Dragon Boat Racing Opens Whole New World for Breast Cancer Survivors
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
A year and a half ago Tina O’Brien was diagnosed with breast cancer. Today she is a survivor and a member of the Island Breast-Strokers and she couldn’t be happier.
Describing how she got into Island Breast-Strokers, Tina said, “actually it was my son-in-law’s co-workers that convinced me to become part of the Island Breast-Strokers. One day I e-mailed them and all of a sudden I was in! They’re all breast cancer survivors and we have a dragon boat team. We practice two to three times a week and I’ve met some great people who are all survivors like me.”
The Breast-Strokers dragon boat teams were started in Vancouver 10 years ago. The Island Breast-Strokers will also celebrate their tenth anniversary this year and the team is going to Singapore for the first world championships for breast cancer survivors.
Tina said, “it’s a two-day event that takes place at the end of September. I was actually looking to see if Ireland has a dragon boat team and they don’t, but the U.K. has. Adrian and I are going to Ireland for a wedding the first part of September, so I was going to see if maybe somebody could start a Breast-Strokers dragon boat team over there. Next year Adrian and I are going to Australia with the Breast-Strokers.”
Tina O’Brien was born in Hampshire in Portsmouth, England and she met her husband Adrian at Euston Station in London, through Adrian’s sister. The O’Brien’s have four children. Mairead is an Irish dance teacher who lives in Vancouver, but travels to Victoria every weekend to teach Irish dancing to 60 children.
Their sons are Frank, Kevin and Liam, and although not Irish dancers, they have attended lots of feis’ (Irish dance competitions) in Toronto, New York and Chicago, where their sister Mairead was dancing.
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For more information about the Breast-Strokers, call Tina O’Brien at C&A Jewellers at (250) 381-2174.
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