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Society
Dragons Ahoy!
by Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
November 13, 2005
What do
dragon boat racing and breast cancer have in common? Well, just that
this ancient Chinese sport and survivors of the disease have combined to
make a big splash across the world.
According to an old Chinese legend, during the country's Warring State
period (481-221 BC) there lived a poet named Qu Yuan, who was a trusted
friend and advisor to the King of Chu. One day Qu gave the King some
advice, which so upset the King that he banished the bard to a remote
area of southern China. Wrenched from his roots, Qu wandered the
countryside in despair. And when he learnt that his beloved homeland had
fallen into enemy hands, he threw himself into the Miluo River.
News of Qu Yuan's suicide spread and hundreds of fisherfolk raced out in
their boats to save the poet. They beat their drums and splashed their
paddles on the water to ward off the water dragons and keep them from
eating his body. In what has now become an annual ritual in China,
fisherfolk re-enact the attempt to save the poet and keep the water
dragons at bay.
The vivid image evoked by this legend enthralled breast cancer survivors
in Canada, who came up with their own modern version of dragon boating
in an attempt to slay their personal dragons. They launched 'Dragons
Abreast', the first breast cancer dragon boat team, in Toronto in 1997 -
a year after a research experiment by Dr Don McKenzie, a sports medicine
physician at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
McKenzie wanted to dispel the myth that repetitive upper body exercise
in women treated for breast cancer encourages lymphedema, a swelling of
the arm and chest area that may develop anytime after lymph node surgery
and radiation treatment. The physician believed that if women followed a
special exercise and training programme, there would be no increased
risk of lymphedema.
His theory was proven correct. No new cases of lymphedema occurred and
none of the existing cases became worse. His medical team led a six-week
dry-land training programme for breast cancer survivors to prepare them
for the strenuous upper body demands of dragon boat racing. A dragon
boat has a dragonhead and tail and carries 22 people, including a
drummer, who sits up front to keep the paddlers in time, and a
steer-person, who stands at the back.
What began as a medical study involving one crew of 25 women has today
diversified into over 40 teams across Canada alone. The sport has also
gained popularity among breast cancer survivors in the US, Australia,
New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.
"The whole purpose of our team is to demonstrate that there is life
after breast cancer," says Eleanor Neilson, Co-founder of Dragons
Abreast. A retired nurse, Eleanor was diagnosed with stage two breast
cancer in 1989. She was a Reach to Recovery peer support volunteer for
12 years and conducted volunteer training for the Canadian Cancer
Society for three years.
It all began as an experiment, narrates Eleanor. "Women who've been
treated for breast cancer are often told to avoid strenuous upper body
exercise for fear of producing lymphedema. But there wasn't much
research done to back up this advice, and McKenzie proved otherwise."
The sport is actually very symbolic, she explains. "The western concept
of a dragon is that of a foe. The eastern concept sees the dragon as a
bringer of good things. We talk of dragon boating as both beating the
dragon - the cancer we've suffered, and riding the dragon - overcoming
the disease."
Eleanor was in this picturesque coastal Canadian city in Nova Scotia
region to demonstrate and organize dragon boat rides, as part of the
recent Fourth World Conference on Breast Cancer held here (June 8-12,
2005). The conference, organized by the Canada-based World Conference on
Breast Cancer Foundation, brought together over 650 delegates from more
than 60 countries.
Debbie Pottie, a dragon boater for almost six years, says the benefits
of the sport go beyond physical fitness. "There is a sense of freedom.
When you're in the boat, you don't think about breast cancer." Debbie, a
member of the Bosom Buddies Dragon Boat team from Nova Scotia, says that
after breast cancer treatments, patients not only have to heal
physically, but also mentally. The camaraderie and life-long friendships
that are made within and among the different teams offer support and fun
to everybody who takes part.
The beauty of dragon boat racing is the team spirit that emerges and the
positive energy levels attained, feels Jacquie Kolber, Chairperson of
Dragons Abreast, Toronto. "Our team encourages women to work out and
stay fit, though it is not a condition to joining our team." The zeal
and efforts of her paddlers were richly rewarded when the team won the
250-metre event against able-bodied and non-breast cancer survivors in
the Philadelphia dragon boat races in 2001.
"A group of us also went to Shanghai last year, where we competed
against teams from the US, Australia and New Zealand. We returned home
with the Silver and Bronze medals," she adds.
Doris Rossi of Thunderbay in Northwest Ontario, a survivor for 10 years,
has been paddling for six years now. "I formulated our team from
Thunderbay from within members of the local breast cancer support
group," she says. Like many others before her, she put together her
dragon boat survival team to create awareness about the disease and
reassure women that they could live healthy and productive lives even
after surviving the physical and mental scars of breast cancer.
It is in these boats, which are each almost 12 metres long, that Debbie
says she discovered that there is life after breast cancer. "Our team
members' ages range from 30 to 73 years, but we feel 15 when we're in
the boat," she quips.
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
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The Week of November 13, 2005
Will
India's Government Survive November? by Rajinder Puri
India: The Prime Minister Fettered by Dr.
Subhash Kapila
Titans in Tiny Worlds by J. Ajithkumar
Was Hinduism Invented? A Review by Aruni
Mukherjee
One Night @ The Call Center A Review by G.
Swaminathan
Towards Re-Writing A History of
Indian Architecture by Ashish Nangia
Eighteenth Century India: French and English
Rivalry by Neria Harish Hebbar, MD
What are Puranas? Are They Myths? by Dr. R.K.
Lahiri, Ph.D
Seeker's Dilemma by Vikram Karve
Healthcare for Globe Trotters by Dr. Savitha Suri
Dragons Ahoy! by Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
Filling Schools in Sindh by Zofeen T. Ebrahim
Filming People of Paradise by Atul Gupta
The New Crafts Company by Deepti Priya Mehrotra
For My Daughter by Sujata Ashwarya Cheema
The Vagabond by Dhiraj Raniga
The Mystique Land by Sai Prakash
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