Champions for Early Detection
Dabo and Kathleen Swinney’s All In Team Foundation and Self Regional Healthcare’s Fight against Breast Cancer
In 2023, Dabo’s All In Team Foundation’s Board of Directors agreed to make a lead gift of $250,000 to help the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation purchase a new 3-D mobile mammography coach to bring state-of-the-art breast healthcare to the Lakelands Region of South Carolina. The new vehicle is slated to arrive in early 2026 and so far, almost $700,000 in charitable support has been raised toward the purchase of this new vehicle. “We are thrilled to be able to expand our support and commitment to providing affordable and accessible breast healthcare to more regions of our state through this partnership with Self Regional because we know that early detection of breast cancer is critical,” said Kathleen Swinney.
On July 19, 2025, Self Regional Healthcare Medical Oncologists Dr. Joanna Sadurski and Dr. Ruiling Yuan the attended the Dabo & Kathleen Swinney All in Team Foundation Women’s Clinic at the Littlejohn Arena on the campus of Clemson University. “We were thrilled to represent Self Regional Healthcare at the Ladies Clinic,” said Dr. Ruiling Yuan, a Medical Oncologist at Self Regional Healthcare. “As a member of the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Board of Trustees, philanthropic support is vital to the future of Self Regional Healthcare. We are grateful to have the support of the Swinney’s All In Team Foundation,” said Dr. Joanna Metzner-Sadurski, Director of Medical Oncology at the Self Regional Healthcare Cancer Center
When it comes to fighting for a cause, Kathleen Swinney is a pro. She is the wife of Clemson University’s head football coach, Dabo Swinney, but her husband is not the only one in the house who knows how to win big. If raising funds for breast cancer research and spreading breast cancer awareness were a sport, she would have 15 years of national championship trophies. Inspired by her own experiences with breast cancer and her deep belief in the power of proactivity, she works relentlessly with Dabo’s All In Team Foundation to make sure finding improved treatments and a cure for breast cancer stay at the forefront of medical research.
Swinney’s dedication to breast cancer research began with her sister. In 2003, her older sister, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer in her late 30s. She had a double mastectomy and underwent chemotherapy and was eventually declared cancer free. Afterward, through blood and genetic testing, Lisa found out she had the BRCA gene, a genetic mutation that increases an individual’s risk of getting breast cancer by 90%. Lisa spent five years on Tamoxifen, a drug that can treat or significantly lower the risk of breast cancer, and after being declared cancer free, spent a year off the drug before doctors found that if you have the BRCA gene, you should never go off Tamoxifen. Unfortunately, Lisa’s cancer returned to her brain and lungs, and she lived about twenty-two months before passing away at the age of 49.
As a result of Lisa’s experience, Kathleen and her younger sister opted to have genetic testing done and discovered that they, too, were carriers of the BRCA gene mutation. “After seeing my sister go through what she went through, I knew I wanted to have a mastectomy. Otherwise, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering when this cancer was going to come, so it was a no brainer. I had three boys, and I knew I wanted to be there for them. I had several doctors who said they would tell their wives to have the prophylactic double mastectomy as well,” says Swinney.
Helping others is exactly what Swinney is doing through the foundation she and her husband started, Dabo’s All In Team Foundation. By the end of 2024, the Foundation has raised and donated over $2.25 million to breast cancer prevention and research. One of the biggest fundraisers for the foundation is the Dabo Swinney Ladies Clinic, held each July.
“The Clinic is a big celebration and a very fun day. We had our 16th Ladies Clinic this year. One year, right after winning the National Championship, we raised over $400,000 with the clinic. Most years we raise $200,000-$300,000 that one day. Dabo and I are so grateful to be able to help provide Self Regional Healthcare with a new, 3-D mobile mammography bus because we know that this service will provide access to care for thousands of women who are uninsured or underinsured in the Lakelands Region of South Carolina,” says Swinney.
For more information, contact the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation at 864-725-4256.
