COLUMBIA, S.C. — A woman in Lexington swam for a great cause on Saturday afternoon at the University of South Carolina's Blatt pool.
Kimberly Reen is raising money for blood cancer research with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and, in doing so, is competing against seven other South Carolina Midlands candidates to raise the most amount of money in a Visionary of the Year contest. The winner will be announced at a gala event this upcoming Friday.
Reen said she's swimming for a family friend named Santino Rodriguez, who is fighting leukemia at six years old.
"I am swimming 27 miles because Santino's baseball number is 27," she said. "So, the vision came at the very beginning of this when I decided to run in honor of him and wanted to play around with 27. So, I got the idea to swim 27 miles one mile at a time and wanted the finale to be something pretty big, and it's really bigger than I thought it would be. I can't believe all the support that came out. It's very encouraging."
Ernie Yarborough won the Visionary of the Year Award in 2018.
"There’s not many people around that have not had cancer touch their family or touch their life in some way," Yarborough said. "Everybody knows somebody that’s been touched by cancer. I just lost my father to cancer about a month, month and a half ago, so being involved with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society means a lot to me - to have a chance to give back to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, to raise money for research, and everything else they do to help families, it’s amazing."
Reen explains she has five more days to raise money. To learn more about donating, visit this website.
