# 208 Two More Days

My swim is just around the corner so am anticipating an all out effort on my part to get from one side of the lake to the other without banging into or getting banged into by Rob, the kayaker.  The local ranger called and informed us it was approximately 1.8 miles across so I will do a little zig zagging and make it over two miles.  An over two mile swim makes it much more impressive than an under two miler.

If you are on Twitter, I will be tweeting before and after the swim--at least that's what my master tweeter children tell me I should do.  Hopefully thousands will be flocking to the beach to cheer me on.  Okay, maybe not thousands but at least a few more people than last time.  The ranger was interested so I only need three more and my previous audience will be doubled.

Below is the press release that my PR man, Rob, has been sending out to the media.  I need to be calm and proactively practice speaking in front of a camera and not resort to babbling like an idiot. Please send positive thoughts for an articulate voice for the women and men afflicted with MBC, but most importantly, keep me from the babbles.

Wisconsin Woman Suffering from Late Stage 

Breast Cancer to Swim Lake Hillsdale May 11

Swimming quest across country to raise research money 

specifically for fighting terminal breast cancers

May 7, 2015 (Madison, WI)

Cancer patient Mary Gooze, age 63, of Oregon, Wisconsin, has decided to go on the offensive against the disease and use her remaining time to educate people about late-stage cancer and raise money for research to cure it. 

On May 11, Gooze will swim across Lake Hillsdale at 10:00 a.m. to raise money for the non-profit, METAvivor! (Hillsdale State Park is south of Olathe, KS, between Spring Hill and Paola, three miles east of US-169K-7 and 255^th St. interchange.)

Although Gooze is struggling with late stage cancer, “I decided to focus my days doing something that I loved. I plan to swim across as many lakes as possible, bringing awareness and funding to metastatic breast cancer,” said Gooze. 

Since the cancer has spread to her bones, there are no treatments that can cure Gooze. Unfortunately, funding is sparse for research that explores how best to fight late-stage cancer and that’s why Gooze has chosen to literally dive into this fight. Her first swimming campaign of 2015 was at Lake Patagonia in Arizona. After Hillsdale Lake, she will swim all five lakes in Madison, Wisconsin and then on to northern Wisconsin and Minnesota to attempt more lakes.

Gooze is the 2015 recipient of the Wisconsin Coaches vs. Cancer Spirit of Hope Award honoring an individual who displays courage, passion and hope to those around him/her.

METAvivor is dedicated to the specific fight of women and men living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. At the time of METAvivor’s founding, no organization was dedicated to funding research for the disease and no patient groups were speaking out about the dearth of stage 4 cancer research.  While more and more people have taken up the cry for more stage IV research, METAvivor remains the sole US organization dedicated to awarding annual stage IV breast cancer research.

Thanks for reading # 208 of 7777.