“You take on rough waters with the challenge of winning Dragon Boat competitions – it is a brilliant metaphor for your own individual battles and for your many victories over this disease.” Thus did BC’s then Lieutenant-Governor, Her Honour Iona Campagnola, welcome nearly three hundred breast cancer survivors at Government House in 2006. The gala reception and dinner celebrated the tenth anniversary of Victoria’s survivor team, Island Breaststrokers.
Our own Central Vancouver Island team of survivors, Abreast of Life was there to hear Her Honour continue, “This is the site in which British Columbians have been honoured and offered the respect of their peers since 1865 … to celebrate this significant first decade of women who have defied breast cancer to become champion warriors of their own bodies, you have come here .. in a spirit of sisterhood and camaraderie and mutual support that is an important part of your achievement.” She finished with the rousing paddlers’ cry of “Take it away!”
Abreast of Life Team Photo, Victoria 2008
And the Abreast of Life team took her cheer to heart, handily winning the next morning’s 8 AM race in Victoria harbour. But breast cancer survivor Dragon Boating is not all about receptions and fancy dinners … and the tuition is high. Survivor Dragon Boating is about keeping fit and practising, practising, practising … learning to wield those paddles in sync with their drummer’s encouraging beat to get a forty-plus-foot boat with a dragon’s head to the finish line.
Then again, survivor Dragon Boating is not all about competition, either. It’s about love and grief; it’s about joy and support and camaraderie; it’s about fun and the high paddlers get from putting forth their best effort in spite of their bodies’ trauma.
Exuberant Abreast of Life paddlers return greetings under the paddle arch, Nanaimo 2008
It’s all about their motto, LIVE! LAUGH! LOVE! … LIVE IT! And that they do … to the very best of their individual abilities.
Dragon Boating itself is an old, you might even say ancient, sport, but its relevance to breast cancer survivors is relatively new. Eighteen years ago, Dr. Don McKenzie, a specialist in sports medicine at UBC strongly advocated dragon boat paddling as an upper body exercise for post surgical, chemotherapy, and radiation breast cancer survivors.
Such women had been previously advised to avoid all strenuous upper body exercise because of the threat of lymphedema – a painful swelling of the arm or shoulder. Dr. McKenzie’s study and research convinced him otherwise. The first survivor dragon boat team was formed by volunteers under his direction in 1995. Calling themselves Abreast in a Boat, they gave credence to Dr. McKenzie’s beliefs. In 2005, that team celebrated its tenth anniversary with an exclusively breast cancer survivor team festival in Vancouver and invited teams from around the world to compete. There are now over 120 breast cancer survivor teams world wide.
Abreast of Life, the Central Vancouver Island Dragon Boat Society’s local team, took to the waters in 1999 and are working into their fifteenth year. The team is variously made up of survivors from Qualicum Beach to Nanaimo. They practise weekly from spring through fall in Nanoose Bay. In off season months, they keep fit with regular exercise. They fundraise to maintain and repair their boat, and pay travel expenses, and with gala evenings and golf tournaments manage to donate impressive dollars to their community … after last year’s golf tournament, they were able to fund two chemo chairs for NRGH.
This year, Abreast of Life’s golf tournament is scheduled for September 7, 2013.
During the Dragon Boating season, Abreast of Life competes in festivals and regattas on the Island and farther afield, having paddled in Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and Dartmouth, NS when a sister team, Bosom Buddies, celebrated their own team’s tenth anniversary.
Boats raft up for carnation ceremony, Victoria 2008
At every festival, their races close with a rafting together of the breast cancer survivors’ boats, each paddler waving a pink carnation at their flower-waving supporters and spectators on land. When the music fades, the carnations take flight to land in the water – symbols of hope and remembrance for those who fought and are fighting breast cancer.
Abreast of Life will shortly be starting their paddling season this April. Mid-Island breast cancer survivors are encouraged to become part of the team. If you are interested and would like to try out Dragon Boating and meet some courageous and fun-loving cohorts, here are some phone and e-mail contacts: Pat Boychuk – 250 390 7647 or patiboy@hotmail.com ; Brenda Dutton – 250 758 2694 or brendalan@shaw.ca
Breast cancer paddlers are constantly aware of the disease that has been, may be, or is, lurking in their bodies. Their knowledge gives them a special zest for life and the competitions they enter. They train hard, they play hard, and when they lift their paddles at the starting line the world drops away and they focus on moving their boat along with all the skill and power within them. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose by a dragon’s breath, but always, they are working at winning their own and their teammates’ private battles.
But these paddlers know how to maintain a sense of humour, too. Look at some of the names chosen for their teams – admitting, but defying their foe … “Rowbust”, “Wonder Broads”, ” ‘tit Bateau”, “Cape Breastoners”, “Chemo Savvy” .
With race time approaching at a Vancouver festival, the frazzled team marshals, trying to get the teams in order, bellowed , “Hurry – line up here two abreast.” Shouted one of our team’s paddlers, “Now hold on a minute … that may take a little time!”
These women know about their dragons, afloat or within them, but they work at a positive attitude. Said one, “I live for the now … and “now” spelled backwards says WON.”
To join these joyful survivors or to learn more about the team and Dragon Boating, check out the contacts above or via their web site at www.abreastoflifecvi.com/
Nancy Whelan
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