In a day filled with competitive spirit, race preparations, and the general hubbub of thousands who gather on the shore of Little Lake to take part in Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival, a few quiet moments will be set aside midday on June 10th to remember the reason for the gathering.

“The Carnation Ceremony can be a very emotional experience,” says this year’s festival co-chair Carol Mutton, “especially if the team has lost someone recently.”

The Carnation Ceremony has become a traditional part of Dragon Boat Festivals around the world in which breast cancer survivors are participating.

It originated at a race in Vancouver in 1996, when one of the paddlers brought fushia-coloured roses from her garden that just happened to be in full bloom and matched the dragon-boating shirts her team would wear.

The paddlers tucked them into their headbands as they raced.

The following year, the sentiment was repeated in honour of a novice paddler who relapsed and was unable to take part in the race. A teammate brought pink flowers as tokens of their hope for their friend’s survival. Instead of the paddle salute, the team spontaneously threw their pink flowers onto the water.

By 1998, flower-tossing was co-ordinated into a ceremony, and it has since become rooted into the dragon boating culture.

After the cancer survivors race, usually mid-day at the Peterborough festival, the boats gather near the shoreline and a lull comes over the crowd. In Peterborough, the Peterborough Pop Ensemble has provided the musical meditation for the few minutes before and after the names of those who have lost their cancer battle are read.

In fact, when Peterborough hosted the International Dragon Boat Festival in 2010, the Ensemble’s music director Barbara Monahan wrote a piece specifically for the event, “Never Really Gone”, a piece that has been requested again and again and is now a permanent part of Peterborough’s Carnation Ceremony.

“It’s just that sense of loss, and it’s also celebratory,” Mutton says. “Celebrating that we are all alive, and hoping for a bright future.”

All photos by Linda McIlwain / kawarthaNOW.

Gina Lee manages the pre-race practices for Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.

When it comes to organizing dozens of teams and practice times — and roping in coaches, volunteers, steers-people, water time, and even gas for the safety boat — she not only does it, but loves it.

“I’m kind of a spreadsheet queen,” Lee says. “I love doing that. I have one of the earliest contact with the team captains. I get to welcome them to the festival.”

Registration for the Peterborough Dragon Boat festival opens in February, and that’s when team captains hear from Lee. The earlier a team registers, she says, the better choice for practice times it will have.

“I love working with the team captains. Everyone is there for the right reasons and the best of reasons.”

Once a team has a confirmed practice time, two other things happen: first, they’re offered the chance to buy a second practice time, and, second, Lee assigns the team a practice coach.

The practice coaches have trained specifically to work with community paddlers on the water. In late May and early June, Little Lake in Peterborough is dotted with dragon boats — some taking on the challenge of dragon boating for the first time.

“Safety is a key component,” Lee says. All paddlers wear personal floatation devices and are taught how to embark and disembark the boat safely.

They’re also taught how to hold the boat, and basic commands like “Take it Away” and “Paddles Up.”

Equally important, Lee says, is that every paddler feels comfortable.

“We want to make sure they have a great experience. The more fun they can have on the festival day, the better. We really strive to make the practices fun so the paddlers look forward to race day.”

And, for physical comfort, paddlers are also taught how to paddle without hurting themselves.

Lee says one of the most rewarding parts of her commitment to the festival is seeing a brand new team learn to paddle in synch.

“It’s really something to see a brand new team leave the dock for their practice,” she laughs. “They’re all over the place.

“Then you see them come back in, and they’re all paddling in synch and have complete control of the boat. It’s really quite amazing.”

On race day, there will be royalty.

Just check out plans for the Dragon’s Lair this year — they include a butler and footmen, a housekeeper, and possibly a tea boy.

Under the supervision of Survivors Abreast team member Diane Couse, the lair will be what she calls “cooshy and comfy.”

“It’ll be what we would want,” she adds.

Those in line to the Dragon’s Lair throne will be the team that raises the most this year. Last year, it was the aptly titled RBC Queen Bees.

“After last year, we checked in with the Queen Bees and asked for their feedback,” Couse says. “This year, we’ve incorporated as much as we could.”

Until the last minute, it’s hard to know who will occupy the lair on June 10th. But whoever accedes to the lair this year will be privy to some royal treatment.

A butler will serve food and ensure comfort, the pantry will be stocked by It’s a Wrap, and there will be a privacy screen to ensure paddlers can change between races.

“We also have a comfort station specifically for our lair paddlers,” Couse adds. While the comfort station will, by necessity, be a Don on the Job, the atmosphere will be royal.

