Georgia Magazine - May 2023 - 38

Hometown HEROES
By Amber Lanier Nagle
Vicki Bunke: swimming to beat cancer
Y
ou would never know it today,
but Vicki Bunke, 54, hasn't
always been a skilled swimmer.
Prior to 2018, she could barely tread
water and stay afloat, and because she
has a touch of claustrophobia, she's
always found it difficult to submerge her
face into the water.
" My daughter, Grace, was the true
swimmer in our family, " explains
Bunke, a clinical psychologist who lives
in Marietta.
In 2014, doctors diagnosed Bunke's
athletic 11-year-old daughter with
osteosarcoma (a rare bone cancer) that
had caused a large tumor to form in her
left femur and had metastasized to her
lungs. She endured 18 rounds of
chemotherapy and several surgeries,
including a partial leg amputation.
" She had always been a soccer
player and runner, up to that point, "
Bunke says. " I like to say that she traded
in a running leg for flippers and fins
in 2015, when her cancer was in
remission, and she started swimming. "
Grace was frustrated to
learn three facts: Cancer is the
leading cause of illness-related
death for children; pediatric
cancer research is consistently
underfunded; and there have
been no advancements in the
treatment of osteosarcoma in
four decades.
Bunke's determined daughter decided to take action. She
Join Vicki Bunke in fi ghting childhood cancers.
Swim Across America-Atlanta funds cancer
research, clinical trials and patient programs by
hosting charity swims, but you don't have to be
a swimmer to help. You can volunteer at an
upcoming event or donate at bit.ly/swimvbunke.
Vicki Bunke swims and volunteers with Swim
Across America-Atlanta to honor the life of
her daughter, Grace, and raise money for
pediatric cancer research.
raised money for pediatric cancer research through Swim
Across America (SAA)-Atlanta. SAA is a national nonprofit that
hosts charity swims throughout the country to raise money for
cancer research. Each SAA event is connected to a local
beneficiary. The SAA-Atlanta event occurs at Lake Lanier, and
money raised goes directly to grants that fund a team of
investigators and their research projects at the Aflac Cancer and
Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
" In 2017, after she relapsed, Grace raised $20,000 to fight
cancers like hers, " Bunke says. " She died on March 25, 2018-a
day before her 15th birthday-but she still helped raise over
$120,000 that year. "
A few weeks before her death, Grace asked her mother and
oncologist Karen Wasilewski-Masker to swim in her place when
38 Georgia Magazine May 2023
she no longer could participate.
" I did it for Grace, " Vicki Bunke says. " I trained with the
same coach-Pat Eddy-in the same lane in the same pool
[where] Grace trained. In 2021, I swam in 14 Swim Across
America open-water events-one event for each year of
Grace's life. "
She dubbed this endeavor the " Amazing Grace Swim Across
America Tour, " and it raised $180,000. Today, 16 SAA swims after
she first dove into the water, Bunke continues to swim and
fund-raise to find groundbreaking cures and treatments for rare
pediatric cancers.
" I swim to honor Grace, and I swim because she can't anymore, "
Bunke says. " Grace had a saying: Hope has no finish line.
I'll continue to swim and volunteer to bring hope to others. "
Amber Lanier Nagle is a freelance writer living in Adairsville.
CARRIE PRUITT
http://bit.ly/swimvbunke
Georgia Magazine - May 2023

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