THUNDER BAY - When facing such a devastating disease like breast cancer, it is important to have strength, determination, and perseverance. Much of that can only be gained from the support of others, and when all that is taken together, there is no stopping the drive forward, one paddle stroke at a time.
“It makes you realize how strong you can be, how you can fight this disease, and the emotional support we get from one another is simply amazing,” said Liz Lindstrom, a breast cancer survivor.
Lindstrom, along with 21 other breast cancer survivors who make up the Dragons of Hope team will be taking that drive all the way to Florence, Italy to participate in the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission Dragon Boat Festival this July.
The competition will take place from July 3 to 8 and will see more than 4,000 breast cancer survivors from around the world competing.
Saira Vanderwees, coach of Dragons of Hope, said when she first started with the team three years ago, she was told that the team was more about having fun than competing, but that is not how she saw it.
“I saw the whole picture differently,” she said. “When I got in the boat with them for the first time, I said you ladies are capable of way more than what you’re seeing. We started a training program and they were all in.”
The women have been training all year in the gym and as soon as the ice was off Boulevard Lake, they had their paddles in the water. The Dragons of Hope team is no stranger to competition, having competed in Superior, WI. and taking home a bronze medal and a silver medal just last year.
Several members of the team have also competed at the International Dragonboat Competition held in Sarasota, FL. in 2014, including Vanderwees, who was one of five members who competed with a Canadian team.
“It was such an emotional time,” she said. “It was an amazing time to see all those women paddling.”
“It’s important to go as our own team and not being part of another team,” Lindstrom continued. “I think it’s going to solidify our team even more. But just to go there and see all the amazing women who have survived so much and joining together for a common goal and paddling.”
Lindstrom joined the Dragons of Hope team in 2004 when she was still undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
“It helped me,” she said. “It gave me meaning and purpose and strength to be with these ladies.”
The team knows competition will be fierce in Italy, with many seasoned teams competing every year. But Vanderwees and Lindstrom know they can depend on the collective strength of the Dragons.
“I think there is going to be a whole range of paddling styles and a whole range of abilities,” Vanderwees said. “I expect we are going to be one of the leading teams. And they’ve worked for it and I am confident they are going to do very well.”
“It’s pretty intense when you get in there,” Lindstrom added. “You are using muscles you don’t normally use, and you are pulling against the weather and the waves. But when you get in that boat, you are one, and after that three minutes are over, it’s just so exhilarating.”
Vanderwees said when taking into consideration what each and every one of the women on the team has been through, there is no denying how strong and determined they are. It shows with each paddle stroke, smile, and encouraging word.
“When you have a boat full of people like that, there are no limits,” she said.
