Boating team bonds survivors
PENN TWP — When Cathy Woller was diagnosed with breast cancer, she refused to spend the rest of her life curled up on a couch.
So when she spotted a brochure in her doctor's office about a dragon boat team for breast cancer survivors, it seemed to be just what the Penn Township woman was looking for to stay active.
Last month, that team of women, Pink Steel, took second place in the International Breast Cancer Paddlers' Commission Dragon Boat Competition in Sarasota, Fla.
The Pittsburgh team was first in the United States, but lost the international title by less than a second to an Ontario, Canada, team.
“I'm incredibly proud of the team,” said Margie McKain of Chicora, a fellow member and breast cancer survivor. “We worked so hard and put in the effort.”
Dragon boating — an ancient Chinese tradition where a crew of 20 row in unison to the beat of a drum in a long canoe with a dragon head — has been around for centuries, but in 1996 a Canadian sports medicine physician, Dr. Don McKenzie, recommended the sport for his breast cancer patients.
He believed the paddling motion specific to dragon boating would ease the risk of lymphedema, a post-cancer treatment condition that can cause swelling and fluid retention.
Lynne Franks-Meinert of Pittsburgh, who paddled with a dragon boat team from Pittsburgh, began to see the breast cancer survivor teams at races several years ago. When her friend, Carol Raver, died from the disease in the summer of 2005, Franks-Meinert started Pink Steel to honor her friend.
She began visiting support groups and posting fliers at treatment centers, hoping to attract attention to the team.
When Woller, who's been cancer free for nearly eight years, picked up the brochure, she found much more than just a way to build muscle and stay active. She found a support system of women who knew what challenges she was facing.
“There's no whining attitude in the boat,” Woller, 70, said. “Just encouragement from a sisterhood of survivors, proving to each of us that we are more than the disease that's trying to claim us.”
The women on the team speak of the camaraderie, calling themselves a “floating support group.”More than teammates, the women are there for each other in their personal lives, too, supporting one another through treatments and surgeries with meals and words of encouragement.McKain, 52, said the team is made up of women from all social, economic and educational backgrounds, but their common denominator is breast cancer.“So I'm really excited about being a member of the team and being around women whose paths I would never have crossed,” she said.Dragon boat crews have 22 members, 20 paddlers, two to a seat, a drummer to keep the beat and a steersman. The paddling is unlike rowing a kayak or canoe, and it can take a few years to get the stroke right, Woller said.Pink Steel is based at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club.Darlene Westfall of Pittsburgh is the steersman for Pink Steel, navigating the busy waters of the Allegheny River for the team's practices, safely maneuvering the team around barges and pleasure boats.But all the women say every member of the team is important and every woman must do her job.“There are no superstars in dragon boating,” said Franks-Meinert. “It takes 22 people to win a race. There is not one all-star, there is not one person who carries that boat.”The member numbers are growing, something that excites Westfall, who speaks to groups about dragon boating.But Woller said there is always room for more.“There's a seat for you in the boat,'' she said.More information about dragon boating and Pink Steel is available at www.steelcitydragons.org or by calling 412-377-3063.
