We went to the New Zealand Dragon Boat Festival in April 2023. Thousands of breast cancer survivors and their supporters competed and celebrated both the games and the journey to New Zealand. International festivals are our Olympics, and the International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission holds one every four years.
Kate is a survivor, and her mom Becky came to New Zealand with us. After the festival, Becky sent us this heartfelt letter.
Kate and Becky at the 2023 New Zealand Dragon Boat Festival
I have become your Texas representative of the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club.
Anyone who I can get to stand still long enough to hear about your wonderful organization gets an earful! I’ve told my three closest friends, family members, my breast imaging center providers, and others who looked like they needed the information. I could go on and on. None had previously heard of dragon boats, but they have now!
The Annapolis Dragon Boat Club is a group of very, very special people.
To say I was devastated when Kate was diagnosed would be a giant understatement. After watching both of my parents suffer through and ultimately die of breast and prostate cancer, Kate’s diagnosis was something I was afraid would do me in. I teetered on the edge of a big, black hole until Kate found you.
Wonderful Club members embraced her, taught her, and brought her into a new, positive, and fun world.
I cannot thank each and every one of you enough. I was far away and worried, but I knew Kate would be okay. She now had the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club.
Being a part of the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club in New Zealand was the most life-affirming event I’ve ever been involved in.
I had spent months being extremely angry that my daughter had the horrible disease that had taken too many of my family members. New Zealand took away my bitterness and moved me toward healing. It is hard to be bitter in the middle of thousands of joyful cancer survivors. I am grateful to have been surrounded by them.
I hope my donation will help lead another person to the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club and perhaps even soothe another devastated mother.
I’ll see you in France in 2026!
Kiwi hugs and kisses to my ADBC friends,
Becky
— Heartfelt letter from Becky, an Annapolis Dragon Boat Club supporter
