When second-year College student Shannon Rauth joined the women’s Swimming and Diving team, she introduced her teammates to Cameron Evans — a family friend who battled leukemia for seven months before passing away in 2012.
In his memory, Rauth’s family and the Evans family founded the Cure4Cam Childhood Cancer Organization — a group which promotes awareness about humane treatments for childhood cancer patients and has raised more than $500,000 the past three years.
After hearing Cam’s story, fourth-year Education students and team captains Kelly Offutt and Emily Dicus joined Rauth in planning events to get the rest of the team involved.
“Since this really hits home with the women’s team, we’ve been trying to get the ball rolling,” Dicus said.
Leading up to the ACC Championship, the team pledged to swim 238 miles per week — the distance from Charlottesville to Cam’s hometown in Pennsylvania. The four-week challenge, Hoos Swam4Cam, is one of the team’s many initiatives to spread the word about the foundation.
“It’s really cool that there are 60 plus members of our team, and we’ve all put our heads together to make a bigger difference,” Offutt said.
Using an online donation system, participants are also asking friends and family to pledge money to their swimming efforts.
“We’re still small, so we know exactly where our money is going,” Rauth said. “It’s important to me that [even though] the team as a whole didn’t know Cam … we have all taken on this project together.”
In another effort to support Cure4Cam, the team has gathered to make blankets for the oncology unit of the University Children’s Hospital.
“Participating in the blanket making was a fun way to spend time together and bonding was definitely a big part of that,” Offutt said. “It’s a great feeling at the end of the night to have a tangible [item] that you have made.”
The Swimming and Diving coaches have expressed full support for the team’s efforts to raise awareness.
“The coaches are behind it and they’ve facilitated us wearing shirts and swim caps with ‘Cure4Cam’ written on them to get the word out,” Dicus said.
In the future, Rauth and other members of the team hope to increase involvement with Cure4Cam beyond their small circle of athletes, with events such as a swim-a-thon in support of the foundation.
“I think it would be really cool in the future to get younger kids in the community involved and spread the word to make this an annual event,” Dicus said.
As they continue their weekly 238-mile swimming campaign, team members look to Cam’s blog — which he began writing after he was diagnosed — for encouragement.
“He was an incredible writer,” Rauth said. “‘The best type of inspiration is the kind that makes you want to save a life’ [is] one of the quotes we’ve been using to inspire us.”
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