Gabriel's Life

Five members of the Stanford Varsity Water Polo Team and a Stanford University staff member joined Pete and Sam Finlayson for the 16th Annual Sharkfest last week. Sharkfest is an annual 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to Aquatic Park. The Finlaysons named their group “Team Hydro” to raise awareness of and money for Hydrocephalus research. The duo’s sister, Kate, 23, was diagnosed with the condition shortly after birth.

“We set up a booth and raised some money and talked to a lot of people about Hydrocephalus,” says Pete Finlayson. “While it’s never easy to have a life-threatening illness, having one that many people have never heard of doesn’t make things easier - socially, because people have never heard of it and don’t understand, but also medically, because there is less money for research and finding new treatments or cures.”

Proceeds from Team Hydro’s participation will go to The Hydrocephalus Association, a San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to support, education and advocacy for people living with Hydrocephalus.

“In addition to raising funds, we were happy to just be raising awareness about Hydrocephalus, because millions of people in this country are living with this life-threatening disease for which there currently is no cure,” says Finlayson. “It was amazing how many people came up to us at the swim and asked what Hydrocephalus was, so we think we did a good thing, just getting the word out.”

In addition to raising awareness of Hydrocephalus, Team Hyrdo took numerous top honors in the race:
1st Place: Wetsuit 20-24 yrs
1st Place: Non-Wetsuit 20-24 yrs
1st Place: Non-Wetsuit 15-19 yrs
2nd Place Non-Wetsuit 25-29 yrs

Team Hydro plans to make participation in Sharkfest an annual event.