This Saturday, Zane Hodge will be on a pontoon boat at Lake Chicot in Arkansas rather than doing what he loves most — swimming in open water to raise awareness of diabetes.
The Greenwood resident, who teaches English at Mississippi Delta Community College, has staged a marathon open water swim for the past seven years, increasing his distance with each passing year. But this year, due to a shoulder injury, he has called on friends to do the swimming for him.
Hodge lost his mother to complications of diabetes last September. He said raising awareness of the disease and raising funds for the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi are causes he is passionate about. Long ago, he decided to make the Lake Chicot swim, dubbed the Chicot Challenge, a fundraiser for the cause.
“We’ve got more diabetes here in the Mississippi Delta than anywhere else in the country,” he said. “And people who don’t have it need to know it’s out there. It’s stalking them. It’s a serious health issue and a gateway disease.
“We all need to take care of our health to prevent diabetes.”
Hodge hitched his wagon to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi a few years back when he realized the pertinent work they do for Mississippians with diabetes.
Funds raised by the Chicot Challenge go to Camp Kando, a summer camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes, designed to help them and their families learn how to manage and live with the disease.
The foundation provides emergency medical assistance for people with diabetes and helps equip them with meters, strips, insulin and other tools they might need.
The swimming challenge will take place on Saturday at Lake Chicot, just over the Mississippi River bridge at Greenville, the largest oxbow lake in North America at 21 miles long.
“It’s a good place to swim. Pretty water and a big lake,” Hodge said.
Three friends have formed a relay team that will swim 12 miles, starting at 8 a.m. and finishing some six to eight hours later, depending upon conditions and their pace.
Wilson Carroll, a Greenwood native now living in Jackson, will swim; his son, Spencer, will follow; and M.J. Staples of the Marathon Swimmer Federation has volunteered to fill the third spot.
“M.J. came last year to observe,” Hodge said. “This year, when she heard I couldn’t swim, she offered support and said she’d come.”
Hodge, who swam 23.5 miles in 16 hours last year, said he first started doing open water swimming as a way to keep in shape.
“Part of the reason I’ve done this is trying to keep myself from becoming diabetic,” he said. It runs in his family, a risk factor that can be heightened by age, diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
Type 2, the form of diabetes people develop later in life, often because of lifestyle choices, is preventable, according to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi.
“That means we’re not doing some things right,” Hodge said. “And if you don’t take care of it, once you start experiencing bad issues it’s too late. It chips away at your health a little at a time.”
Hodge is just now getting back into the pool, barely able to swim a length after injuring himself lifting concrete blocks last year, but he’s determined at age 62 to get back in shape.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, he’ll run support for his friends as they traverse Lake Chicot, one stroke at a time.
Updates on the challenge can be found at Hodge’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/zane.hodge.5, where you can also link to Hodge’s blog, endangeredswimmer.blogspot.
com.
Donations can be made online at www.crowdrise.com/chicotchallenge, or by check to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, c/o Zane Hodge, 333 W. Monroe St., Greenwood, MS 38930.
Donations may also be sent directly to the foundation at 800 Avery Blvd., Suite 100, Ridgeland, MS 39157.
Hodge asked that donors writing checks be sure to write “Chicot Challenge”on the memo line.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
