Friday, September 03, 1999
Swimmer heads 100 miles down the Ohio to help orphans
BY TOM McCANN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Valerie Deerwester waited for the fog to lift over a calm Ohio River on Thursday before she dove in near Portsmouth around 9 a.m.
Her muscles ached from the start. And that was with 99.99 miles to go.
“Somehow I found the strength,” she said. “After all, I can't let the orphans down.”
|
A 4-DAY COURSE
|
|
• Valerie Deerwester began her 100-mile swim 9 a.m. Thursday in Portsmouth. She intends to swim 25 miles a day for four days. She expects to cross under the Interstate 471 bridge at 6 p.m. Sunday, in time for Riverfest.
|
For a year, the Milford woman told her husband, David, that she was going to swim 100 miles downriver to raise money for the 40 children at St. Aloy sius Orphanage in Bond Hill. She wants to send as many as she can to Disney World.
“But I never thought she was serious,” Mr. Deerwester said. “I just thought it was another one of her silly dreams. But she just decided to do it, and you couldn't stop her.”
Mrs. Deerwester, 39, a paramedic at Bethesda Hospital, has always felt a duty to the orphanage, where she lived from age 1 to 5 and which helped her find a home with a loving Deer Park family.
“St. Aloysius helped me through the hardest part of my life, and I've always felt guilty for not paying them back.”
By evening she reached her first-day goal of Manchester, a distance of 25 miles. Her husband rode alongside in a bor rowed cabin cruiser. She spoke to The Enquirer from Yates Landing Campground and Marina in Manchester on Thursday after waking from a five-hour nap on the boat, docked beside Ohio Brush Creek.
Although Mrs. Deerwester was a member of the Cincinnati Pepsi Marlins swim team for 10 years, Thursday marked her first time swimming a river.
“I'm in a different element here,” she said after six hours of swimming. “The waters whip me around, and I can't see at all in the water. By the end, I was weak and shaky. But I feel good. I know God's with me on this one.”
For months she has been swimming countless laps, lifting
weights and preparing her body for the venture. The couple's children, Aaron, 18, and Rebecca, 3, couldn't accompany her on the trip.
Months ago, she put herself on a high-carbohydrate diet to build stamina. While she swims, she eats dozens of power bars, raw potatoes and a concoction David cooks up called “Scottish eggs.”
“It's a hard-boiled egg wrapped in pork sausage and corn flakes fried up all around it. It's power food,” Mrs. Deerwester said. “The final touch is supposed to be a bit of Scotch, but I don't want to swim drunk.”
She plans to rest at Ripley today and New Richmond on Saturday. She expects to cross under the Interstate 471 bridge at 6 p.m. Sunday, before Riverfest begins. She hopes to be escorted to the finish line by a convoy.
“I have no doubt she can do it physically, but I'm afraid for her safety,” Mr. Deerwester said with a laugh. “She's going to get plowed over by one of those thousands of boats when we come in.”
So far, she has raised $300 in pledges from friends and family.
“Maybe I should have put more thought into the fund-raising, but I just threw myself into this,” she said. “And I don't have any goal. Whatever I raise, it will make me feel like I've given back.”
Donations to support St. Aloysius Orphanage should be sent to Key Bank, 301 Main St., Milford, under an account named “Miles for Kid Kind.”
City very 'politically incorrect'
Sheriff defends legal work
Leis withdraws suit that fueled controversy
City's development director leaving
Officers' taped statements about shooting released
Art Museum should 'reach out'
Swimmer heads 100 miles down the Ohio to help orphans
Clermont slaying a mystery
DeWine gives endorsement to McCain
DOE tests new ways to ship soil
FOP spreads out backing for council
Home rule sounds good to officials in Anderson
Legion's souvenir bomb still fused
p8 Smog alert issued for today and Saturday
Clooney moves to WSAI
Sorry, kids: 'NSync is an 'NSipid rip-off
Darts get the story
Dryness' effect on leaf colors still up in the air
GET TO IT
14-year-old arrested in beating death
Accused robber agrees to cooperate
Cable project likely at its end
Columbus looks into police officers' sex with prostitutes
County proposes sharing airport costs
Ex-administrator seeks to join board that fired her
Family barn canvas for logo
Five state reps oppose area code change
Franklin Jr. High getting new boss
Grenades found along Ohio River bank
Man gets prison for benefits theft
Mason, Deerfield in court yet again
Police seek five suspects in jewelry store robbery
Schools told to protect records
St. Antoninus rebuilds school
Thriftway store may take over school site
TRISTATE DIGEST
Willie Nelson draws for Ky. candidate
Woman sues over bond going to child support
