John Brooks, 66, of Monroe, grew up on the water, whether he was fishing, boating or kayaking. Ten years ago, a close friend talked him into buying a jet ski. The Kawasaki STX-12F is now a big part of Hartford HealthCare’s Swim Across the Sound hosted by St. Vincent’s Medical Center. Brooks offers rides to swimmers finishing the 15.5-mile open water marathon from the Long Island Sound to Captain’s Cove in Bridgeport. The fundraiser helps alleviate the financial burden of cancer treatments for patients with proceeds paying for expenses like mortgages, utilities and car repairs, while providing free screenings.
When swimmers cross the finish line, they go between two buoys and their escort boats cannot follow them. Brooks either tows them to their boat with a rope and a float or they’ll hop onto his jet ski.
“A lot of swimmers are so pumped up, they wave me off and swim to their escort boat,” said Brooks, who estimates he gives rides to dozens of swimmers every year.
A two-time cancer survivor himself, Brooks, is a nonprofit fundraiser and consultant. He has lived in Monroe for 29 years with his wife, Monica, a retired teacher who taught at Chalk Hill Middle and Fawn Hollow Elementary schools. The couple raised their two daughters, Amanda and Shannon, in town and now have two grandchildren.
Though Brooks is physically fit — he and his wife are cyclists and he is not a smoker — he was still diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009.
“I went to the walk-in in Monroe,” he said of Hartford HealthCare’s Urgent Care, which was owned by St. Vincent’s at the time. “I had a really bad cold and wanted to get a prescription strength cough medicine.”
Brooks said it hurt when he coughed and the doctors thought he had pneumonia.
That would have been it, but by a twist of fate one doctor was working on her day off, because someone had called in sick.
“She was very thorough and insisted that I have a chest X-ray,” Brooks recalled. “I had pneumonia, but they also detected a spot on my lung.”
He was sent to the Emergency Room at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, where tests confirmed there was a spot and a subsequent biopsy found it was cancer.
“It was adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer in nonsmokers,” Brooks said.
He said it was a scary time for him and his family, but doctors had caught the Stage 1B lung cancer early, a lobectomy was performed to remove the right upper lobe, and Brooks went on to make a full recovery without radiation or chemotherapy.
Benefits of The Swim
Two years after his recovery, Brooks said he learned about the programs St. Vincent’s Medical Center offers through The Swim.
“They have awesome programs for survivors,” Brooks said. “It doesn’t matter where you are in your cancer fight and it doesn’t matter where you received your treatment. I was fully recovered and they said, ‘you’re a survivor.’ I did yoga there.”
He said he stuck with the yoga program until shortly after it went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It got me together with other cancer survivors,” Brooks said. “We supported each other. We ended up going to each other’s houses for dinner. It was more than just yoga. The camaraderie and the support was extremely beneficial.”
“We are one of the only programs that gives assistance, regardless of where you receive treatment,” said Amy Knorr, director of special events for Hartford HealthCare’s St. Vincent’s Medical Center. “This is our 39th year running the Swim Across the Sound. All the money raised benefits cancer patients. We pay essential living expenses, such as rent, utilities, car payments — we pay for things insurance doesn’t pay for.”
To learn more about the services and programs offered by the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, click here.
“The Swim is our signature event here. Last year, we raised over $790,000 for our patients just with this one event,” Knorr said. “It was definitely bigger than the last year, and bigger than the year before that. Every year, we try to raise more and more, because the more we raise, the more people we can help.”
When this year’s Swim is held on Saturday, Aug. 1, Knorr said it will start at Seaside Park, because Danford’s Marina in Port Jefferson, N.Y., is closed due to ice damage over the winter.
“We’re grateful to the city of Bridgeport for letting us use Seaside Park as the starting point this year,” she said, adding spectators will be able to see the race from offshore at Seaside Park and Jennings Beach.
Offering his jet ski
Over the course of two years, Brooks reached out to organizers of The Swim, offering to volunteer for the annual event with his jet ski, but there wasn’t an opportunity for it at the time.
“The third year I called, they said, ‘we hoped you’d call again, because there is an opportunity for a jet ski,'” Brooks recalled. “I was so happy that they determined there was a need for the jet ski in 2021.”
Since he volunteers at the finish line, when The Swim is held on Aug. 1, Brooks will not have to be there first thing in the morning. “I can go on the officials’ boat to hang out and have my lunch,” he said.
Brooks said he volunteers for about four hours.
“He’s very knowledgeable out on the water and very helpful,” Knorr said of Brooks. “His main job is to greet the swimmers as they cross the finish line and take them back to their boat. Swimmers are exhausted after their long swim and they’re always very happy to see him on his jet ski.”
Brooks volunteered every year, except for 2025.
“I wasn’t able to volunteer last year, because, surprisingly, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer last July,” he said. “I’ve been successfully treated. There’s been no reoccurrence. Again, we caught it early with a routine annual physical. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get an annual physical, which includes all the routine tests.”
Brooks had a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, in which blood is drawn to screen for prostate cancer, as well as a colonoscopy. He encourages people to be tested regularly, and for women to have mammograms.
“I was fortunate both times,” he said of his cancer diagnoses. “My cancer was caught early.”
Help wanted
Knorr said more volunteers are still needed for this year’s Swim. Up to 50 teams are signed up for the event, increasing the need for boaters and people with jet skis and kayaks. Those interested in volunteering should visit swimacrossthesound.org.
“We could not do this event without volunteers,” she said. “This event is driven by volunteers. We have over 250 swimmers, over 125 boaters, law enforcement, fire departments, the Coast Guard, and over 100 land volunteers at Captain’s Cove.”
After missing a year, Brooks said he looks forward to getting back out onto the water again.
“I’m so happy to be able to do it again,” he said. “The swimmers are amazing. I’m glad to be a part of it and assist these amazing athletes, who do this for such a great cause. Because of my journey, I’m so thankful to be able to help others who have gone through what I’ve gone through.”
Brooks said he has a greater appreciation for his professional role as a fundraiser for nonprofits.
“I’ve raised tens-of-millions of dollars over the course of my career and to be on the receiving end is pretty awesome,” he said of the benefits from Hartford HealthCare’s programs. “The Swim raises all this money for programs that are free.”
Of the yoga program he took advantage of, Brooks said, “to get a break from cancer for an hour is just invaluable.”
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