All Team Hydro swimmers finished safely, and the 20th Team Hydro Alcatraz Swim for Hydrocephalus Research was incredible!
A few highlights:
We were moved and inspired by personal remarks from Kate Damrell (completing her 15th Team Hydro Alcatraz Swim!) and Ryan Purdy (returning with his young family after first swimming with us previously 12 years ago) — both of whom swim and live every day with shunted hydrocephalus; Tom Coury, father of Amelia who lives with shunted hydrocephalus, also addressed the crown. Kate, Ryan , and Tom each expressed gratitude to all the swimmers for their devotion, to the researchers for their continuing efforts, and to you for your great generosity that makes all of this possible!
We observed a moment of silence to express respect and sympathy for the recent passing (from complications of hydrocephalus) of 17 year old Raffi Arabaryan, son of 3-time Team Hydro swimmer Gary Arabaryan (who was present and courageously completed the swim with us yet again this year).
We also heard reports on the meaning and impact of Team Hydro’s sponsored research, including remarks from Sam Finlayson who leads Team Hydro’s research strategy and flew in from Seattle, Professor Bonnie Blazer-Yost who flew in from the new Hydrocephalus Research Center at IU Indianapolis, and Dr. Ryann Fame who leads a lab focused on hydrocephalus at Stanford University Medical Center.
We acknowledged and thanked the “Neural Waves” swim team (three impressive younger researchers from the Hydrocephalus Research Center at IU Indianapolis) who flew in to join the swim — as well as Dean John DiTusa of the IU Indianapolis School of Science who also flew in with his team to support their efforts.
We were also thrilled to once again be joined by the Stanford Ward Polo team, and 5 members of the UC Berkeley men’s water polo national championship teams of ’06 and ’07.
Team Hydro has supported over $1 million in research to date, and that has enabled our researchers to secure a remarkable $20 million in additional research grants. That is a 20x return! We are committed to channeling 100% of your donations directly to research labs that are doing the most promising, innovative, potentially game-changing research. THANK YOUR FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE!
If you have been meaning to make a donation but just have not gotten around to it yet, now is the time!