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A long, cold swim for a cause

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 8, 2009 06:47 PM

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Karen Gaffney (center) gets a helping hand coming out of the water at the L Street Bathhouse.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Karen Gaffney, a tiny woman -- 4 feet 9 inches, 95 pounds – who limps and can't use her left leg at all when she swims, nevertheless churned five miles through the frigid, choppy waters of Boston Harbor today.

It was no picnic. But Gaffney did it to prove a point – that people with Down Syndrome have "tremendous capabilities."

"I did this swim to show people what people like me can do," Gaffney, 31, of Portland, Ore., said as she warmed up after the swim at a celebration attended by friends, supporters and advocates at the L Street Bathhouse.

Gaffney began swimming from the lighthouse at Little Brewster Island to the beach at the bathhouse, accompanied by two pace swimmers, a kayak, four other boats, and, at one point, the Coast Guard. The conditions were choppy, with the wind coming out of the west at 15 to 25 knots, said her father, Jim Gaffney, making for a tough swim.

After about 1 1/2 miles, the swimmers were pulled out, partly because the Coast Guard had safety concerns, said Kayley Randall, executive director of the Karen Gaffney Foundation. The swimmers got back in the water at Prospect Cove and swam another 3 1/2 miles to the beach at the bathhouse.

Jim Gaffney said his daughter has had problems with her left hip since she first began to walk as toddler. And she has never been able to run. But that hasn't stopped her from developing the upper body strength of a long-distance swimmer.

"The conditions were really difficult," said Elaine Kornbau Howley, one of the open-water swimmers who paced Karen Gaffney. "She's just a really inspiring person."

The swim was a fundraiser for the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, whose executive director Maureen Gallagher, said, "We want our young people with Down Syndrome to have every opportunity for a full and productive life. And we know they can."

"It was really cold," Gaffney said. "The first maybe half an hour to 45 minutes it started getting really rough and then we kind of switched gears and shortened the route a little bit and made it a little easier."

How did she feel after her feat? "A little stiff, but I'm alive," Gaffney said.