A journey from cancer to fitness and remission …. through swimming
(& running)!
Swimming is an amazing exercise. It’s a whole body exercise that you should consider, even if you have hip/ knee/ leg joint issues!
There are thousands of swimming pools at YMCAs, High Schools, and Health Clubs. Often these locations offer lessons to help you learn or improve your swimming.
I began my swimming journey in earnest in January of 2017. Since then I’ve discovered a number of approaches/ strokes, equipment and fixes for all sorts of issues. I’ll be sharing them here as time and swimming permit.
Pre-COVID: my days started with a swim: 280 / 300 laps [lengths] at the pool [7000/7500 yards; 50,000 yards/week]. Well, until COVID -19 came along. Now, the pools/gyms are again open in our area. I’m back to 4000 yards a day and working back to 7000. Still running 10-12 miles/day + TRX and Tai Chi.
July 2024 – Good news! Still swimming/ running/ hiking/ kayaking. Just had my MSK checkup and blood values are good. Also my 5 year colonoscopy checkup. Reminder to get yours!!! The end of this month is the Krossin’ Keuka Fundraiser. It’s a wonderful way for people to get together, have fun and raise money for the Keuka Comfort home. This facility provides hospice end-of-life care. Fundraisers such as Krossin’ Keuka help pay the expenses. If you’d like to help me remind people to take good care of themselves as well as celebrate the victories that many of us have had over cancer and heart disease, please donate here. Thank you!!!
December 2023 – I’m back and apologize for being gone so long. I’m in the process of updating and rewriting much of this site so that it is complete by 1-1-24. Thank you for visiting and please come back then! Still swimming [2m/day] and running [10m/day], plus Tai Chi and TRX. Cancer checks still completely clear, and heart checks also doing well. It’s been 7 years since my diagnosis of Stage IV prostate cancer [surprise] and 3 bad coronary arteries [another surprise].
Andy andyswims300@gmail.com
Come back for updates. I’ve recently retired and am catching up on a lot of content updates for the site: diet/ mindfulness/ running / stretch-prep on the running and swimming side. Most will be in place by late November. Thanks for your patience. Write me with questions/comments at: andyswims300@gmail.com
Nov 25, 2020: I’m at 900 miles for the NY CARES run. Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 8, 2020: I’m at 700 miles for the NY CARES run. 🙂 Today was the 4th anniversary of my discovering that I had cancer. It’s been an amazing 4 years. I’m running 10-12 miles a day now and swimming 2.5 miles/day; working back up to 300 laps. Still doing TRX and Tai Chi. Will publish update by EOM with the stretch routine. Lots of sources, with an emphasis on balance/ running/ swimming.
Oct 2020: NY CARES continues. Making good progress!
Met with my MSK radiology oncologist after they did a repeat prostate biopsy. Benign!!! Another battle won – but the war continues. Will stick with diet, exercise and mindfulness.
Sept 2020: Bampa’s House. Completed – but miss the camaraderie of running together!
Sept 2020: ONENYCARES. Time for a new challenge: ONENYCARES. This is a 1000 mile run from Atlanta to Syracuse – supporting 131+ charities. Already on the way!
Aug 2020: I retired !!!! 🙂
May-Aug 2020: ONENYCHALLENGE. Karen and I both competed
in this longterm run/walk. it’s a 1000K [A] or 500K [K]. Lots of morning runs and we also do walks, as well as TM in the basement. We completed 8/31. I “ran” home from Montauk to complete the run, turning it into an 1150 MILE event!!
7/11/20: Completed the 1000K 
. Making this more fun — I’m running back from Montauk [end of the Challenge) to home. That will also add enough miles to change it from 1000k to 1000 miles 
. Lots of company in this plan!
