Lagan Dragons: The cancer patients who are all in the same boat

Every twelvemonth successful the UK astir 55,000 women and 400 men are diagnosed with bosom cancer.

About 1,500 of them are successful Northern Ireland.

Regular workout tin assistance easiness treatment-related broadside effects and trim the hazard of recurrence.

For immoderate patients - paddling with a dragon vessel squad not lone helps with their carnal wellbeing but besides their intelligence health.

The Lagan Dragons are based successful Belfast and instrumentality their sanction from the stream that flows done the city.

Karen Dougan joined the squad conscionable earlier the archetypal lockdown portion recovering from bosom cancer.

Soon after, her crab recurred.

"It came backmost precise rudely successful October 2020 - truthful I had further treatment, further surgery, further radiation," she said.

Training with the Lagan Dragons has been instrumental to her recovery.

"I'm escaped of the disease, but you're ne'er truly comfy reasoning that you'll ne'er get it backmost again. But I'm fit, I'm healthy, and loving life," Ms Dougan said.

"People successful the squad cognize what you're going done and they assistance you up and they boost you.

"You tin speech astir your acquisition and cognize that idiosyncratic understands what you've gone done - they're precise affirmative and enthusiastic.

"I felt I'd recovered my tribe."

Captain Karen Case was diagnosed with bosom crab much than a decennary ago.

She besides believes being portion of the squad helped her recovery.

"It's truly astir physical, intelligence and societal wellbeing," she said.

"Paddling successful dragon boats is evidently rather an aged athletics and originated successful China, but determination was a bosom surgeon successful Canada who recommended it for women who had gone done bosom crab attraction - the repetitive question and the camaraderie is bully for you.

"It's a radical of radical successful a vessel - virtually successful the aforesaid boat."

Dragon vessel regattas instrumentality spot astir the satellite and galore person a class for bosom crab teams.

Traditionally astatine the extremity of competitions, a angiosperm ceremonial takes spot and immoderate participants spot their flowers successful the h2o arsenic a tribute to crab patients.

"It's truly a clip of remembering radical we've mislaid done bosom cancer," Karen explained

"It's precise moving, and precise poignant but it's a clip to beryllium thankful arsenic good - to beryllium thankful for their lives and to beryllium thankful that we're present honouring those radical by surviving our lives to the afloat by embracing beingness and thriving.

"The 1 happening I privation to bash is to promote radical to unrecorded their champion beingness - to beryllium healthier, beryllium fitter, beryllium stronger and person a bully laugh. And to paddle of course."

The Lagan Dragons' caput coach, Rachel Reid, is 1 of the members who does not person bosom cancer.

A agelong clip rower, she "watched the Dragons from afar" earlier joining.

"I thought I had immoderate skills that could assistance them, and they were superior astir winning the Dublin regatta that twelvemonth - and we did," she said.

"I deliberation they're each perfectly amazing. To spell done what they've gone through, and travel and commencement a caller beingness present with the Dragons and a caller athletics - a batch of them person ne'er done athletics astatine all.

"They're moving hard and grooming and supporting each other."

Ruth Burns, a parent of 2 young boys, was diagnosed with bosom crab past year, aged 37.

"I'd conscionable started backmost to enactment aft having my youngest - helium was one," she recalled.

"I was inactive bosom feeding him and I conscionable noticed a lump and evidently that's rather communal with bosom feeding mothers but thing didn't beryllium good with me.

"I was diagnosed astir 3 weeks later."

Ruth said paddling with the Dragons was helping her woody with a crab diagnosis successful her 30s.

"It sounds similar a unusual happening to accidental but determination person been positives and 1 of those has been the Lagan Dragons.

"It's go the item of my week," she said.

"I can't deliberation of each my worries, due to the fact that you person to absorption connected keeping clip and you person to perceive to your instructions, and it's a truly bully mode to unit maine to beryllium much present.

"If I telephone present connected a Sunday greeting for a paddle, there's a fewer stragglers similar myself having java and cake, and I tin speech astir my tablets giving maine weird broadside effects and they get it.

Ruth said it had besides helped her absorption connected beingness aft cancer.

"Obviously it tin beryllium a truly acheronian clip and a truly upsetting time. There's enactment retired there, but if anyone was reasoning astir dragon vessel racing - it's bully craic," she said.

"It's enactment maine down a antithetic way to conscionable these ladies and I mightiness really beryllium fitter and healthier aft this."