**** Just a note from Tina, keep in mind with this that these are people who supposedly ONLY have secondary lymphedema, what we don't know is IF they are primary lymphedema patients who had secondary triggers. In my case lymphedema was triggered by surgery, trauma but I'm a primary patient! Vacuuming brought mine on and every injury thereafter brought lymphedema in those areas, so before you jump in and do this, BE AWARE of all the facts.
Live Blog: Gabby Douglas opens Day 2
Clinton: The case for Obama
Hurricane Leslie threatens Bermuda
Andy Roddick retires after loss
Breast cancer survivors forge
bond through dragon boat racing
( Emily Siner / ) - The women of GoPink!DC stretch before getting in the
dragon boat. The dragon head, evidence of the sport's Chinese roots, adorns the
boat during race.
By Emily Siner,
Published: August 22The Washington
Post
The first time Gail Messier saw a dragon, she
was lying on a thin, hard table in a hospital room. A machine hovered over her
chest. It was huge and smooth and radiated over her body with an invisible heat
that made her raw.
Chemotherapy, surgery and now radiation — her treatment hurt, but it was
saving her life. It was like a dragon, she imagined. And she was a warrior,
slaying her breast cancer with it.
“Who wants to willingly be poisoned, slashed and burned? No one in their
right mind,” she said. “I think it was a way to ally myself with my
treatment.”
During her radiation treatment this year, the 50-year-old massage therapist
from Takoma Park discovered that dragons do exist, at least in an athletic
sense. Messier joined GoPink!DC, a team of
breast cancer survivors and their supporters who paddle on the Anacostia River
in what is called a dragon boat. She and her teammates will compete in a
500-meter race at the National Harbor Dragon Boat Regatta on Saturday. The
regatta is hosting 23 teams, mostly from the Washington area, including one
other breast cancer team from Baltimore.
“It’s just a fabulous group of women,” said Mary Wilson, 58, a lawyer from
Mount Pleasant. Wilson is one of a handful of women on the GoPink!DC team who
has never had breast cancer, but she started paddling to support a friend who
had the disease. “They’re remarkable, having all overcome this adversity and
suffering, these joyful, energetic, athletic women.”
Dragon boating began in China more than 2,000 years ago. According to legend,
an exiled Chinese statesman drowned himself in political protest, and boats
scouted the water with drums and rice dumplings to distract the water dragons
from eating his body. Over time, reenactments of the legend turned into an
international competitive sport.
The modern dragon boat looks like an elongated canoe that seats 20 paddlers,
in 10 rows of two, plus a steersperson and a drummer. The boat is adorned with
a dragon head and tail before races. At capacity, it weighs about 4,000
pounds.
The sport’s celebration of survivorship is a much more recent tradition,
starting about 15 years ago in Canada. At the time, doctors generally thought
that upper-body exercise aggravated the lymphatic system, which was
particularly fragile after radiation or removal of lymph nodes, and could cause
a condition called lymphedema, an incurable swelling in the arms. GoPink!DC
founding member Annette Rothermel, 56, of Bethesda said that when she received
her diagnosis in 1997, she was told not to lift anything heavier than 5
pounds.
But about the same time as Rothermel’s diagnosis, a doctor in Canada began
researching the effects of repetitive-motion exercises on lymphedema, using
dragon boating as the model. He found that breast cancer survivors on the boat
didn’t have a higher risk of lymphedema. In fact, he found, exercise might help
prevent it.
Since then, dozens of breast cancer dragon boat teams have sprung up across
the United States and Canada. Head coach and avid dragon boater David Winter,
52, had seen breast cancer teams compete at regional meets and wanted to bring
that to Washington. He founded GoPink!DC in 2006. He and Rothermel are
co-workers at the National Institutes of Health.
“For the breast cancer survivors, it can actually turn their lives around in
a very significant way,” he said. “It’s about taking control of your body and
your health.”
When the women are on the boat, Messier said, they leave cancer on the dock.
Twice a week on the Anacostia River, they are more than survivors. They are
athletes.
And they are successful. The team is ranked first in its regional breast
cancer division, Winter said.
During a recent Monday-night practice at the Anacostia Community Boathouse,
Leslie Caplan, 57, of Chevy Chase sat at the head of the boat and called out
drills.
“Push with your legs,” she yelled over the sound of paddles in water. She let
out a whoop as the boat surged. “Excellent, feel that, ladies!”
Caplan would sometimes set the pace of the boat by shouting as the paddles
hit the water with each stroke, something the drummer does during races. The
boat moves fastest when paddlers are in sync — same form, same timing. Brute
strength is important, but it plays a secondary role.
The workout still pushes them, Karen Woods, 53, said. A nonprofit fundraiser
from Lorton, Woods joined the team a year after her breast cancer was diagnosed
in 2009. She wanted to regain the athleticism that had faded during her
treatment.
With GoPink!DC, she found not only a workout but also a support system —
women who have been through the same challenges, physically and emotionally.
“If you’re not on the cutting edge physically, you’re still accepted,” she
said. “This is a world where people understand you.”
The National Harbor Dragon Boat Regatta begins at 9 a.m., with the start
of the preliminary race. The final race will conclude at 4 p.m. The event is
free to watch, but spectators can pay to paddle in a dragon boat between races.
