Elizabeth Beisel and her dad.Photo: elizabeth beisel/instagram
Olympic swimmer Elizabeth Beisel is setting out to make history in honor of her late father.
If she achieves her goal, she will be the first woman to make the swim.
The swim is in partnership with the nonprofit Swim Across America to raise money for cancer research and has been dubbedBlock Cancer.
Elizabeth, 29, decided to do the swim after her dad, Ted Beisel, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Christmas Day last year.
The athlete toldGood Morning Americathat she came up with the idea for the swim after her dad’s diagnosis, hoping that it would give him something to look forward to.
Elizabeth Beisel.Ezra Shaw/Getty
But after Ted’sdeath in July, the swim is now also a way to remember her dad.
“I have so many memories of being [on Block Island] with my dad flying kites, just going around the island,” Elizabeth toldGMA.
“He didn’t want the swim to be about him whatsoever.He wanted it to be about everybody who was fighting cancer,” she added. “It gave my dad a lot of joy to kind of see Block Cancer come into fruition and turn into what it is now.”
While Elizabeth’s initial goal for Block Cancer was to raise $5,000, she has already raised more than $110,000. The money will be given to hospitals in Rhode Island for cancer research, including the hospital where her dad received care, according toGMA.
The athlete calls the monetary amount raised “overwhelming.”
“As sad as it is, cancer is going to touch all of us in some way at some point,” she toldGMA. “And, you know, for me, to be able to have a platform where I can bring people together … it’s kind of a beautiful thing.”
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“I envisioned him being in Block Island waiting for me to finish with an ear-to-ear grin on his face,” Elizabeth wrote on the Block Cancer website. “I replayed the scene over and over of how as soon as I reached land I would run into his arms and give him a hug and he would whisper proudly ‘You did it, Elizabeth.’ "
source: people.com