12/14/19: It’s a Wonderful Life 5K. Karen and I were both planning on doing this as a fun walk, Karen came down with a bad cold. So, I did a run in the snow!! It was pouring rain until the race started — and the snow was a mini-blizzard. I’m dedicating this run to my wonderful family, friends, Corning Incorporated co-workers, Guthrie HealthWorks and the wonderful medical support from Corning Incorporated/ Guthrie/ Memorial Sloan Kettering/ and University of Rochester. Over the past three years, you helped put a Stage IV cancer patient back into the main stream of life — and in remission. Each morning I get a new day … and I fall in love with it. Thank you !! 🙂
12/7/19: Selfless Elf 5K. Here’s a race with a super cause — the Food Bank of the Southern Tier . Going to need to dress even warmer for these December runs!! Looking forward to the event on Saturday. Extra fun; part of our Corning Workforce Productivity Team is an Elf Team 🙂
11/28/19: The Amazing Pie and Glove 5K.
What’s not to like about a race that gives you a pie for placing 1st in your age category? We got the turkey dinner started then I ran [had to wear warmer clothes!], then back to family and turkey. The gentleman with me here was my hiring manager at Corning when I joined Optical Fiber IT. Thank you, Bruce!
10/5/19: Wineglass Marathon 5K.
What a beautiful, crisp fall day. Two of my friends here with me .. Biggest 5K I’ve been in — lots of runners!! It was a fun run, once I got used to breathing the 30 degree air. Body is continuing to heal. Got my swim in after the run 🙂
9/14/19: Krossin’ Keuka 5K.
Last week, Bampa’s House run was super!! — and I ran into friends that alerted me to this 5K. So Karen and I headed out first thing and I had a really fun run. Building a little more muscle and healing each day 🙂
9/7/19: Bampa’s House 5K is today. A great fundraiser for a wonderful project. Construction is going well on converting the historic mansion to a comfort facility in Corning NY. Looks like a beautiful day for a run. I’m hoping to jog/walk — same as last year. Although I am on the mend, I can only run short distances so far [knee joints are still healing]. Swimming is my sport; headed to the pool after the 5K to get my swim in!
8/4/19: Cayuga Relay Triathlon.
Really fun and well organized event. I had “triathlon” on my bucket list, and a wonderful couple from HealthWorks swimming [Jill and Nick] offered to complete the bike/run and have me do the swim. We took first place for relay [and I refrained from overly competitive/ aggressive swimming at the behest of my MSK cardiologist].
8-1-19 The battle is won — saw my oncologist and I’m in remission! The war continues; I’ll still be eating the right things and exercising — to discourage my prostate cancer from returning 🙂
7-27-19: completed Krossin’ Keuka fundraiser.
Beautifully organized and fun. We made over $65,000 for the hospice! Thank you, all of you that supported my swim or my pod-partner Jane Coole. It was fun swimming in the white-cap waves!!
5-31-19: I’ve been off ADT Therapy since 5-1-19 and will be off them for 3 months to check my status. Wow !!! and Thank You to all my wonderful family/friends, colleagues and care-givers!!! I’ve already lost the chemical brain fog and am sleeping better, and have regained my temporary memory function.
4-24-19: 360+ miles with two good shoulders!
4-11-19: appeared with my MSK chemical Oncologist, Dr. Slovin at Video Dimensions in NYC for an interview taping for Cure Today. Topics included my type of cancer therapy [ADT] and how I’ve done well with the side-effects, through diet / exercise / and maintaining a good state of good state of mind. Also, importantly, a discussion of whether a Cardiologist should be part of the care team in treatments such as mine.
3-16-19: 150+ miles so far … shoulder still good. Thank you, U of R Sports Medicine – Orthopedics! No sign of Rotary Cuff Syndrome; just overuse 🙂
2-6-19: 100% back online: 300 laps Sunday and now back on regular schedule! Posted new youtube video “iphone goes swimming”.
Good news and other news. The good news is I’m adding videos on YouTube. The other news is that I’ve had to scale back to let my left shoulder heal for a couple of weeks — my chemo impedes healing …. But this opened another door as I adjusted my stroke and approach to rebalance how I swim [and encourage healing]. I got quite good at swimming with one arm 🙂
Happy 2019! I completed a Celebration swim on Saturday 12-22-18: 10K yards [400 laps in a little over 3 hours].