Doug McConnell is back in the water to raise money for ALS research. Last year it was the English Channel. On the morning he landed in France, a breakthrough article on ALS was published in Nature. He tells the story on his blog, A Long Swim. My blog post includes links to the article and more background.
This year it’s Catalina Island (off the coast south of Los Angeles) to the west coast. It’s about 21 miles as the crow flies, but it’s not so direct for a swimmer subject to currents and waves. Donations to the Les Turner ALS foundation are easy to make from A Long Swim. The swim can be tracked here – Doug has been in the water about three hours; the journey started in the darkness at about 10 pm.
Susan McConnell, a photographer and Doug’s wife, tells and shows the human side of the story on My Bionic Boyfriend.