By Jeni Howard | Contributor
On Saturday, September 27, 2025, the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall, Texas, will be filled with swimmers, Olympians, cancer survivors, and supporters taking part in the 15th annual Swim Across America – Dallas Open Water Swim, a milestone year for one of the region’s most inspiring charity events – one that makes waves to fight cancer. Proceeds from the swim support cancer research and clinical trials at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. Established in 2011, Swim Across America – Dallas has raised more than $3 million for its local beneficiary Baylor Sammons Cancer Center and attracts more than 450 participants. Swim distances include ½-mile, 1-mile, and 2-mile open water courses, with a virtual SAA My Way option for supporters participating from afar.
“This event is deeply personal for many of us,” said Julia Brookshire, Swim Across America – Dallas event director and a cancer survivor herself. “Fifteen years ago, we launched the Dallas swim to support life-saving cancer research in the Dallas community. Today, we’re not just swimming for a cause — we’re swimming for the people we love, for those we’ve lost, and for survivors like me and so many others who have been given a second chance, thanks to new treatments that have been funded by our swims.”
Brookshire has been in remission from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) since February 2024, and credits research-funded innovation like that supported by Swim Across America for helping her fight and survive the disease. Now, she helps lead Swim Across America with passion and purpose, ensuring that funds raised go directly toward cancer research, patient care and clinical trials in the Dallas community. Julia is also the national safety director for all 26 Swim Across America open water events across the country.
This year the swim will be honored by a special guest speaker Chris White, who is a cancer survivor who is here today thanks to the power of cancer research — specifically cancer cell gene therapy, the type of treatments being funded by Swim Across America. Chris White, who calls himself a “survivor, “thriver”, and advocate,” was diagnosed in July 2018 at age 36 with a rare anorectal mucosal melanoma that quickly spread from a rectal “lump” to his groin, lungs, liver and brain. After three surgeries, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and three different immunotherapy regimens (Opdivo, Yervoy and Keytruda) failed, doctors advised hospice in December 2019. Refusing to give up, Chris secured emergency radiation to his brain so he could qualify, just in time, as the last enrollee in a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) cell-and-gene-therapy trial. He received his personalized infusion on Jan. 15, 2020, and by early 2021 scans showed a complete metabolic response. Today he remains cancer-free and is a vocal advocate for wider access to cell and gene therapies, describing TIL therapy as “winning the war, not just the battle” against cancer.
Some of the swimmers this year are also cancer survivors and some of the swim’s top fundraisers, including Robyn Starnes, captain of Team Fabulous, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2014. Now in remission, Robyn has participated in the 1-mile swim for the past four years and is celebrating 11 years cancer-free this year by raising an ambitious $11,000. Her team, which includes friends and supporters, has raised more than $30,000 for Sammons Cancer Center.
The three scariest words I ever heard were: ‘You have cancer.’ But now I get to be part of something hopeful. We’re working toward a future where the next words someone hears are: ‘And there’s hope.’”
Robyn Starnes
“Even though I knew that cancer was a possibility, it still turned my world upside down when I was diagnosed in 2014,” noted Robyn. “I felt broken, like something was wrong with me. I’d never known anyone my age, at just 36-years-old, who had battled cancer. Now, 11 years later, Robyn is a cancer survivor and has found a new home and strong community of supporters in Swim Across America. And she wears her surgery scar like a badge of honor.
Robyn added, “I doubt you know anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer in some way. The three scariest words I ever heard were: ‘You have cancer.’ But now I get to be part of something hopeful. We’re working toward a future where the next words someone hears are: ‘And there’s hope.’”
Wayne Vacek, currently the second highest fundraiser, is swimming in honor of Sunni Goodman, his sister-in-law’s sister who is bravely battling cancer. His team, Team Mustang, is made up of SMU Swimming & Diving alumni, and has raised more than $300,000 for Swim Across America – Dallas since 2011, making them the top fundraising team in the swim’s 15-year history of making waves to fight cancer in Dallas.
Michael Smit, captain of Team Mustang, is dedicating his swim this year to his longtime college friend, Kris Jensen, who is battling Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma, an aggressive and rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Smit is swimming in both the Dallas and St. Louis Swim Across America events to honor Kris and raise critical funds to support research into difficult-to-treat cancers like his.
“Kris has the hardest part, fighting cancer,” noted Michael. “My swim is the smallest part of this event and my supporters are who make the difference for those like Kris. Thanks to our corporate sponsors, every dollar raised goes toward cancer research and clinical trials in the fight to find a cure, early detection and lengthen the lives of those fighting cancer.”
Nationally, Swim Across America holds open water swims in 26 communities – from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, plus hundreds of pool swims – and has raised more than $120 million for cancer research.
Funds raised support research initiatives and clinical trials at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, helping to advance early detection, targeted therapies, and more effective treatments for patients in North Texas and beyond.
Nationally, Swim Across America holds open water swims in 26 communities – from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, plus hundreds of pool swims – and has raised more than $120 million for cancer research since its founding in 1987, helping fund clinical trials that contributed to FDA-approved cancer immunotherapies such as Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy and Tecentriq. In 2024, Swim Across America supported a groundbreaking clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering, which showed that immunotherapy alone could successfully treat certain types of cancer. The nonprofit also awarded two first-of-their-kind gene editing innovation grants to Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, accelerating research into safer and more effective treatments.
To register, volunteer or donate, visit swimacrossamerica.org/dallas, and follow @dallassaa on Instagram and Facebook.
Swim Across America, Inc. is dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events. With the help of thousands of swimmers, volunteers and event Olympians, Swim Across America funds cutting-edge research and clinical trials across the country. To learn more, visit swimacrossamerica.org.