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From cancer to competition

Survivors take control of recovery through dragon boat program

Originally published in the September 15, 2003 issue of The Post and Courier
By Clay Barbour Of The Post and Courier Staff

Two months ago, Lucy Spears was coming off an eight-month battle for her life.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in November, she endured surgery, four months of chemotherapy and 33 radiation treatments. When it was all over, she was exhausted.

But as the sun set on the Ashley River one day last week, the James Island mother of two looked anything but worn out. She looked energized.

Spears, 40, is one of 40 cancer survivors taking part in Dragon Boat Charleston, a program sponsored by the Medical University of South Carolina's Hollings Cancer Center that allows survivors to take charge of their recovery in a demanding, physically challenging and rewarding way.

Dragon boating places 20 paddlers on a 48-foot boat. The paddlers move in unison to the beat of a drum on the bow, the heartbeat of the dragon.

Based on a sport that originated in China 2,400 years ago, dragon boating has grown rapidly in popularity, with thousands of teams competing worldwide.

In 1996, Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine specialist in Vancouver, Canada, formed the first dragon boat team composed solely of cancer survivors. It was his theory that the camaraderie and physical exertion needed for the sport would aid survivors in their recovery. Since then, more than 1,000 survivors have formed teams.

Dragon Boat Charleston started last spring thanks to a $50,000 startup donation from Aventis, a pharmaceutical company.

Since July, the Charleston team has met three days a week at the City Marina for hour-long practices that have become more than mere workouts.

"It's funny," says Sterling Hannah, Hollings center's program coordinator and dragon boat diva. "Our team started as strangers brought together by this disease. But now they are teammates and more. They are friends. It's like a support group on the water."

The dragon boat team is made up of men and women, ranging from young to middle-aged. Some are in shape. Others are not. They come from as far away as Aiken and represent diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

As a group they have only two things in common: cancer and the will to fight it.

There was a time when the disease was a death sentence. Not so anymore. About 17,500 South Carolinians were diagnosed with cancer in 2001, the latest numbers available. More than half survived.

Improved treatments and more effective drugs are a couple of reasons for this. But thanks to experts such as McKenzie, the recuperative power of fellowship and physical fitness have added to the list of survivors.

"After cancer treatment, the hardest thing is to make yourself get up and get moving," Spears says. "But doing something like this, it's amazing what it does for you. You can feel your health return."

Many members of the team were not very active before their diagnoses, but something about facing death can change a person.

"It gives you a new approach to life," Hannah says. "You don't want to sit around anymore."

The Charleston team is preparing for its first meet, scheduled for Oct. 4 in Philadelphia. Though the team has 40 members, only 20 will make the trip.

They will face teams from across the country, many of them serious about the sport. The Charleston team members know their chances of winning the meet are slim, but watching them paddle to the beat of the dragon heart as they make their way down the Ashley, it's clear they already have won.