On Aug. 19, the Malvern Prep water polo team will brave the cold waters of San Francisco Bay to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco (a 3-mile round trip) in an annual fundraiser for hydrocephalus research, the 19th annual Alcatraz Swim for Hydrocephalus Research.
Hydrocephalus is a buildup of excess spinal fluid in the brain, and if left untreated can be fatal. It is a neurological condition that afflicts approximately 1 million Americans, for which there is no cure and the only treatments require invasive brain surgery.
The Malvern Prep water polo team joins a group of 80 swimmers that will be led by Malvern resident Peter Finlayson, whose younger sister Kate passed away in 2010 from an infection as a result of one such surgery, after enduring more than 100 of them.
“With the addition of the Malvern Prep water polo team, we’ve doubled the number of swimmers joining us this year, and we have a waitlist,” said Finlayson. “At last year’s swim we had a banner year — one of the highest totals we ever had. We wound up raising $128,375.93, and hope to hit six figures again in 2023.”
For the Malvern Prep water polo team, the swim will kick off its rigorous pre-season training trip to Northern California, which will include outdoor water polo scrimmages against California high school squads.
Malvern Prep water polo coach Jay Schiller said, “This swim presents a tremendous challenge for our team and we wanted to do something as part of Malvern Prep’s mission and focus on Christian service while in California. After overcoming the questions that I’m sure Peter gets all the time – Can this swim be done? No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz, right? Isn’t the water freezing cold? Aren’t there Great Whites swimming in the bay?, we met with Peter as a water polo program and committed to doing the swim.”
Schiller had taken the Malvern Prep swimming and diving teams on several trips to Florida during the winter break, but it had been a long-term goal of his to do a preseason training trip for the Friars’ water polo team in California or overseas. Will Grant, who graduated from Malvern Prep in 2013 and played water polo at Santa Clara University, where he is now the assistant coach, was Schiller’s first contact about the trip.
Meanwhile, Finlayson, who is a former NCAA champion water polo player with Stanford University, called Schiller offering his time and talents as a volunteer assistant coach.
“God smiles on us in many ways,” said Schiller. “When I received a cold call from a former NCAA champion player from Stanford who happened to be living with his family in the Malvern area this year, I knew I had to get to know Peter Finlayson. Our discussion led to Peter introducing me to Team Hydro and the Escape from Alcatraz swim.”
Following the Alcatraz swim, the Malvern Prep team will be practicing or scrimmaging once or twice a day for the rest of the week, staying in the heart of Silicon Valley.
“One of the really cool aspects about California water polo is they play outdoors,” said Schiller. “So we will be practicing and scrimmaging literally in sunny California or under the lights at night, which is not possible with our local indoor facilities.”
Patrick Owen, one of the senior leaders on the Malvern Prep water polo team, said, “It is important to challenge yourself and explore your abilities. I’ve personally never done an open water swim before, so I am excited to take on the challenge at Alcatraz. And, having never played water polo outside, I’m interested on how the natural world will affect the conditions of game. Again, this will give the team a new perspective as to how the game is played and offer a chance to grow.”
Finlayson, who will be a volunteer assistant coach with the Malvern Prep water polo program in the fall, noted that one of the swimmers at Alcatraz last year, 87-year-old Charles Cantoni, will be returning this year to cheer on the 80 swimmers at Alcatraz. One of last year’s swimmers, Kate Damrell, a young adult with hydrocephalus, will be swimming again (along with her parents and brother) and will give a speech at the event as well.
The Aug. 19 Alcatraz-to-San Francisco swim is the banner event for Team Hydro, which is a 100 percent volunteer-run non-profit that Finlayson and his brother Sam (who is finishing his medical residency in Pediatric Genetics in Seattle) founded more than a decade ago.
Team Hydro participates in open water swims to advance the cause of hydrocephalus research, and sponsors swim teams in Georgia and Maryland who perform fundraising swims.
In 2008, Finlayson, his brother Sam and two of their friends started the Alcatraz-to-San Francisco swim as a fundraiser under the Team Hydro banner, raising more than $10,000. Finlayson’s sister Kate had just spent more than a month in ICU, and watched the event from the balcony of a nearby hotel room. This swim has become an annual event for Team Hydro.
“My brother and I are swimmers, and we played water polo in college,” said Finlayson. “We swim to honor Kate’s memory and show support to all those who continue to suffer from the condition; it is our hope that others need not suffer and die as she did.”
Kate Finlayson was born 3 1/2 months premature and suffered a severe brain hemorrhage on her third day of life. The hemorrhage caused her brain to develop hydrocephalus, and she was shunted soon after that. Hydrocephalus shunting involves the implantation of one or more catheters and flow control valve system into the brain to drain the excess accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the brain’s ventricles (or the lumbar subarachnoid space) to another part of the body where it can be absorbed.
“Fifty percent of shunts fail within two years — they can clog, underdrain, overdrain, corrode, or become infected,” said Finlayson.
As an elementary school student, Kate Finlayson developed into a fine swimmer, but at the age of 10 began to suffer debilitating headaches. A trip to the neurosurgeon revealed that her shunt was not working properly, and when the surgeon removed the shunt (which had corroded and failed), Kate suffered another brain hemorrhage. A steady stream of shunt revision surgeries followed.
“My sister began a downward spiral healthwise from her early teens in which she had to undergo more than 100 surgeries,” said Finlayson.
During this period, Kate lost most of her vision, and developed troublesome muscle spasms and tremors.
“After one of her surgeries, Kate got a brain infection and died,” said Finlayson. “She was 26 years old and going to nursing school at Saint Mary’s College in the Bay Area, hoping to become a nurse to help others.”
Since 2008, Team Hydro has raised more than $1 million for hydrocephalus research since 2008 and supported a range of research grants in the United States, Australia, Greece and Canada.
“Creating Team Hydro has been a really satisfying experience,” said Peter Finlayson. “We want to raise enough money for small seed grants for research, so they can collect enough data through preliminary research to trigger additional grants. Although currently 1 million Americans are afflicted with hydrocephalus, it’s not a well-known affliction, and there are not a lot of grants for research.
“We are entirely volunteer-run which allows us to apply 100 percent of funds we receive through our swims directly to research. We select projects designed to uncover novel mechanisms of disease or to design and develop new treatments, while investing in up-and-coming researchers to help them secure large follow-on grants for hydrocephalus research from public and private organizations.”
Team Hydro has funded a dozen research projects on three continents, which together have already identified several new potential therapies and secured a 15x multiplier in follow-up funding from government agencies.
“People can be born with hydrocephalus, or get it after brain cancer or head injuries,” said Finlayson. “There is also a debilitating form of hydrocephalus which develops in adults; if caught early it can be treated with a shunt, but sadly, due to lack of awareness, the condition is often misdiagnosed as dementia and patients are left to suffer. Team Hydro seeks to raise awareness for all forms of hydrocephalus.”
Finlayson moved to Malvern from Danville, Calif. in 2018 — his wife Nina has nearby roots, as she was a standout lacrosse and field hockey player at Radnor High School (as Nina Pantano, a Class of 2001 graduate). She went on to play lacrosse for Stanford University, and that’s where they met. The couple has four sons — the oldest is a fifth grader at Valley Forge Middle School, while two others are in first and fourth grade at Valley Forge Elementary School.
If you’d like to join a Team Hydro swim or support the cause, visit http://donate.teamhydro.org.
