By Susan Okula
If you need convincing that the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club is all about life, love, support and health, meet Chandra Jackson.
“I just try to be kind,” Chandra says. “I love to laugh and be with my friends and my family. You just have to be a good person, because that’s what God wants you to be.”
Chandra’s warmth shines on everyone in the ADBC. And it gets reflected right back to her. “I know that I have people who love me and encourage me to do what I need to do,” says Chandra about her sister boat club members.
Chandra, a breast cancer survivor diagnosed 15 years ago at the age of 45, has been dragon boating for five years. She is a member of both the Baltimore and Annapolis dragon boat clubs. She is the vice-chair of the Annapolis club and the chair of the survivor committee of the Baltimore club.
She is also a racing fiend. She estimates she’s been in 20 races with both clubs, including two international festivals, the latest in Italy in the summer of 2018. “Racing is what makes me happy and that is what is really keeping me healthy,” Chandra says.
And to think she nearly gave it up after her first practice! “I didn’t think I was good enough,” she says about her first time in a dragon boat. “But, who is good enough after their first practice? I have to thank my husband Ellsworth. He encouraged me to go back. And I did go back and that’s why I’m where I am today.”
Chandra believes that dragon boating has literally saved her life. In the early part of 2018 she developed heart problems, which doctors believe has its roots in the heavy-duty chemotherapy she got for breast cancer 15 years ago. (According to the Mayo Clinic, not all chemotherapy causes heart disease and it is a relatively rare side effect.) Chandra found out she has lost heart function, and had a defibrillator implanted.
And then, with the active encouragement of her doctors, she got back in the boat.
“The practicing and the racing has strengthened my heart for all these years,” she says. “Because I am an athlete and because I am in good condition from dragon boating, that’s why I’m still alive. That’s exactly what my cardiologist told me.”
Chandra keeps looking forward. “I’m so happy to be here,” she says. “I’m not angry with anybody. I am very proud of my body. You take me as I am.”
We are happy to do that, Chandra!
