FAIRFIELD — It all started with a run. A run across the country.
When Jeff Keith was 12 years old, doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his right knee, forcing the amputation of his leg just above the knee and over a year and a half’s worth of chemotherapy treatments. Despite the loss of his leg, Keith was determined to live his life to the fullest, along with becoming a fund-raising machine for cancer research and cancer survivors.
So in 1985, Keith, from Fairfield, ran across the United States, a total of 3,300 miles. It took him nine months. The run started in Boston, ended outside of Los Angeles and raised over $1 million toward cancer research.
That was just the beginning.
Two years later, Keith and his friend, Matt Vossler, who had helped Keith organize that cross-country run, got together to start planning their next big, non-profit fund-raising event.
That turned out to be the Swim Across the Sound.
That same year, an offshoot of Swim Across the Sound — Swim Across America — was also created by Keith and Vossler. And in January of 2005, the two, along with buddy John Ragland, started their fourth non-profit event, the Connecticut Bike Challenge.
On Saturday afternoon, Keith was to spend the day working the streets of Fairfield as over 1,100 cyclists rode courses from 10 to 100 miles long for the eighth annual Connecticut Bike Challenge, raising money for cancer survivors. The 25th annual Swim Across the Sound, however, was cancelled Saturday by unfavorable weather. Instead of swimming across the 15.5-mile distance between Port Jefferson, N.Y., and Bridgeport, swimmers participated in a series of harbor races starting at noon at Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport.
In the Swim marathon’s first year, it raised a little over $5,000. Last year, it raised over $400,000. And when you add it all up, from the run to the swims to the bike rides, Keith’s events have raised over $50 million to fight cancer.
“Those are all organizations that I’m very proud of,” Keith said last week in a phone interview. “They’re all important to me. I just like getting involved and starting organizations and getting people together and being part of a team. You look back in time and they’re like different chapters in my life.
“I’m so humbled and honored to still be part of all of them in indirect ways. They’re all really special. What the Swim Across the Sound has done for the Fairfield County area is just absolutely amazing.”
The Swim started after Keith, who was in graduate school at USC (thanks to a scholarship for physically challenged athletes) discovered that his scholarship was funded by a local swim-a-thon. So Keith called Vossler and started making plans to create a swim-a-thon of his own.
“I had started getting into swimming again while in grad school,” Keith said. “And when Matt and I realized how you could raise money swimming, we decided to create an open-water swim event instead of a regular pool swim. We got a bunch of friends together, partnered up with St. Vincent’s Hospital and launched it. Matt and I were glad to light the candle and get it started and built it up and then handed it over to St. Vincent’s, who’s taken it to the next level.”
In 2004, after attending a cancer survivor clinic at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, Keith realized that very little money was being raised for survivors. So Keith — who said that there are from 130,000 to 140,000 cancer survivors in Connecticut — set out to try to create the state’s first cancer survivor clinic.
“That’s basically why I started the Connecticut (Bike) Challenge,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily want to start a bike event, but I needed to raise money to fund the first survivor clinic.”
And fund it he has. Construction for the Center for Survivorship Clinic, located at 250 Pequot Ave. in Fairfield, started in 2011 and the grand opening is scheduled for late September. And Keith is already in his office working.
“We moved in just over a week ago and we’re in the process of getting all the bugs worked out, but we’re in the space,” he said. “There’ll be exercise, nutrition and psychosocial programs, so we’re really excited to open the first standalone center for cancer survivors in the country.
“I expect this center to impact over 1,000 survivors the first year and just grow from there. My biggest goal is to make sure that the money I raise goes back into communities throughout the state and helps people that need it the most.”
The Run Across America. The Swim Across the Sound. The Swim Across America. The Connecticut Bike Challenge.
For over 25 years, Jeff Keith has been working to raise money for cancer research and cancer survivors. And you can bet he’s not done yet.
“It’s been pretty fun, this whole ride,” he said. “It’s been pretty special.”
celsberry@ctpost.com; http://Twitter@elsctpost
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