Perched under a tree in Grevillea Park, retired Registered Nurse, Clare Purcell, sits with pride in her seat at the front of ‘Go Anna’, an impressive 12-metre dragon boat.
‘Go Anna’ carries Clare and 21 teammates from Dragons Abreast Canberra (DAC), four training sessions a week. And this Saturday 29 March, Clare and DAC invite you to take your seat beside them at their free Come and Try event.
“Come and Try is fabulous,” says Clare. “We encourage anyone who has a diagnosis of breast cancer, and their support person, to come along, jump in a boat and enjoy a lovely morning tea after.”
Clare started dragon boating in 2009. However, when diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, she decided to join the DAC club. “It just felt like the right thing to do,” she said.
And the impact on Clare’s life?
“It’s only been positive,” she says. “Dragons Abreast has done so many things for me and is an amazing sport for anyone diagnosed with breast cancer. The health benefits are significant, and we are part of a larger organisation, Dragon Boat ACT, who also support us.”
“Dragon boating increases muscle tone and happiness and makes you feel part of a community where we are all in the same boat metaphorically and physically,” says Clare.
DAC was formed in Canberra in 1999, for those diagnosed with, or recovering from, breast cancer and their supporters.
Dragon boating for breast cancer recovery was however the brainchild of Canadian Dr Don McKenzie, a professor of sports medicine and exercise physiologist, who around 1996, challenged the medical advice that women treated for breast cancer should avoid rigorous upper body exercise. This was thought to promote one of the side effects of treatment, lymphoedema.
McKenzie’s research found, to the contrary, that exercise helped. And Breast Cancer Network Australia continues to promote it. ‘Exercise can help manage treatment and cancer-related side effects such as fatigue, lymphoedema, pain and lowered bone density. It can also improve mood, sleep, body weight, muscle strength, confidence, depression and anxiety.’ It can also reduce breast cancer recurrence.
“When you are having cancer treatment you lose your sense of self a little bit,” says Clare. “And that really is where all our friends from DAC, come in. I can’t stress enough what a community this is. It’s like a second family”.
If you would like to attend the Come and Try event, head to Grevillea Park, next to the Boathouse Restaurant by 9am this Saturday. Lifejackets and paddles are included but do bring some closed-in waterproof shoes.
If you want, you can also continue to try free for one month. Email [email protected] or call Kate on 0407 250 651 for more information.
