Paddling for a purpose that hits close to home

By Louie St. George III

For so many years, the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival was closely affiliated with breast cancer awareness. Few teams have felt a deeper connection to that mission than Survivor Sistership.

Every member is a breast cancer survivor. That’s not to say they haven’t experienced loss as a result of the disease. Nine of their teammates have passed away since Survivor Sistership’s inception in 2002.

So it’s more than a race for these paddlers in pink. The Dragon Boat Festival has afforded them an opportunity to develop the ultimate support group, where camaraderie — and hugs — are in abundance.

“It’s special to us,” said longtime participant Nancy Lowney, 71, and a 19-year breast cancer survivor. “We’re not just a team; we’re a family.”

“I gain strength from the group,” said Bonnie McDonald, 65, and a 12-year survivor. “The strength comes from seeing everyone persevere, from diagnosis to recovery to survivorship. Being together, and just all the love we feel for each other.”

If pink is their theme, green is a strong secondary color. Entering the 18th annual Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival in late August, Survivor Sistership had raised more than $127,000 since 2002. That includes a streak of five consecutive years in which the team was the first-place fundraiser. The most profitable was 2006 when $18,659 was collected.

“Team members really worked at it,” McDonald said of fundraising.

Money raised goes to the Essentia Health Foundation’s breast cancer program. The program’s Compassionate Care Fund helps patients cover practical expenses like gas, groceries and mastectomy supplies. This lessens the financial burden that accompanies a cancer diagnosis. Indeed, more than 40 percent of people older than age 50 deplete their life savings within two years of a diagnosis, according to the American Journal of Medicine.

Dating to 2002, 86 women have paddled with the team, which was the brainchild of Mary Krook, a breast cancer survivor herself and the wife of Dr. James Krook, an oncologist who retired from the Essentia Health Cancer Center. They’ve all dealt with many of the same fears wrought by breast cancer. Consequently, Survivor Sistership doubles as a network of invaluable resources.

Whether it’s a candid conversation about the unknown or a question regarding insurance, there is someone willing to listen. And that, McDonald said, often is the most important role of all.

“Sometimes, it’s not saying anything; it’s just listening and being there for the person,” McDonald explained.

Lowney underscored the team’s close-knit nature with a story about lifejackets. When one of her teammates, Tenley Ireland-Witte, died from breast cancer in March 2009, in lieu of flowers Ireland-Witte requested money to purchase new lifejackets for the team. They are still in use today, a reminder of their departed “sister” and the unforgiving and indiscriminate nature of breast cancer.

Bonnie McDonald wears a pink life jacket commemorating former Survivor Sistership team member Tenley IrelandWitte, who died from breast cancer in 2009. In lieu of flowers at the funeral, Ireland-Witte asked people to donate money to the dragon boat team to purchase life jackets.

“That’s how much the team means to us,” Lowney said.

Lowney admits she’s considered retiring from the water on several different occasions. She is 71 — a number that seems about 10 years too high when you look at her — and battling skin cancer. But the team’s unofficial scrapbooker and historian isn’t ready to “give up my sisters.”

“They’re part of my life,” Lowney said. “They’ve been there for 18 years. I love each and every one of them.”

For McDonald, it’s been extra special to fundraise and advocate on behalf of the Essentia Health Foundation. She was employed at Essentia for 35 years, retiring in 2016 as manager of the radiation oncology department. She’s observed firsthand how much positive came to her patients from those donated funds. One hundred percent of donations to the foundation’s breast cancer program flow directly to patients and their families.

“It feels really good to give back to a foundation that, in turn, gives back to the community,” McDonald said.

As breast cancer survivors, their goal with each stroke of the paddle is to help other women do the same. In the process, they relish connecting for team meetings, practices and other events. That’s what it’s always been about — having fun and rallying around the collective strength of the group. It’s infectious, McDonald said.

At some point, perhaps, winning in the water during the Dragon Boat Festival was important. Not anymore.

“We’ve already won the biggest race of our lives, and that’s beating breast cancer,” Lowney said. D