insurance last year and nearly 36 million lived below the poverty line, the resource center is increasingly important, said Tunison.

"In this time of declining health insurance coverage and rising health care costs, people need to know what options are available them," she said.

"This swim is not only important for people to show their support and care for the people they love, but it helps us raise awareness about the types of services available to women with cancer, especially those that generally lack access to quality health care."

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
(510) 208-6447
(510) 208-6477 Fax##
lmclaughlin@angnewspapers.com Email