Women in Paddling: Island Breaststrokers

June-July 2000

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Karen Wilson

Breast cancer is a very debilitating disease both physically and mentally. After going through surgery and in most cases chemotherapy and/or radiation, not only does your body feel as though it just been put through a wringer, so does your mental state.

For many years it was felt that after a person was finished with treatment, she (or he, since some men also suffer from it) should not tax or overuse the limb on the surgical side. It was felt that over use would cause lymphedema (swelling) to occur. Many people that had lived productive active lives were now being told that they could not or should not do anything to overuse the arm. This included such things as knitting, tennis, ironing, golf or basically any activity that used the arm. This added to the mental stress for people trying to recover from breast cancer.

In 1996 Dr. Don McKenzie, a Sports Medicine Doctor at UBC, started a study with a group of women and found that indeed, they could do activities with their affected arm. The most strenuous activity undertaken for using the upper body was Dragon Boat racing. This was the start of the breast cancer survivor dragon boats. In 1997, the Island Breaststrokers Dragon Boat Team, headed by Marjorie Woodroffe, was formed here in Victoria. Marjorie had watched the boats in Vancouver and thought why not here in Victoria.

The team competed in their first race in August of that year. The team consists of women from all walks of life, all professions, and ages. Although the team consists of women only at this point, the criteria for joining the boat is that you have had breast cancer, not what gender you are. Some members are or have been athletic and some have not.

Many members have never been in a boat until joining the dragon boat team. The average age of the team members is 55. Some members are about 20 years out of treatment and some are very recent. The boat in itself could be termed a floating support group. For most members one of the best things about the team is the fact that you do not have to say anything about what you have been through. Everyone there has been through the same thing and already knows. If members wish to talk that is also okay. There is an incredible bond among the members because of this. Being part of the team is many things to many members, from comradeship to feeling more in control, to challenging themselves.

A very often-asked question is-'are you competitive?' There are two answers to this: no, we are not out to win all the races, but yes we are competitive in the respect of challenging ourselves to do the best that we can and to see just how far we can go. A team consists of 22 people, 20 paddlers and a drummer and steersperson. This indeed requires teamwork and it is a wonderful way to spend time together. Many of the teams wear bright pink shirts that are very noticeable. This draws attention to the teams and we want to be noticed. Last year in Vancouver there were 10 teams from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia. This was a wonderful event for all the teams, as not only was there respect for ourselves but incredible respect and support from the other non-cancer-survivor teams.

Our team has competed in Vancouver and Victoria and is hoping to compete in other centres. At this time there are approximately 30 breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams throughout Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Of these teams, at least 25 are in Canada with some cities having more than one boat.

We want to show the world that breast cancer is not the end of the world and that there is indeed life after all that we go through. It just may be a different road to travel than the one that we had previously travelled, and who knows what is out there for us and what we can accomplish.

It is our mission to provide breast cancer survivors with an opportunity-to participate in strenuous repetitive upper body exercise, to demonstrate, in dragon boat competition, the benefits of an active lifestyle, and to raise the public awareness of the disease.