A nice article from John's workplace The Brookhaven National Laboratory

By Emily Ruppel  |  July 11, 2011

Swimming the Extra Mile

About 769-and-a-half laps in Brookhaven Lab’s swimming pool. That’s the equivalent of how far John Gosman swam on June 18 as a participant in NYC SWIM’s 28.5-Mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.

No matter who you are, that’s an impressive feat — but Gosman didn’t participate in the elite marathon just for the fun of it (and all associated bragging rights), he did it for Liam McGuire, a 7-year-old boy who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

“At first, this race was all about getting in and doing the swim — it’s a very long, very competitive process,” said Gosman of the 40-swimmer event. “You have to have a good swim history and qualify in a six-hour swim in water that’s below 60 degrees, which I did last fall in the Sound. Then there’s an essay in which you write about why you want to participate and what it means to you. Most of the participants do it for the swim, not for charity, and when I got accepted I was really honored just to be able to participate.”

Then McGuire was diagnosed with cancer.

“It was just devastating news,” Gosman said. “The whole community around him (Shoreham-Wading River) responded with overwhelming support for him and his family, and that’s when I decided to do this swim

 as a fundraiser.”

This isn’t the first time Gosman has been involved with a charity project for cancer patients. In 2009 and 2010 he swam from Port Jefferson, NY, to Captain’s Cove Marina in Bridgeport, CT, as part of the annual St. Vincent’s SWIM Across the Sound Marathon. The 15-mile event benefits the St. Vincent Medical Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers assistance to the poor and underserved population in need of medical care.

Gosman was happy to donate his time and effort last year and the year before, but this time the fundraising project was a truly personal endeavor.

“Liam is good friends with my six-year-old daughter and they used to play together,” he said. “It was surreal in a way to see this kid go from running around during basketball practice at the elementary school to being diagnosed with cancer and not being able to do the things other kids could do.”

Through donations from friends, family, and colleagues at the Lab, Gosman was able to raise over $1,400 to give financial assistance to the McGuire family.

“That’s $1,400 and counting,” Gosman corrected himself. He’s still collecting donations. “As far as we can tell, Liam is responding to his cancer therapy well,” Gosman said. “But I’ve seen cancer before, and it’s a long, hard road.”

Next year, Gosman hopes to improve upon this year’s swim, which he described as challenging, but not overwhelming.