“We also have a social director for the lair who will try to fill the lulls in the day,” Couse adds. “There will be trivia challenges and games to keep the fun going throughout the day, and of course, the social director will ensure the paddlers get to the marshal area on time.”

One of the improvements to the lair this year includes the size: it will be 10 feet longer than it was last year. And it will include a large banner to mark the spot.

“Part of this is to reward the top fundraisers,” Couse says. “The other part is to inspire next year’s fundraisers. We want people to see the lair and want it for their team.”

Like the other members of Survivors Abreast, Couse has battled breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2008 “out of the blue,” she has had two mastectomies, a hysterectomy, radiation and chemotherapy, and was off work for a year and a half.

“When it eventually came time for me to retire,” she says, “I wanted to give back.”

She does that by working at My Left Breast, paddling twice a week year round with Survivors Abreast and, this year, coordinating the Dragon’s Lair.

Her reward?

Says Couse, “There’s nothing like being on the lake on a summer evening. There’s a certain sound that the paddles make when we’re all in synch that soothes the soul.”

All photos courtesy of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Glenn Goodwin keeps his eye on the prize.

The prize, he says, is knocking out the “fatality” factor from breast cancer, so it can be a manageable illness, similar to diabetes.

Since 2002, Goodwin and his team of Ontario public service workers, the Eau Naturals, have been creating waves atPeterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival to do just that.

“The stress that patients go through, the absolute terror of the unknown, because this disease historically has been such a killer,” Goodwin says. “That’s what we want to get rid of.”

This year on June 10th, for the second year in a row, he will paddle alongside two family members — creating a generational link for his effort. His daughter Ragna Goodwin and his 14-year-old grandson Ian Armstrong will join Goodwin’s Eau Naturals.

Another grandson, who paddled with the Eau Naturals in 2016, has jumped ship to join the Crestwood Secondary School team — a team that came on board last year and won the festival overall, to the surprise and delight of many.

“The boys have been adamant about trying dragon boating,” Goodwin says. “It’s hit pretty close to home.”

Both his grandsons know people who have battled breast cancer, or who are battling it now. An educational assistant at their school is one of them; the daughter-in-law of their crossing guard is another.

“Besides, they know it’s a fun day, and now it’s a tradition,” Goodwin adds.

Like many who race in Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival, the cause is as much about awareness as it is about fundraising. While Goodwin puts the focus on awareness, he knows the Eau Naturals spread a spirit that contributes to the overall fundraising effort as well.

“It’s the little festival that grew,” he adds. “It sort of invades everything at this time of year, raising awareness and money.

“Once you get to talk to people who have been through the experience and have come out the other side successfully, you hear their stories about the stress involved in travelling to various places to get treatment. It’s so much better to have it close to home.”

So what about that prize Goodwin keeps his eye on?

“I think the idea of a cure is a bit of a dream,” Goodwin says. “Maybe the best that can be done is to put patients in a position where they no longer have to fear for their lives.

“Each year we’re getting closer to whatever they figure the ultimate response to this disease is. If our efforts contribute to saving one life, it was worth it.”

Photo courtesy of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Beautiful weather welcomed the 15th anniversary of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at Little Lake.

Seventy-one dragon boat teams comprising around 1,400 paddlers came together to raise funds for the purchase of a mammography unit for the Breast Assessment Centre at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

There were 63 community teams, with names like “The Rack Attack” and “Lovin’ Our Boobies”, and eight breast cancer survivor teams, including local teams “Survivors Abreast – Spirit” and “Survivors Abreast – Spirit 2”.

The races started at 8:30 a.m., with morning heats determining team placement for the afternoon races. Morning races were followed by opening ceremonies featuring local dignitaries and the Peterborough Pop Ensemble leading the national anthem, the pink carnation ceremony (where the names of former members of survivor teams who had lost their battle with breast cancer were read aloud), and the special breast cancer survivor race featuring the eight survivor teams.

For its 15th year, the festival’s fundraising goal was $215,000. The top fundraising team, Survivors Abreast Courage, raised $15,210.85. The top individual fundraisers were Sherry Watson of Survivors Abreast Courage, who raised $2,765, Michelle Thorton of Survivors Abreast Spirit, who raised $2,150, and Jennifer Edgerton of Dragon R Butts, who raised $2,114.30.

Here are some photos from this year’s event by kawarthaNOW staff photographer Linda McIlwain.

kawarthaNOW writer Jeanne Pengelly was at the 2016 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival and asked a number of people why it was important to them.

