They did it again.
Cancer-fighting kayakers with the Castaways Against Cancer paddled 160 miles over seven days from Miami to Key West. Covering 18 to 27 miles a day, this year’s event raised more than $160,000 for cancer research at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami, which matches every dollar donated.
A team of cyclists joined the challenge this year, going the same distance and adding tens of thousands of dollars to this year’s fundraising total.
High school teacher Steve O’Brien created the event in 2000 after losing both his parents to cancer and finding solace in his new kayaking hobby. He enlisted three teacher friends from Christopher Columbus High School in Miami and their first trip raised $10,000 for the American Cancer Society. The first team camped each night of their trip, battling fatigue, mosquitoes, wind and currents.
More than 20 years later, the Castaways have supportive sponsors that provide hotel rooms each night throughout the Keys. Among the paddlers is Marathon’s Suzy Curry, who paddles “just” 110 miles of the trip along the Keys island chain. The event has now raised $1.2 million for cancer research.
The team left Miami’s Castaway Beach at dawn on June 12 this year and arrived at Key West’s Smathers Beach at 2 p.m. Friday, June 18, exhausted but exhilarated.“Cancer affects all of us. Cancer leaves scars – physical and emotional – on its victims and their loved ones. And too often, people we love die from cancer. We paddle for every person who has heard the words, ‘You have cancer,’” states the Castaways’ website at castawaysagainstcancer.com.
