A young man who swam clear across Coploy’s Bay and back for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada has raised over $6,300 so far.
27-year-old Patrick Douthart who is from Guelph but has a property on Mallory Beach completed the swim on Aug. 20 near Wiarton. He explains he decided to do the swim across the bay when he discovered his father had been diagnosed with Leukemia earlier this year.
“Cancer has always been in my family ever since I was a little kid. My brother passed away from cancer when he was seven-years-old and it still affects my family to this given day,” says Douthart. “I know that it has a huge effect on tons of other families, tons of other people and I decided that when my dad did have cancer, it was my time to try and make a little change. Try to do something, try to make some sort of difference even though I didn’t think I could do much, I wanted to see what I could do.”
Douthart says his family thought making the swim across the bay seemed like an impossible feat.
Douthart says his father expressed his fear about being struck with cancer, noting Douthart’s grandfather passed from cancer as well.
“I can see the fear in his eyes, so I wanted to do the whole swim as a beacon of hope for him,” says Douthart.
He adds he wanted to do the swim for others who have been diagnosed and living with cancer as a way to give back.
Douthart made the swim across the bay to directly assist the society in their research goals to find a cure for blood cancer.
After making his way through the wavy waters of the bay and reaching the other side, his father who was waiting for him encouraged Douthart to make the lap back to the other side. The intial plan was to make the single trip to one side of the bay, but Douthart says he didn’t find the experience to be as difficult as he had anitipcated.
“I had a lot of support on the shore watching me. Neighbours who had donated were on their docks watching me,” Douthart adds. “It was very supportive for me.”
Douthart notes the message he wants to get across after making the swim, is nothing is impossible and small changes can make a difference.
Douthart has set a $15,000 for the society on GoFundMe and it is still open for people to donate. Douthart says he expects to keep up the page for another week to get as close to the goal as possible.