In the Deep End

Liz Potasek

Editor

Eden Prairie's Bob Garnaas will swim 2.1 miles in Lake Superior to raise money for his niece.

Last week I got an email from Eden Prairie's Bob Garnaas that broke my heart a little bit, and I wanted to share it with you – this is definitely one of those "it takes a village" moments:

"On July 4th of this year my 28-year-old niece, Kelsey Peterson, dove off a boat just off of Madeline Island, Wisconsin in shallow water and suffered severe spinal cord injury – or, a broken neck in layman's terms," Garnaas wrote. "She was rescued by people that were in the boat with her and is in the hospital in Duluth. I’ll spare you the rest of the details except to say that she has no feeling or movement below her chest, and has slowly improving gross motor skills with her hands and arms. She is technically categorized as a Tetraplegic (Quadraplegic). Her spirit is incredible, but she faces an uncertain long-term future at best, and for the next 3 months, intense rehab with all its tiny steps forward, tears and incredible frustrations."

Peterson has no health insurance, and Garnaas, 60, wanted to find a way to help her, so he's swimming 2.1 miles in Lake Superior (from Bayfield, Wisc. to Madeleine Island) this Saturday (August 4) and raising money for Peterson's health care fund. "My goal is to raise a million dollars," he wrote in his email. "However I’m told that’s a tad optimistic, so I'm going to try to get to $10,000 first."

According to his fundraising page for the Point to LaPoint Swim, Garnaas has already surpassed his $10,000 goal, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to get him a little closer to $1 million.

Gaarnas, who has been a resident of Eden Prairie for about 23 years, has only completed two open-water swims before, and both were in Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. He swims 2-3 times a week with the Edina Masters through the Edina Swim Club.

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