Sport has emerged as one of the great weapons of many women to win their particular battle against breast cancer, the main cause of death among women in Spain.
For this reason, on the occasion of the World Day to Fight Breast Cancer, the Royal Spanish Canoeing Federation wanted to tell the experience of the members of the so-called dragon ship of the BCS (Breast Cancer Survivor) category.
Among the participants in this project are María del Mar González, Susana Miguel, Raquel Avilés, Carmen Díez, Macarena Hinojosa, Ángeles Alonso, Rocío Fernández, Victoria Peña, Isabel Lobillo, Ana Isabel Líebanas, Rosa Vázquez or Lola Vera, who did not doubt it at the time of following the initiative of the Canadian specialist in sports medicine Dan McKenzie, who advised practicing canoeing to all those women who have overcome the disease, pointing out that it would help them to strengthen the heart and their immune system and improve their quality of life.
Susana Miguel, who competes in the Asturias Dragón Rosa, tells the Spanish Canoeing Federation that she made the leap to canoeing after swimming. “They told me to go try, but I didn’t want to. However, I ended up going and got hooked. That was almost four years ago. It helps you a lot to recover your arm. Shoveling on the boat is a way to regain that strength and elasticity. And it also helps psychologically because we have a good laugh, “he says.
Another example of overcoming is that of María del Mar González and the moment in which she met the Angeles del Valle dragon boat project in Seville. “She found out that in 2019 a European was going to be held in Seville and that BCS boats were competing and she made a call to recruit women who had had the disease,” says the now president of the SeviDragón Canoeing Sports Club. “We have shown that we have the same strength, that we have overcome the disease and that we train and prepare for regattas without limitations because we are athletes. Being Dragonas has made us stronger in every way,” he says. The word of a dragon who knows what it is like to defeat breast cancer with paddles on the canoe.