Ten swimmers with Usher syndrome to cross Alcatraz for research funding

On Oct. 17, 10 people living with Usher syndrome will swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco’s Aquatic Park to raise money for research into treatments for the rare genetic disease. The event will support the Usher Syndrome Society and its PUSH research initiative, which is working to accelerate potential therapies at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Why it matters: - Usher syndrome causes progressive deafness and blindness, so treatments could change the trajectory for people facing loss of both hearing and vision. - The swim is designed to raise funds for research that could speed potential therapies across multiple forms of the disease. - The event also puts public attention on a disorder that remains the leading genetic cause of combined deafness and blindness.

What happened: - On Oct. 17, 10 people living with Usher syndrome will swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park in San Francisco. - The event, called USH X Swim Alcatraz, will raise awareness and funds for the Usher Syndrome Society. - The swim will support the Pipeline for Usher Syndrome Research, or PUSH, a research initiative launched at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. - Swimmers will leave from Alcatraz and finish at Aquatic Park Beach/Bleachers, 700-898 Beach Street, San Francisco.

The details: - Many swimmers will remove hearing devices before entering the water and will swim with limited vision, with some having no functional hearing. - Each swimmer will have a support swimmer guiding them toward shore. - Bay Area native Rebecca Alexander, an author, psychotherapist, disability advocate and extreme athlete, is among the swimmers. - Alexander crossed Alcatraz more than a decade ago and will swim it again this October with significantly less vision and no functional hearing without cochlear implants. - A feature documentary that has been in production for six years will end with Alexander’s crossing. - The documentary follows Alexander’s progressive hearing and vision loss and the Usher Syndrome Society’s push to find treatments. - Nancy Corderman founded the Usher Syndrome Society after two of her four children were diagnosed with Usher syndrome in their late teens. - Corderman and her husband were told there was nothing they could do and that both children would eventually lose sight and hearing. - The Usher Syndrome Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds research directly to find treatments. - Dr. Jeffrey Holt of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School helped shape the broader PUSH effort. - PUSH is collaborating with scientists around the world and is advancing multiple targets through platform and gene-specific therapeutic approaches. - The team is expanding to include a vision lab. - The event page includes donation information and more details at the full event page. - Event schedule details list swimmer check-in at 6:15 a.m., boarding boats at 7:15 a.m., a jump-in time of 8:00 a.m. and a return to shore between 8:40 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.

Between the lines: - The swim combines a physical challenge with advocacy, using the Alcatraz crossing to spotlight a disease that can isolate patients as hearing and vision decline. - The focus on PUSH suggests the Usher Syndrome Society is trying to move beyond awareness and into a broader research pipeline that could work across several disease subtypes. - The event framing — "Every Second Counts" — underscores the urgency around funding and the push to keep research moving.

What's next: - Swimmers, families and Usher Syndrome Society leaders will be available for interviews at Aquatic Park after the swim. - Dr. Jeffrey Holt will be available for remote interviews. - Donations from the event are intended to help sustain research momentum toward potential treatments.