“We are tough guys”: Breast cancer survivors paddle with courage and confidence

Twenty-one women in a 2-ton dragon boat propel through the water, screaming and cheering, as they slide under the Whairepo Lagoon bridge in wellington harbour. To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bess Manson joins the CanThrive team for a paddle.

In the drizzle and cold of a Sunday morning, 21 women paddled their dragon boat in the harbor – a streak of pink on a sea of ​​gray.

“We’re all badass,” says Brenda Little, CanThrive coach and breast cancer survivor.

A little rain or a brisk wind is nothing they can’t handle, she says. Not after everything they’ve been through.

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Running through the water, struggling or perhaps embracing the elements, there’s no time to dwell on the past – the shock of a diagnosis, the fallout of a treatment.

The women are too busy concentrating on paddling through the weather, battling against the wind, dumping water from a rough sea. It’s a lesson in how to be in the moment.

Bette Cosgrove is somewhere in the middle of the waka. The breast cancer survivor has paddled for a decade since her diagnosis in 2012.

All members of the CanThrive Dragon Boat Team are breast cancer survivors – a grim but common denominator that binds them together and turns this mind-blowing experience into something good.

Cosgrove wouldn’t wish the disease that strikes more than 3,500 women a year in Aotearoa on anyone, but in retrospect, breast cancer might have been the best thing that ever happened to her, she says.

“I met people I might never have met had it not been for my encounter with breast cancer. I have traveled the world to watch dragon boat competitions – in Bali, USA, Australia, Italy.

“There, I was paddling along the Arno river in Florence, I look up and there is the Duomo! I’ve had an incredible life since being diagnosed at 50.

Ports of Melbourne and Sydney, the Arno River, they were pretty spectacular, but there’s something pretty special about being on the water in Wellington, says Cosgrove, who went from competitive crew CanSurvive to the new CanThrive social team this year.

Te Whanganui a Tara is sometimes a ferocious beast, she says. These northerly winds can be wild.

“You have to have courage, confidence and courage – all those things you need to face breast cancer.”

“On a beautiful day, all I can think about is how lucky I am to be here. It reminds me to be grateful to still be here to see this,” Cosgrove says .

“Sometimes I say, ‘Look, ladies, we beat that b…..d breast cancer, and now we can do it! “”

Dragon boating is a fantastic sport, according to the Breast Cancer Foundation. Canadian physician Don McKenzie discovered that dragon boating, with its repetitive upper body exercises, could prevent women from developing lymphedema and help them recover from surgery.

Physically, the sport is incredibly rewarding, says Cosgrove, 60. Paddling with the team gave him a sense of empowerment to regain his physical strength after cancer.

“I slowly got fitter and stronger when I had been so broken down from the treatment. Within a year I had two surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and medication – all the treatments you can have I was completely shattered.

“Dragon boating gave me back not only my physical well-being but also my emotional well-being.”

The camaraderie and emotional support cannot be understated, she says.

All right, says fellow survivor Carole Rudman, 75, who started dragon boating in 2011.

Paddling has been a godsend, she says. “Someone asked me why I didn’t have flabby arms and I told them, it’s because I paddle! I like water. I love exercise, but it’s really about camaraderie. We are like a family.

Marlene Soloman, 77, has had breast cancer twice, most recently in 1997.

She started paddling in 2008 after seeing her partner dressed in pink at the harbour.

“Being with these other women who have been through the same thing, it took the focus away from me.”

“We only talk about breast cancer if someone needs it, but we have this common denominator that makes us stick together. We have all been through the surgery, the treatment, the recovery, and it binds us.

Jana Babor is the oldest member of the team. At 80, she has just moved from the competitive team CanSurvive to CanThrive. She has been paddling since 2004 following her diagnosis the same year.

She has competed overseas numerous times with her former CanSurvive crew – and has done quite well.

At the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Committee event in Florida in 2014, their team was third fastest. In Florence, four years later, they were second. The event will take place in Aotearoa in April 2023.

The women are a tight unit, in and out of the water.

“We call each other if we need to talk. We are friends. We laugh. A lot.”

Annette Chapman, 56, is not a fan of the sea, but she is on the water every week with her friends.

Team sports, getting soaked – that’s way out of her comfort zone, she says.

“I am an introvert. I don’t play sports but after breast cancer, I wanted to surpass myself, not be afraid to go out and do something else, to make the most of life. In a weird way, it gives me the confidence to do things I wouldn’t have done before.

After an hour of paddling and quite a bit of talk, laughter and general hype, the team calls it a day. As we stop at the boat launch, each paddler taps the pink shoulder in front of them. Each woman holds the hand of the sister next to them.

Solidarity. Camaraderie. A power station in pink.

Breast cancer

• Early detection is the best way to defeat breast cancer.

• Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Kiwi women and the third most common cancer overall.

• More than 3,500 women across the country are diagnosed with breast cancer every year – that’s nine women a day.

• Each year, 25 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in New Zealand.

• More than 650 Kiwi women die of breast cancer each year.

• Check your breasts regularly. If you notice any unusual changes, have them checked out by your doctor immediately.

• For more information: www.breastcancerfoundation.org.nz

Source: Breast Cancer Foundation