Team Gina Turns Devastating Loss into Action through Swimming

Swim Across America - Long Island Sound is holding its 32nd annual open water swim on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Larchmont, New York, with more than 800 swimmers and volunteers all making waves to fight cancer. One of the top fundraising teams this year is Team Gina, made up of close to 50 family and friends who are swimming in honor of Gina Mannix Wente, who sadly passed away on February 26, 2024, after a brief battle with breast cancer.

Gina was a beloved member of the Larchmont community, having grown up spending her summers at the Larchmont Shore Club swimming. From morning practices in the bright sun or pouring rain, leading the team cheer before dual meets, Counties at Rye Playland, and Conferences at Westchester Country Club. Gina would go on to be an Assistant Coach for the New York Athletic Club. Her swimming career continued at Ursuline, leading her team to seven years of undefeated seasons. She would continue to swim at the College of the Holy Cross setting a record and being named the team’s Rookie of the Year. Gina’s enthusiasm and passion for swimming inspired and influenced her many teammates and the children she coached over the years.

“Gina and her siblings participated in Swim Across America for many years together swimming in memory of their grandfathers, Charles Roeckell and Richard E. Mannix Sr., and uncle James Lynch,” noted Gina’s mom Mary Mannix. “It seemed very fitting to continue this tradition in honor and memory of Gina and her legacy, as she lost her brief, but hard fought battle to breast cancer on February 26, 2024.”

Gina graduated with a degree in economics and accounting from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, then joined GE Capital in 2013, where she met her husband Dave. Gina and Dave moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2017, and then to Chicago in 2019, for Gina’s work with Ferrara Candy Company, a role she enjoyed dearly. Gina and Dave were married in 2021, and welcomed their daughter McKenzie in 2022. In 2023, they moved their family to Greenville, South Carolina. Pregnant with their second child, Gina received the surprise diagnosis of breast cancer in January 2024. As a result of complications from the cancer, her son David Charles was delivered prematurely at 29 weeks on February 1, 2024. Gina relentlessly fought the disease and complications, but lost her battle February 26, 2024.

“The love and outpouring of the community for Gina has been amazing,” noted Mary. “Knowing that her love of swimming could be combined with raising funds for crucial cancer research provides us with a little solace in our sorrow. We are beyond grateful that the community has rallied around us, embracing us, and donating to our cause and support of Swim Across America. We just crossed the $100,000 threshold for fundraising for the swim. I’m hopeful that these funds will help other families not have to go through the loss we have gone through.”
Swim Across America - Long Island Sound held its first swim in 1992. Since that time, the swim has raised more than $25 million for its local beneficiaries, which have grown to include Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Cancer Center, Cancer Support Team and Weill Cornell Medical Center. Through the funds raised at the annual swim, a network of doctors, researchers and caregivers continue to make breakthroughs in treating this deadly disease.

Swim Across America is a national nonprofit organization and offers open water and pool swims in 24 communities, from Boston to under the Golden Gate Bridge, to raise funds for cancer research. While its events are across America, its roots are firmly anchored along the shores of Long Island Sound. Nationally, Swim Across America has raised more than $100 million in the fight against cancer. More than 150 Olympians support Swim Across America.

Swim Across America’s funding of clinical trials on a national level - and specifically with the funds raised by the Long Island Sound swim - has helped contribute to four FDA approved life-saving immunotherapy cancer treatments: Yervoy, Opdivo, Tecentriq and Keytruda. Recently, the very exciting news about a clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was published in The New England Journal of Medicine that showed a 100 percent success rate in treating patients in a phase 2 clinical trial for advanced rectal cancer with dostarlimab, an immunotherapy treatment. The clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering was funded by early-stage grant funding from Swim Across America - Long Island Sound.

To learn more about Swim Across America - Long Island Sound or to register to swim, volunteer or donate, visit swimacrossamerica.org/longislandsound. For those who would like to support Team Gina or any of the other swimmers at the June 27 Swim Across America - Long Island Sound open water event, or the eight pool swims this summer, donations can be made at swimacrossamerica.org/longislandsound.