Dragon Divas

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The Dragon Divas

About Dragon Divas

The Dragon Divas are an eclectic mix of thriving women of all ages. Among the group are homemakers, scientists, educators and business and health care professionals. The Dragon Divas are the first known dragon boat team for breast cancer survivors in the Twin Cities.

The Divas are sponsored by St. John's Hospital, home to HealthEast's Cancer Care Center.

Throughout the summer, they've shared info on training, races and camaraderie. Find out more about the Dragon Divas here.

Summer’s End: September 28, 2009

As summer comes to an end, we conclude our fourth season of dragon-boat festivals and races. We are planning to paddle through September, but then will unfortunately have to leave our White Bear Lake home at the Nicholson’s before freezing sets in. Thanks in part to nature’s cooperation (only one practice was cancelled on account of bad weather), we improved our skills enough this year to become contenders and earn winning medals in several races. The steadfast support and teaching of our stern Ron and our coach Geeta made our team into a finer-tuned paddling machine.

In any human endeavor, turning a new page often leads to self-examination and reflection. The change of seasons provides us with the opportunity to revisit our accomplishments in the context of our mission. For breast cancer survivors, dragon-boat racing is a metaphor for the journey we are all on.

The boat moves fastest, best, and most smoothly when we paddle TOGETHER. On that boat, we support and encourage each other; we laugh and we cry; we challenge one another to do our personal best. There is palpable feeling of grace in the air around us, as we tap into life’s eternal energy. You should see our smiles when we get off the boat!

After surviving challenging operations, pulling through brutal chemotherapy and radiation, overcoming all the personal and family difficulties that come with the diagnosis of breast cancer, we are EMPOWERED when we paddle in our dragon-boat. Not only are we getting physically fit, we take charge of our health since regular exercise has been shown to decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence. This is part of the message we want to share with our community as we strive to inspire other cancer survivors by our example.

When we get on our dragon-boat, we are ALIVE! We are living proof that there is life after breast cancer. We are healthy. We are active in our families and at work. We are involved in our churches and communities. We laugh a lot. We are MOVING ON with our lives. Every day we celebrate the gift of life while holding in our thoughts those of us who are still fighting or have died of breast cancer.

We are a TEAM: TOGETHER, EMPOWERED, ALIVE!, MOVING ON.

We are already thinking about next year. The city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada will be hosting the 3rd International Breast Cancer Survivors Dragon Boat Festival from June 8 to 13, 2010. We are exploring the possibility of participating in this amazing event.

 

The Dragon Divas would not exist without the support and love of our families and without the support of our generous sponsors. We thank all our sponsors loudly!

 

If you are interested in joining our team or would like to sponsor us in some way, please contact Mary Skrypek at 651-232-7823 or e-mail mamaskry@aol.com.