The people Jeanne spoke to were some of the hundreds of volunteers, fundraisers, spectators, paddlers, and organizers who took breast cancer to heart at the 16th annual festival.

Since the event launched in 2000, individuals, teams and corporate sponsors have raised $2.8 million for cancer care facilities at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

As with this year’s Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival, funds raised by last year’s festival will support a new 3D full-field digital mammography machine at PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre, which will help improve the accuracy of breast cancer screening and reduce the number of call-backs for second checks.

You can still sponsor a team of paddler by visiting www.peterboroughdragonboatfestival.com.

Representing support staff from Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, Sonia Wilson #KRPisawesome says "We have colleagues who have battled or are battling breast cancer, and we paddle for them. As well, we support student success and wellbeing, so we are here in their names as well."

Adam Summers, left, and Connor Massimo of Team Pulse Physio Paddlers say another physiotherapy clinic challenged his to paddle this year. Adds Connor: "It's a great cause and we like that the money stays locally at PRHC. Everyone is affected by someone with breast cancer."

Jim Brown representing GE Hitachi with Team GE Volunteers says the Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival is "a celebration. It's a party. It's about the fundraising so we can have more survivors."

With her breast cancer survivor mom at her side, nurse practitioner Michelle Russelle of Team Chemong Docs, Dudes and Dolls says "We think of all the patients we have had with breast cancer, all the families affected, and our own families. It's so easy to see it's a good cause."

Robert Longstaff and Chery Boyes are new to Peterborough and, while they weren't paddling, they were cheering. "It helps everyone," Robert says. "And it's nice to come here and be part of the community. It's like a family here."

Susan Dunkley, business manager of the Peterborough Pop Ensemble, comments on the annual appearance of the ensemble during the Memorial Flower Service: "It's really important to remember. It's an honour to sing as the survivors remember those lost to breast cancer. The event itself? It's really a community-building event."

Andra Hughes, left, representing AONs Navy says the "biggest thing is that the money stays locally and we can see in our community how it helps." Her colleague Jeannette Larsen adds that it wasn't until the group got involved in the festival that they realized how many families and clients wanted to contribute.

The RBC Queen Bees raised $14,000 for this year's festival, and they know that's partly because they have a survivor in their midst. "You're going to make me cry," says Patti Perry, left. "It's all about my colleagues."

Kawartha Credit Union's Crystal Dayman says their sponsorship of the Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival for 15 years is an outreach based on company values that include caring for others and supporting credit union members. For KCU, it's partly a team-building day. This year, they entered three teams: Liquid Assets, Cash Flow and The Membership. "We all know someone affected by breast cancer and we want to do something to help. We're here for those people who are fighting and," she adds," it's just an awesome day!"

"It's a time to come together because we have something to prove to the world: that there is life after cancer," says Nancy Marshall, captain of the Cobourg Survivor Thrivers.

Team Galaxy Kung Fu Pandas' Alycia Buck, right, says "I think it's important to make people aware that we can make a difference." Evan Way, second from right, of Team Will's Warriors adds: "It brings the community together for a good cause."

Nora Darling (middle) races because she knows how breast cancer affects families: her sister had breast cancer. "We always come to this event," she says. And now it's a family affair — with her children volunteering in support of the cause.

Derek Fife of the Minute Maid Peelers simply says he takes part because "breast cancer affects a lot of people. It's affected every family in some way."

Thirteen-year-old Ellie Murdoch of Selwyn (middle) remembers her "grammy" having breast cancer, and the 2016 festival was her first time taking part in the event as a volunteer. "It feels nice to come here and fundraise for other people," she says. "Volunteering makes you feel good." Rileigh Darling (left) is here volunteering for the first time, along with her family.

Taylor Ahren, 12: "It makes me feel really good to be here and know we are supporting women out there who are paddling."

Dr. Rola Shaheen has a vision. Dr. Shaheen, Chief of Radiology and Medical Director of Diagnostic Imaging at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), would like to see every woman 50 and older in Peterborough and the Kawarthas book a mammogram and keep the appointment as a matter of routine — “like a manicure or a facial,” she says.

“Women look after themselves in other ways without giving it a second thought,” Dr. Shaheen says, with a smile. Not because she is joking, but because she is absolutely serious. To Dr. Shaheen, having a mammogram is a no-brainer.

“The Ontario Breast Screening Program does a terrific job of ensuring women are screened for breast cancer,” Dr. Shaheen says. “But we have to do more.”

