Shaun Chisholm

At 12:04 pm on Saturday 16th August 2008, 40-year-old fire-fighter Shaun Chisholm climbed the ladder at Marilyn Bell Park to complete his successful crossing of Lake Ontario in a time of 19 hours 23 minutes.

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For Shaun, however, this achievement was more than just a challenge of his swimming prowess. Shaun swam regularly with the head of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, and often responded to fire incidents where victims would end-up in the Burn Centre. As a fire-fighter he regularly saw the devastating effects that fire has upon the human body . . . and no more so when the victim happens to be a child.

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Shaun commented that "The suffering and lengthy recovery caused by burns always weighs heavily on fire crews. After being involved in a few fires where children were hurt, Sick Kids hospital was a natural choice for our fund-raising efforts." So Shaun's dream was to raise funds for the Burns Unit of The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He wanted to draw attention to, and to supplement the funding for, research, equipment and facilities for advancements in burn treatment such as tissue-typing prior to skin transplant, synthetic tissues, specialized low-pressure beds, and fluid tanks. 

Shaun has served on the Board of SSO and continues to volunteer as Swim Master often.