For these breast cancer survivors, dragon boat racing is all about the camaraderie

For many members of the Avalon Dragons team, winning the races at the annual dragon boat festival in Paradise is only one aspect of dragon boating.

While Sheila Griffiths-Beresford, who rowed in the St. John's Regatta for over a decade, wants to win, it's the support and understanding among the team members that made her join last summer.

"At first, I thought it may be a place that maybe people talked about their cancer and support each other in that way, but it's not really. That's the last thing on our agenda," she said.

"We work hard. We have a lot of fun."

Griffiths-Beresford, who acted as the drummer during the 11th annual Paddle in Paradise on Octagon Pond Saturday, was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2022, after she found a lump in her breast.

Around the same time, her husband was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer, which led to the couple starting chemotherapy within a month of each other.

"You can imagine, that was quite a difficult ordeal to have to march through, but we managed it. And I really was more of a support system for him. He was suffering more than I was," said Griffiths-Beresford.

"And I found that I needed to find help somewhere for myself. I needed support."

As she had already paddled in the festival in the early 2000s, she knew about the Avalon Dragons — and that they were the group to turn to.

"I really don't know how I could have made it through last summer without this amazing group of women. I didn't paddle a whole lot because I didn't have much stamina, but they were there, they had experienced the things I was experiencing," said Griffiths-Beresford.

"They really buoyed me up. They lifted my boat and helped me get through what was a pretty difficult ordeal last summer."

To help women like Griffiths-Beresford on their emotional post-cancer journey, but also with physical exercise, a group of women started the Avalon Dragons in 2006.