Episode 34: Just Keep Swimming with Susan Helmrich

Susan Helmrich is a DES daughter. She was exposed to diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic hormone prescribed to her mother and many other pregnant women between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriage. DES daughters are 40 percent more likely to develop several specific cancers. The first female swimmer to earn a scholarship at Syracuse University, Susan was first diagnosed with cancer at the age of 21, and endured a 10-and-a-half-hour surgery to remove her entire reproductive system. Since then she’s survived lung cancer, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, eight major operations and the loss of many organs.

She’s also become one of the top masters swimmers in her age group and raised over a million dollars for cancer research through Swim Across America. In this episode of FOY, Susan tells Marc how through it all swimming helped her recapture her life and keep moving forward.

READ about Team Susan Survives, Susan’s cancer research fundraiser through Swim Across America

For great stories about masters athletes from Growing Bolder & the NSGA, visit growingbolder.com/nsga

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