How did I miss the dragon boat? Am I the only breast cancer survivor who until yesterday didn’t know about the over one hundred breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing teams around the world?

I first picked up the story in a British newspaper article about a breast cancer survivor named Sue Shackleton. Pursuing this lead, I discovered that there are dozens of Canadian breast cancer dragon boat teams, and more exist in the United States, as well as in countries such as Great Britain, Italy, Singapore, and Australia, with team names like the Worcester Dragons, Dragons Abreast, Breast Friends, Princeton Dragoneers, and Dragonheart Vermont.

A breast cancer dragon boat is apparently powered by 18 to 22 paddlers, two abreast, and a club may represent more than one crew. A dragon boat costs around $17,000, so teams often train as rowers, for actual races using dragon boats supplied at festivals and meets. Some teams fundraise to buy their own equipment. Any breast cancer survivor can join—no athleticism in required.

The teams train, participate in local races, and even compete in international festivals, such as the championship dragon boat races in Singapore, the annual Melbourne Dragon Boat Festival, and the world championship dragon boat festival in Rome. In the States, the annual summer Colorado Dragon Boat Festival has expressed intentions to include a “breast-cancer survivor’s bracket.”

Dragon boat racing, popular in China for 2,000 years, today has become an international sport. In 1996, a British Columbia sports medicine physician formed the first breast cancer dragon boat crew. Dr. Donald McKenzie believed that physical activity involving teamwork and rowing could provide not only emotional support but also lymphedema prevention and treatment. He did not agree with many experts that upper body exercise could cause or aggravate lymphedema in persons who’d had lymph nodes removed; he believed the opposite.

Experience apparently proved him right: Lymphedema was not a problem with his group; instead, teamwork and training rewarded the crew with healing, hope, companionship, physical strength, and spirit. Although a dragon boat race lasts only 60 to 70 seconds, the rewards can endure for years.

Well, when can I start? Our Saginaw River, crowded all summer with motorboats, yachts and sailboats headed for nearby Lake Michigan, bisects my town. Four bridges connect the two halves and a brightly painted rowing team clubhouse perches right over the water. Okay, I have tendonitis in my hands and wrists and rotator cuff injuries in both shoulders, but I can yell. I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader.

Editor's Note: Many thanks to the Vancouver organization Abreast In A Boat for compiling this contact list of U.S. dragon boat breast cancer teams and teams around the world.