On August 14, Chris Dobbin will wade into the chilly water of the Northumberland Strait for the second time in a year and swim from New Brunswick to P.E.I. to raise money for children with chronic diseases.

The gruelling 14-kilometre swim -- dubbed The Big Swim -- has a special resonance for Dobbin, the president of Precipice Capital in Dartmouth, as it was only 16 months ago that he lost his five-year-old son Jack to a terminal illness.

In the initial swim – shown in this video – Dobbin, Todd McDonald and Peter McCormick raised $50,000, including donations to the Jack in the Clouds Foundation, which the family established after the child passed away. Dobbin hopes that this year’s event, in which nine swimmers will participate, will raise at least $50,000 for Brigadoon Village, which provides year-round programming and camps for chronically ill children. They already have pledges of about $20,000.

He and his fellow swimmers are already training three to four times a week. Dobbin says he is farther ahead than he was at this point last year, when the training became an element in coping with his tragedy.

“The training was actually quite helpful in dealing with everything my family has gone through,” said Dobbin, sitting in the boardroom at Precipice’s new office. “My wife and I found that exercise really helps with everything.”

Needless to say, this article is a departure from the customary Entrevestor subject matter. But it finds a place on our site largely because of the success of Precipice Capital. Dobbin and Vice-President Jillian Murray have worked on some notable fundraisings since Precipice opened its doors in early 2010. The company helped Halifax data organization company 2^nd Act Innovations to raise $1.1 million, Mabou, Cape Breton-based Halifax Biomedical to raise $3 million, and BlueLight Analytics, a Halifax dental device company, with a fundraising.

Precipice has also worked on commercial real estate finance, and its M&A work included the sale of Secunda Marine Services to Birch Hill Equity Partners, which earned the firm the 2012 Exempt Market Deal of the Year in the Private Equity category.

The deals are impressive, but you really get a measure of Dobbin’s grit when you hear him speak of swimming to P.E.I. He is not boastful, and he frequently pauses when telling the story to choose the right words, obviously balancing his own modesty with the need to get the message out about the fundraising effort.

He prepared for the 2011 swim by training with former Olympian Gary MacDonald, who helped the team master the technique needed for about five hours of front crawl. Dobbin was physically ready for the swim, but he made one huge mistake – a massive breakfast, featuring two plates of lasagne.

As a result, he felt queasy almost immediately and began throwing up at the 90-minute mark. He now believes he was reacting to a combination of too big a breakfast and motion sickness. Soon he was throwing up every few minutes, all the time falling further and further behind his colleagues.

But he kept going.

“When we were swimming, I kept thinking we are raising money for kids who have challenges that we can only imagine,” he said. “I knew that as soon as I am out of this water, my sickness is done. I remembered those kids. That was my thought process.”

Despite throwing up more than 50 times, he kept going for those children who had to endure their afflictions. It took six-and-a half hours, but he completed the course.

Dobbin, with the support of his wife Jill and three children, will enter the water again in about three weeks. He believes he can overcome the sickness this time through a series of precautions, and with a laugh he said he’ll eat a lighter breakfast.  

A Note to Our Readers: It’s impossible not to be moved by the Dobbin family’s story, so we have made donation to Brigadoon Village in support of Chris’ swim. We hope our readers will also show their support for a member of the entrepreneurial community and make a similar pledge. Once again, the donation forms are available here.