Local swim event targets cancer

Anthony Sibio was never a competitive swimmer.

That didn’t stop the Thornwood resident from utilizing the sport to help fight a devastating disease.

Sibio has been involved in Swim Across America’s Long Island Sound event since 1992. His son, Daniel, was diagnosed with cancer in 1991 at the age of 8.

This year’s event will be held July 26. Long Island Sound swimmers can commit to distances of 1, 4, or 6 miles. They will set out in boats from Larchmont Yacht Club and will swim back to Larchmont Shore Club, which will host a brunch for all participants. Others can opt to swim in a pool, either for a half-mile or a mile.

About 40 memorial and honorary teams will also participate. The goal is to raise $1.2 million. Each swimmer has to raise at least $500, the minimum donation.

“It’s a family event,” Sibio said. “That’s what’s great about it.”

Now in its 16th year, the Long Island Sound Swim, one of several such events organized by Swim Across America, was first established in 1992 in memory of Larchmont’s Kathy Webers, who died of cancer at the age of 42.

“We were all kind of devastated, and this was a positive thing we could do in her memory,” said Frank Webers, who started the swim in his late wife’s memory after he was approached by lifeguards at LYC, where he was a member.

In its inaugural year, 35 swimmers participated in the event, which raised $15,000. Last year, the swim included approximately 700 swimmers and raised about $1,033,000.

“They’ve made some great strides since we started, but cancer still devastates a lot of people,” Sibio said.

Sibio, now in his second year as chairman of the board, will be swimming in this year’s 1-mile pool event.

“(Sibio) was very instrumental in helping right from the beginning,” said Webers, a current committee member who’s involved in many of the event’s fundraising activities. “I can’t say enough good things about the way Anthony has handled the swim. He’s very highly motivated.”

Daniel Sibio, now 25 and a graduate of Westlake High School and Fordham University, is one of about 15 family members who will be volunteering in the event.

Webers’ three daughters, who have been swimming in the event since its second year, will also be swimming once again.

At last year’s event, which included people from across the country, the oldest participant was 82 and the youngest was 8.

“Cancer affects everybody,” Sibio said. “We’re growing because people want to do something. It’s a way of doing something, fighting back.”

Proceeds go to the Mamaroneck-based Cancer Support Team, the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Sibio, a real-estate agent at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, said he appreciates the support the event has received from all of the sponsors.

He vows to continue supporting the swim until cancer has been cured for good.

“It’s a way of fighting cancer, and we’ll continue to do it until there’s a 100 percent cure rate,” Sibio said.

By Julie Ganz

The Journal News