A mammogram detected Merle Sherman’s stage one invasive breast cancer on Friday, February 13, 2009. Her surgery was Friday the 13th of March.
“That’s my lucky day,” she said. “If something feels not right, go see a doctor. It might save your life.”
Her treatment included a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer has not returned.
Sherman, 63, from La Center, was among more than 30 Pink Phoenix dragon boat paddlers racing on Vancouver Lake Sunday morning. The women on the team are bound together through a common diagnosis of breast cancer. More than 90 women in the Portland-Vancouver area paddle for the Pink Phoenix team. About a dozen live in Clark County.
Pink Phoenix is named for the mythical bird that rises from the ashes symbolizing rebirth and the beginning of a new life.
Sunday was the 23rd Annual Portland-Vancouver Row for the Cure regatta. It was the first year Vancouver Lake was the venue for the fundraising event, which raises money for breast cancer research via the nonprofit group Susan G. Komen of Oregon and SW Washington.
In past years, the race was held on the Willamette River in downtown Portland. It was staged in early October after the regular racing season ended. Moving the race venue to Vancouver Lake in late July took advantage of a gap in rowing and paddling season in the middle of the summer, said rower Kathy Frederick, who founded Row for the Cure in 1993.
“This is such a great venue. It’s a brand new race course. It’s beautiful,” Frederick said looking out toward the lake.
That first year the event raised a modest $1,500. So far this year, the event has raised $28,000 for breast cancer research.
Fundraising continues through July 31.
On Sunday, six dragon boat teams and 12 rowing clubs in racing shells participated in the 1,750 meter race. Frederick said organizers hope to double participation next year.
Early detection
It was Lisa O’Malley’s first year paddling for Pink Phoenix. When her mammogram detected a calcification cluster last year, she paid attention. Those were the same words doctors described her sister Linda’s mammogram, but doctors took a wait-and-see approach. Her sister died of breast cancer at age 47.
“It triggered me to get a biopsy, which caught it early,” said O’Malley, 55.
She was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in one breast. After researching the chances of the cancer recurring and spreading to her healthy breast, she decided to have a complete bilateral mastectomy.
“It was very hard to make that decision, but I was confident of my decision with the research I did,” she said. “Women on our team are going through treatment now” because cancer showed up later in the healthy breast, she said.
“It turns out to be a good story,” she said.
She’s been cancer-free for a year. She says paddling a dragon boat keeps her moving and staying strong.
“This whole event is about early detection,” O’Malley said. “We’re racing for a cure, but we’re promoting pre-screening.”
Before the Pink Phoenix paddlers climbed onto their dragon boat, the caller led them in a cheer akin to a military cadence:
“I don’t know, but I’ve been told.
Pink Phoenix women are strong and bold.
Strong and bold because we care.
We paddle for survivors everywhere.
One boob.
Two boobs.
One boob. Two boobs.
Or none!”
Paddler Sioux Kriss said it’s an appropriate cheer for these breast cancer survivors “since we’re all in different stages of breast reconstruction.”
But the first time she heard the cheer, she was put off by it.
“I felt like damaged goods,” she said.
At first she shared her breast cancer diagnosis only with her family, but not with friends. She kept it a secret.
“I was absolutely shell-shocked,” Kriss said. “And now, eight years later, I’m singing about not having any boobs!”
Before her cancer diagnosis, she said she was not an athlete, but paddling a dragon boat has changed her.
“We’re like a phoenix rising up from the ashes,” she said. “We’re not sitting on the couch. We’re out there living.”
After the race, Alice Alleman, Pink Phoenix head coach, gathered her paddlers around her to debrief. She told her team they had good timing and cadence.
Then she added: “But you also looked really fierce out there. It looked like you were having fun. Great racing!”
The Row for the Cure is more than three times longer than a standard 500-meter dragon boat course.
It takes not only strength, but also stamina.
“Alice has taught us we’re athletes,” paddler Sherman said. “Most of us didn’t know it.”
Then each paddler put one hand into the team circle and in unison shouted: “We are Pink Phoenix!”
