It's a fun opportunity and a great serendipitous honor to swim and raise research funding in Nashville on Team Commodores for the Cure. We are raising funds for Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville.  I swim for my wife Martha, who loved Vandy and passed away from pancreas cancer, I swim in memory of Will Holman, and Abby Sheinbart Smith who were my friends while we studied and played at Vandy. God bless you and your families; I miss you very much. I swim to honor breast cancer survivor Debbie Buck Vanderbilt Nursing School Graduate who is married to my Vandy roommate and member of the Vanderbilt men's swim team Tom Buck they were married in Nashville across 24th Ave from Vandy. I swim for my Vanderbilt Rugby Football teammate Ray King who was in the scrum with me in late 1970's and at our 50th VURFC Reunion October of 2021, he passed away two months later from cancer. Ray was his naturally animated thoughtful self at our reunion, unfathomable that he was gone so soon after our reunion. God Bless you Ray and you family and friends. I also swim for my mom who survived ovarian cancer and for my Vanderbilt engineering classmate Jeff Sloan who survived stage 4 melanoma through extensive surgery and is well and in remission. There are survivors of cancer there is progress and cures for cancer. I'm swimming for my ATO roommate David McDonald's sister and class of '81 Carol McDonald's husband who has just been diagnosed with cancer.  I swim for my other fraternity brother Jim Justice, Jimbo’s mom, Lola, passed away from breast cancer in 1984. I swim for Vanderbilt friend Phil Tuohy and his family remembering his mom Virginia who passed away from lung cancer after a four-and-a-half-year battle after being diagnosed stage 4. I also swim to honor so many others that I don't know the stories of. Thank you friends for joining in and supporting the funding of research that will help to eradicate cancer. The degrees of separation are small, the threat is large, if not imminent. Vanderbilt is a premier cancer treatment center, please support their mission to help others beat cancer!

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center was founded in 1993 and became an NCI-Designated Cancer Center in 1995 and a comprehensive cancer center in 2001. Vanderbilt-Ingram is an inclusive, collaborative, interdisciplinary cancer research community with more than 280 members dedicated to advancing discoveries in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for both adult and pediatric cancers.

In our lifetime, 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer. I joined the SAA community so that, together, we can change that. I am challenging myself by swimming and raising as much money to fight cancer as I can. Please support me by sponsoring my swim and making a gift. The money you give will go towards cancer research, prevention and treatment and will make an impact in the fight to find a cure.  Thank you for your generosity and may it lead to a cancer-free world!

Peace and much Love,

David Day

VU Engineering 1979, ATO, VURFC, Commodore

You can make a credit card donation by clicking on one of the members of our team below, or send a check to 

Swim Across America

, 11600 N. Community House Rd., Suite 100, Charlotte, NC 28277.

Check should be made out to Swim Across America but please include a note mentioning our team or the swimmer you are supporting!