Greg Miller

Getting cancer does not have to mean that your healthy and active lifestyle is over.   Just ask Greg Miller, 41, a kidney cancer survivor and participant in this year's Swim Across America Seattle:  He has not only recovered from his 2008 battle with cancer, but is in far better physical shape than he was before his diagnosis and surgery.

 

In addition to dealing with a cancer surgery in which doctors removed one of his kidneys, Miller subsequently faced two non-related back surgeries, so he began swimming as a way to physically recover and to get back into shape.  He eventually began swimming in the Downtown Seattle YMCA's Masters Program and has since expanded his swimming regimen to the outdoors.     

Since then, "swimming has changed my health dramatically for the better," says Miller, who works as a commercial property insurance broker for Marsh in downtown Seattle.    

 

Among his favorite places to train is Rattlesnake Lake, close to his Snoqualmie home.  Miller first learned of Swim Across America when his friend, fellow Snoqualmie resident and Swim Across America Seattle participant, Pamela Forrester told him about it. 

 

"There's been a lot of support from my family and friends, but there are so many people affected by cancer," Miller added.   "Events like Swim Across America are important, because they enable us to help other people."