Vivia Chow & Donna Tremblay
In 1996, Don McKenzie, a sports medicine physician at the University of British Columbia, put together a dragon boat crew of 24 breast cancer survivors as part of a program to test the belief that repetitive upper-body exercise in women treated for breast cancer encouraged lymphedema. There was no evidence of lymphedema as the women became healthier and more fit.
No one dreamed that the six-month experiment would prove to be both contagious and enduring. The program grew to include five boats in Vancouver, and inspired the formation of many more dragon boat teams world-wide.
Ten years later, 62 of 95 crews from around the world — about 1800 breast cancer survivors from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Europe, Canada and the USA — gathered at False Creek in Vancouver to celebrate the 10th anniversary of that first breast cancer survivor dragon boat team and the first all-breast-cancer-survivor dragon boat event. Two Montreal teams (Two Abreast and The West Island Dragons) were there, including BCAM members Carmen Alleyne, Vivia Chow, Denise Langlois, Pat Pittaro and Donna Tremblay.
The opening and closing ceremonies were awe inspiring, filled with magical emotional moments to last a lifetime. Now we look forward to dragon boat festivals in Singapore, October 6th to 8th, 2006, and in Australia, September 28th to 30th, 2007.
Who could have imagined that a small group of women would start a worldwide movement such as this? Dragon boat paddling has had a tremendous impact on the lives of many women.
