Ohio University alum braves the waves for ALS research
September 2, 2008
Ohio University alumnus Dave Galli swam the Catalina Channel Aug. 21 to raise money and awareness for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig ‘s disease. He had help from a number of friends from OU, in addition to other volunteers.
According to his Web site, www.swimthechannel.com, Galli, a 2006 OU graduate, “battled dehydration, flirted with hypothermia and overcame exhaustion to cross 21 miles from Catalina Island to Point Vicente, Calif.”
Galli currently works as an exercise physiologist with FORMA, an outpatient clinic in Southern California. As of late August, he had secured $5,000 in sponsorships for his charity swim and was still collecting donations (see the Web site).
“The past several years I’ve realized how precise life really is. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself, to show others that living is the greatest gift,” Galli said in an interview earlier this summer.
The swim, which was the equivalent of approximately 26 miles depending on current and water conditions, went through open water that averages 60-65 degrees during the late summer months, with waves reaching 8 feet in height.
Josh Long, a certified and licensed athletic trainer who is pursuing a master’s degree in athletic training at OU, helped with the swim. He explained Friday that the rules of the channel swim dictate that you cannot receive any physical support from anyone, on a boat or in the water. The swimmer can’t wear a thermal or heat-retaining suit either, he said.
According to OU student Melissa Lustic, another friend of Galli who helped with the cross-channel swim, before he started from Catalina Island, she applied lanolin to any area on Galli that might chafe in the 10-plus hours of salt water swimming. Meanwhile, Scott Alexander and Brian Defrancesco (Galli’s roommates) prepared the kayaks they would paddle in to escort their friend.
Lustic, as Galli’s nutritionist, prepared a mix of Perpetuum (a energy powder) in water bottles, which were handed to the kayakers; every 30 minutes Galli would drink approximately 8 ounces of the mix as his fuel. Every six hours, he was to consume an energy gel as well. At 2 a.m., Jim Fitzpatrick swam with Galli; he is a coach as well as a successful Catalina and English Channel crosser multiple times.
Galli’s brother Matt swam with him for about half an hour. Most of the crew either slept or kept watch on the kayakers and Galli through the early morning hours, drinking coffee and watching off the starboard side of the boat. Lustic said she continually prepared coffee and sandwiches for Galli’s roommates, as the air temp dipped into the mid 50s and the water of the Pacific was near 65 (F).
Around 6 a.m., as the morning turned light, Lustic said, the crew noticed Galli wasn’t consuming his fuel and was becoming incoherent. It came to the point that the coaches and Channel officials gave Dave 10 more minutes of swimming, when they would ask him a question and if he couldn’t answer it, he would be deemed too hypothermic to continue and the swim would cease.
Lustic said she changed his fuel from the original mix to warm water and honey, with less Perpetuum, in the hopes that the warm beverage plus instant sugar source would buoy him. “Once the feed time arrived, the entire boat (now awake and on deck) screamed, cheered, jumped and generally yelled at Dave to drink, to answer, to continue, to keep it up,” Lustic recalled. “The energy from us was astounding. Dave’s coach Ahelee got into the water to swim with him and keep him going, and we fed him every 20 minutes.”
Around 7 a.m., she said, Galli drank the entire fuel bottle, slammed it into the water, and gave the crew a two-finger salute. “The entire boat went wild; we knew Dave was back in the game,” she said.
Yet he swim, according to Galli, was nothing compared to the fight ALS patients endure on a daily basis.
“ I see patients who are struggling with physical ailments and illnesses that threaten their quality of life on a daily basis,” Galli said in the interview before the swim. “I am inspired not only to challenge myself to my personal physical limits, but also to use those challenges as a way to speak for those who cannot.”
According to Galli, one of the reasons he chose ALS as the beneficiary of the donations is because the disease scares him even more than the channel.
Even as a competitive swimmer, Galli grew up with a reverence for the strength of the ocean.
“This event is the sum of my fears,” Galli said before the swim. “Starting at midnight and swimming in the darkness, an environment dominated by large sharks and other aquatic animals and covering a distance some have trouble running.”
“Basically, you have none of your senses while ocean swimming,” Galli added. “You see nothing, hear nothing, and taste only salt water”
Galli grew up outside of Cleveland in Bay Village. He was a four-year letter winner on Bay High School’s swimming team, where he was an all-conference honoree.
While studying exercise physiology and nutrition at OU, Galli was a member of the men’s club water polo team.
The former high school and college athlete has found new ways to push himself after graduation, competing in both marathons and triathlons over the past two years.
“I’m blessed to have the physical abilities that I do,” said Galli. “The work I do makes me realize how fragile that blessing can be.”
Lustic, recalling that moment in mid-August, acknowledged that the whole day “was emotionally and physically exhausting, and we all worked together to help Dave accomplish this feat, which he has been working towards for two years.
“I cannot think of a more inspiring person to try and emulate; he raised so much money for ALS research, and the 40 people who came out to California to help him in what small way they could left with such admiration for his amazing accomplishment,” Lustic said.
Fellow OU student Josh Long agreed. “Throughout the swim, I knew Dave would succeed,” he said. “Even when he was in trouble, you just didn’t think he would need pulled out, that he would pull through. I questioned that faith upon his decree of ‘I’m done, pull me out,’ but he showed his grit and determination to persevere.
AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS is a progressive neuromuscular disease that weakens and destroys motor neurons, eventually compromising movements such as walking, talking, blinking and swallowing, which are usually classified as “voluntary movements”
Public awareness of the disease was heightened in 1939 when former Yankee Lou Gehrig, known as baseball’s “Ironman” for his streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, missed game 2,131 after being diagnosed with the disease.
No stranger to the agony of endurance competition, Galli knows that his fight is nothing compared to those who have been diagnosed with ALS.
“ALS is a disease that many people have heard of, but remains a disease which is very difficult to treat and impossible to prevent,” Galli said. “Until there is a cure, we need to do all we can to support those who are living with the disease and the medical professionals who are fighting to find the answer.”
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