Dragon boat team of survivors get own logo
It was an emotional surprise, unveiled earlier this month at the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club where a group of fierce breast cancer survivors train for dragon boat racing.
In August, Caroline Gleason submitted a wish to the BMO200 program, which marks the bank’s 200th birthday by granting wishes to individuals or organizations.
Gleason wanted to acknowledge her mother Rachelle Audet’s harrowing experience with breast cancer while also honouring the West Island Dragons — the dragon boat team of which Audet is a member. She asked that a new logo be designed for the team.
On the day of the reveal, Gleason tricked her mother into going to the clubhouse, saying a reporter wanted to interview the team. Then she led mom out to the dock.
“Caroline was holding my hand,” Audet said. “I was thinking, ‘What the heck?’ ”
Audet saw her teammates in the dragon boat, holding aloft a flag emblazoned with the new logo.
“It was very moving,” Audet said. “It sends a message. Hang on to hope and move forward. Cancer is such a powerful word. It is so easy to feel completely demolished by it.”
Audet was diagnosed in 2004. On a whim, while on a work break, she decided to see her doctor, something she hadn’t done for years. She was sent for a routine mammogram. The result was a shock.
“Fortunately it was caught in time,” Audet said. “If I had continued to work at the pace I’d been working and not decided to get a routine checkup, things could have been very different.”
Audet had a lump removed, but a complication involving the insertion of a wire for radiation purposes resulted in a hospital stay. Then she was put on the preventive medication Tomoxifen. Two years ago, she had her right breast removed.
Audet has paddled with the team, off and on, since 2011. Women are encouraged to exercise the upper body following treatment for breast cancer. Not only has exercise proven to help prevent a recurrence, it helps combat the blues and gives women the opportunity to share in a physical challenge.
“I was very intimidated by the whole notion of joining a team,” Audet said. “But getting back in shape was really important to me.”
What surprised Audet was the women on the team were all about the training and shared practical information about wigs and bras. They weren’t dwelling on the past.
“We focus on the paddling and moving forward,” Audet said.
Gleason said she was overwhelmed by the strength and camaraderie of the team the first time she visited a practice. It was then she decided to try to do something special for them all.
Wish granted.