A top SA paediatrician based in East London has enticed 12 East London open water swimmers to join him in the frigid Atlantic when he strokes his way from Robben Island 7.5km to Cape Town on March 23.
Dr Barry van Emmenes, 43, a father of four, treats children with cancer at Frere Hospital’s oncology unit, and has a deep working relationship with two homes for cancer kids and their parents in Beacon Bay.
Trained at the famous Red Cross Childrens’ Hospital in Cape Town, he is active in fundraising for the Childhood Cancer Foundation SA (Choc), which supports the two homes which hosts up to 22 children, mostly from rural areas, each with a parent.
“I have always been an avid swimmer with a great love for the ocean,” he said. “Surfing, fishing, spearfishing, scuba-diving ... the Robben Island crossing has been on my bucket list for years. I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity to fulfil this dream, and even more privileged to be doing it in aid of Choc and all our little cancer superheroes.”
Van Emmenes said Choc also employed a full-time social worker based at the Frere Hospital oncology unit to support the medical staff and assist the families. Choc helps pay for transporting the children, runs a mom’s skills programme and an interactive play and skills programme for children in the ward. It also assists in bereavements.
When Van Emmenes mentioned his fundraising effort to an East London group of swimmers, they quickly offered to join him.
The group, Keep on Flippin’ Crawling (KFCs), which is affiliated through the East London Open Water Swimmers to the new Ocean Club at the EL Yacht Club, includes a hairdresser, two guest house operators, a creative, a truck fleet owner, an executive from the Donald Woods Foundation, a leading river researcher, a banker, a builder, the wife of a retired fighter jet pilot and a semi-retired reporter.
The Choc swimmers will all be wearing their distinctive cow-patterned swimwear.
Van Emmenes said: “The herd just got bigger with the addition of the 12 mad East London open water swimming cows. The ‘moomen’ are Greg Harris, Wayne Gallow, Avron Vides, Vic Beltrame, Mark Currin and Mike Loewe. The ‘moomaids’ are Joy Roach, Gail Wild, Marie-Claire Hand, Barbara Bryceland, Vicki Schlimper and Mandy Uys."
He said the daughter of one of the group of swimmers was a childhood-cancer survivor.
For most in the group, this will be their first attempt at the swim.
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