To participate, e-mail [email protected].
Emily Siner interned at Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. She is a senior
at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign
Live Blog: Gabby Douglas opens Day 2
Clinton: The case for Obama
Hurricane Leslie threatens Bermuda
Andy Roddick retires after loss
Breast cancer survivors forge
bond through dragon boat racing
( Emily Siner / ) - The women of GoPink!DC stretch before getting in the
dragon boat. The dragon head, evidence of the sport's Chinese roots, adorns the
boat during race.
By Emily Siner,
Published: August 22The Washington
Post
The first time Gail Messier saw a dragon, she
was lying on a thin, hard table in a hospital room. A machine hovered over her
chest. It was huge and smooth and radiated over her body with an invisible heat
that made her raw.
Chemotherapy, surgery and now radiation — her treatment hurt, but it was
saving her life. It was like a dragon, she imagined. And she was a warrior,
slaying her breast cancer with it.
“Who wants to willingly be poisoned, slashed and burned? No one in their
right mind,” she said. “I think it was a way to ally myself with my
treatment.”
During her radiation treatment this year, the 50-year-old massage therapist
from Takoma Park discovered that dragons do exist, at least in an athletic
sense. Messier joined GoPink!DC, a team of
breast cancer survivors and their supporters who paddle on the Anacostia River
in what is called a dragon boat. She and her teammates will compete in a
500-meter race at the National Harbor Dragon Boat Regatta on Saturday. The
regatta is hosting 23 teams, mostly from the Washington area, including one
other breast cancer team from Baltimore.
“It’s just a fabulous group of women,” said Mary Wilson, 58, a lawyer from
Mount Pleasant. Wilson is one of a handful of women on the GoPink!DC team who
has never had breast cancer, but she started paddling to support a friend who
had the disease. “They’re remarkable, having all overcome this adversity and
suffering, these joyful, energetic, athletic women.”
Dragon boating began in China more than 2,000 years ago. According to legend,
an exiled Chinese statesman drowned himself in political protest, and boats
scouted the water with drums and rice dumplings to distract the water dragons
from eating his body. Over time, reenactments of the legend turned into an
international competitive sport.
The modern dragon boat looks like an elongated canoe that seats 20 paddlers,
in 10 rows of two, plus a steersperson and a drummer. The boat is adorned with
a dragon head and tail before races. At capacity, it weighs about 4,000
pounds.
The sport’s celebration of survivorship is a much more recent tradition,
starting about 15 years ago in Canada. At the time, doctors generally thought
that upper-body exercise aggravated the lymphatic system, which was
particularly fragile after radiation or removal of lymph nodes, and could cause
a condition called lymphedema, an incurable swelling in the arms. GoPink!DC
founding member Annette Rothermel, 56, of Bethesda said that when she received
her diagnosis in 1997, she was told not to lift anything heavier than 5
pounds.
But about the same time as Rothermel’s diagnosis, a doctor in Canada began
researching the effects of repetitive-motion exercises on lymphedema, using
dragon boating as the model. He found that breast cancer survivors on the boat
didn’t have a higher risk of lymphedema. In fact, he found, exercise might help
prevent it.
Since then, dozens of breast cancer dragon boat teams have sprung up across
the United States and Canada. Head coach and avid dragon boater David Winter,
52, had seen breast cancer teams compete at regional meets and wanted to bring
that to Washington. He founded GoPink!DC in 2006. He and Rothermel are
co-workers at the National Institutes of Health.
“For the breast cancer survivors, it can actually turn their lives around in
a very significant way,” he said. “It’s about taking control of your body and
your health.”
When the women are on the boat, Messier said, they leave cancer on the dock.
Twice a week on the Anacostia River, they are more than survivors. They are
athletes.
And they are successful. The team is ranked first in its regional breast
cancer division, Winter said.
During a recent Monday-night practice at the Anacostia Community Boathouse,
Leslie Caplan, 57, of Chevy Chase sat at the head of the boat and called out
drills.
“Push with your legs,” she yelled over the sound of paddles in water. She let
out a whoop as the boat surged. “Excellent, feel that, ladies!”
Caplan would sometimes set the pace of the boat by shouting as the paddles
hit the water with each stroke, something the drummer does during races. The
boat moves fastest when paddlers are in sync — same form, same timing. Brute
strength is important, but it plays a secondary role.
The workout still pushes them, Karen Woods, 53, said. A nonprofit fundraiser
from Lorton, Woods joined the team a year after her breast cancer was diagnosed
in 2009. She wanted to regain the athleticism that had faded during her
treatment.
With GoPink!DC, she found not only a workout but also a support system —
women who have been through the same challenges, physically and emotionally.
“If you’re not on the cutting edge physically, you’re still accepted,” she
said. “This is a world where people understand you.”
The National Harbor Dragon Boat Regatta begins at 9 a.m., with the start
of the preliminary race. The final race will conclude at 4 p.m. The event is
free to watch, but spectators can pay to paddle in a dragon boat between races.
To participate, e-mail [email protected].
Emily Siner interned at Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. She is a senior
at the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign