Bone-marrow transplant kept her from the ocean for nine years … until Masters Swim
‘It was a completely transformative experience and it just felt like I was home.’ – Dana Eiselen on being back in the ocean again.
OCEAN CITY — Dana Eiselen didn’t enter Sunday’s T. John Carey Masters Swim with any intention of winning, but after her life was interrupted by a life-threatening illness requiring a bone marrow transplant nine years ago, just getting into the ocean was a victory.
Eiselen grew up in the resort and swam for the C-Cerpants youth team and competed in distance and butterfly events for the Ocean City High School Red Raiders. She had done the bay swim in Somers Point off JFK Park in the past, but never the mile-long Masters Swim in Ocean City.
She moved back to the resort this past January. Before that she worked in Pennsylvania for 15 years after graduating college.
Nine years ago in June, Eiselen had a bone marrow transplant to help her survive a devastating illness, but since then wasn’t allowed to be on the beach or in the ocean.
“My doctors were afraid I’d get cut by a shell, get an infection,” she said while standing on the 12th Street beach Sunday afternoon before the Masters Swim began. “This year, I just really knew in my heart I wanted to be back in the water. I’ve been training for the last six months and about two weeks ago was the first time I was back in the ocean in over nine years.
“It was a completely transformative experience and it just felt like I was home,” she said.
“It was really challenging. It’s only been about three years since I’ve been allowed in a pool again. Growing up in Ocean City, the ocean was a huge part of my life, whether it was junior lifeguards or just going out for a swim,” she said. “It was really hard not to be out there.”
Eiselen credits Kim McKay, a former Ocean City Beach Patrol lifeguard and competitor now guarding at the Ocean City Community Center.
“She saw me swimming and said, ‘You should do the Masters Swim.’ Kim was really the one who talked me into it.”
Eiselen was in the pool four times a week, trying to balance the swimming with her remote work and everything else. After the months in the pool, she started testing the ocean waters only two weeks ago, looking for landmarks including the 14th Street Fishing Pier and the Port-O-Call Hotel in the route from 12th Street to 20th Street.
Eiselen was among more than 220 swimmers who finished the course under sunny skies. Families and friends were at the finish line cheering on the finishers. Eiselen’s family was among them.
Big sister Allison Southard came to the water’s edge, screaming for her and recording her finish on her phone as Eiselen came out of the water and raised a fist triumphantly.
“My family has been with me every step of the way,” she said. “I’m just really grateful to be here, to be alive and to be able to swim today.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff