As incredible as it sounds, Team Hydro swimmers are indeed preparing for yet another swim across the frigid San Francisco Bay from Alcatraz Island in an effort to combat the life-threatening condition known as Hydrocephalus! This year’s swim will take place on August 10th, with swimmers set to jump into the bay at 8am that morning!
This year’s swim proves to be significant in many respects (as ALL Team Hydro swims are), as it will mark the 20th time Team Hydro swimmers have crossed the bay to raise important research funds, totaling over $1.7 million dollars in the process!
The swim will also serve as distinct reminder of the important work these dollars have helped produce, as this year, Team Hydro will be joined (both in the water and through on-land support) by researchers, faculty, and administrators from Indiana University, which thanks in part to Team Hydro funding, now houses what we believe to be the first and only dedicated Hydrocephalus research center in the world!
It was Team Hydro funding in fact, that gave Dr Bonnie Blazer-Yost funding for her very first Hydrocephalus research project. With thethe results of that initial study, this brilliant and dedicated professor was able to apply for additional grants, do more research (some also funded by TH), and now runs the Hydrocephalus Center on Indiana’s beautiful campus, leading a full team of researchers! The dedication of these researchers can NOT be questioned as three researchers from the center will be traveling all the way to California this summer to further the cause by swimming the bay (LINK)! We could not be more grateful to all at Indiana U for their incredible support, effort and desire to end the suffering caused by Hydrocephalus!
We are also excited to once again welcome Scholars and Professors from another great University, as Stanford Water Polo will once again be using their unique strength and skills to help the over 1 million people struggling with hydrocephalus in our country! In addition to the players, the Stanford coaches and numerous alumni will be swimming this year. These Cardinal men will be joined by Dr Ryann Fame, a dedicated Team Hydro swimmer and researcher who first started doing Hydrocephalus work thanks to a Team Hydro grant while a post-doc at Harvard in Boston. She now is a professor at Stanford Medical School where she runs her own lab dedicated to studying CSF (the fluid that accumulates in problematic ways to cause hydrocephalus)!
The Team Hydro cause is uniting people. Alumni from the Cal Water Polo team of UC Berkeley have been friends of Team Hydro for years, and this year alum Mike Sample has rallied five of his former Golden Bear Water Polo teammates (’09) to join him in taking the plunge for the cause. We are so grateful to have these big hearted, adventurous souls joining the Team Hydro family!
We gratefully thank and welcome all to Team Hydro, whether from the farmland of Indiana, “The Farm” of the California Peninsula, Berkeley, or anywhere in this wonderful world! To one and all, whether you are a swimmer, researcher, donor, or on-land supporter we say, thank you for helping us further our mission to raise awareness and research funds for hydrocephalus! Your help and support has enabled us to begin to change the paradigm regarding hydrocephalus treatment and research in very real ways!
Thanks to all, and remember you can still donate here (LINK)! Remember that, as always, thanks to our all-volunteer effort(where all costs are underwritten and time given freely), 100%of your donation will go directly to further more important research!
We hope to see you on the 10th, whether it be in the water or on the shore of Aquatic Park!
GO Team Hydro! Let’s end this thing called hydrocephalus!!
DONATE TODAY: https://donate.teamhydro.org/