My partner Karen is a breast cancer survivor. I wasn’t with her in December 1999 when she first received her diagnosis or when she triumphed over surgery and radiation. But her strength and tenacity has endured long into our relationship and we are both better people for it. She lives daily with the risk of reoccurrence yet she never lets this get the better of her. She was forced into a fight for her life and she won. But her journey did not end there. She decided to join a team of fighters just like herself.
First a little history. In the fall of 1995, a research project was being conducted by Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine physician and exercise physiologist at the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.. Dr. McKenzie was studying to test the myth that repetitive upper-body exercise in women treated for breast cancer encourages lymphedema. Lymphedema is a permanent, irreversible swelling of the arm and chest area that can develop any time after lymph node surgery and radiation treatment. Dragon Boating was chosen as the venue for several reasons: it’s strenuous, it’s repetitive and it requires upper body exercise. And it was very successful.
In February 1996, in Vancouver, BC, the first team was formed calling themselves “Abreast In a Boat.” Since that time, more than 100 breast cancer dragon boat teams have been formed all over the globe and the numbers continue to rise.
In the fall of 2000, Karen joined “Knot a Breast“, a breast cancer dragon boat team in our hometown and has since had the honour of being promoted to team captain. Nicknamed the “floating support group”, it is an eclectic group of woman representing many different generations who have come together with a common bond and a common goal: support each other through all phases of recovery, keep fit and have fun. Mind you, not all of their stories have a happy ending and they have lost many members over the years due to the disease. But, being an observer at many team practices and races, the spirit and atmosphere among these incredible woman is one of a unified defiance towards the disease that tried to take them down. And they do it with style.
Karen has cases full of medals earned from defeating not only other breast cancer teams but from winning races that have included young and athletic community and corporate teams as well (including a boat load of young police officers who laughed at them at the starting line…now THAT was justice). They have earned these victories by practicing hard and often. Their commitment to the team and to each other is truly inspiring and is something I try to take away with me in my own struggles in life. Having the strength and determination to tackle life’s battles just isn’t enough sometimes. These woman have found the key…they have found each other and understand that the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
This is a lesson that has been a hard one for me to learn. When times get tough, I instinctively withdraw into myself to try to weather the storm on my own and given my track record, I must be really quite stubborn or incredibly daft. But that is going to change. I have been inspired and empowered by the information and support that has recently come into my life and that has left me wanting more. It is now my resolve to seek out support when I need it and give it whenever I can. After all, it takes a village…
Digging Myself Out 