Her logic is simple. Since we don’t yet know what causes breast cancer, she says, we cannot prevent it. All we can do is detect it as early as possible to curb its otherwise deadly outcome.

“Screening does save lives,” she says.

The proof, she adds, is in the numbers. Over the past few decades, as more women have gone for mammograms and mammography technology has improved, the incidence of women dying from breast cancer has gone down. Thanks to improvements in screening, detection, and treatment, the five-year survival rate is 88% for women and 80% for men.

Dr. Shaheen has also worked in Abu Dhabi, where there is no organized breast cancer screening program. She saw educated women who were so fearful of a breast cancer diagnosis that they avoided talking to their doctors, even hiding lumps, and eventually facing a grim prognosis.

“Why do we, in North America, have better survival rates?” Dr. Shaheen asks. “Everything else in Abu Dhabi is the same. They have doctors, the same ability to treat. What is different here? It’s the screening programs that have made the difference.”

She envisions more work on the education front, so that women understand the remarkable fact that, if detected early, breast cancer rarely kills.

Breast cancer is the single most common cancer in Canadian women: the government predicts that one in nine women will be diagnosed with it in their lifetime. The earlier that breast cancer is detected, the sooner it can be treated and the better the chances of survival. Access to screening programs is key, as research has shown that women who have regular mammograms are more likely to survive breast cancer.

“By the time a woman can feel the mass, it can mean a mastectomy versus a lumpectomy,” Dr. Shaheen says. “The prognosis is much worse. Early detection will save you.”

But screening programs, she adds, are only as good as the equipment that is available. PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre is equipped with three mammography machines, thanks to generous donations from the community — much of it through Survivors Abreast and the thousands of donors, paddlers, sponsors and volunteers who have contributed to Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival over the years.

Dr. Shaheen says she has no doubt those machines — now seven years old — have saved many lives: 8,000 mammograms are performed with them each year. She says moving to three-dimensional technology is the next step — a step that will directly affect each woman who comes to PRHC for a mammogram.

As she explains, think of a pepper shaker as your breast. The current mammography machines can take a two-dimensional picture of that shaker, and it can take it from both the front and the side. Essentially, that’s what a mammogram is: two images of each breast.

If a shadow is present, there is really no way to know with certainty if it is simply an anomaly on the image or a significant finding. In other words, whether it’s a single speck of black pepper amid otherwise beige powder or a mass of black peppercorns.

This means the woman is called back for further testing: a process that involves worry, fear, and anxiety. Most often needless, as just a small fraction of the women who are recalled are actually diagnosed with cancer.

A three-dimensional mammogram, also known as tomosynthesis or “tomo”, can identify the nature of that shadow with more certainty, because it takes images of the breast in “slices” from many different angles rather than from just the front and the side. This is particularly important for women with dense breast tissue, which is difficult to see through on a two-dimensional mammogram.

“The 3D mammogram can navigate through the tissue with more accuracy, minimizing call-backs and the worry they cause women,” Dr. Shaheen explains.

Medical studies are backing this with extraordinary results, she adds. One comprehensive North American study (Tomosynthesis Mammography Imaging Screening Trial) involving several Canadian centres is already showing significantly more accurate results with 3D imagery, particularly for younger women with dense breasts.

Dr. Shaheen’s eyes light up when she talks about her estimate that three-quarters of women would benefit from the new machines.

“We can’t prevent breast cancer because we don’t know what causes it,” she says. “Yet I believe breast cancer can be defeated. Screening is the key.”

Improving breast screening even further at PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre means investing $1.9 million to replace aging equipment with three new full-field digital mammography units — one each year over the next three years.

Besides ensuring their ability to continue generating breast images of the highest possible quality, which in turn empowers PRHC’s radiologists to make the most precise observations, this investment will allow the centre to take advantage of new technologies like three-dimensional screening, resulting in decreased call backs for additional imaging and greatly reduced patient anxiety.

PRHC is once again turning to the community to help fund this important new equipment, so the hospital remains a regional leader in breast screening,

According to Dr. Sarah Harvie, lead radiologist at PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre, when the new hospital opened eight years ago, community donations funded the jump from analog (film) mammograms to the far more sensitive digital technology. The quality of digital images allowed health professionals to provide a greatly improved standard in breast screening.

“We were one of the first hospitals in the region to offer all our patients digital mammography,” Dr. Harvie says. “Donor investment has enabled a standard of care at the Breast Assessment Centre that is on par with the top hospitals across this country.”

Investing in the three new mammography units for the Breast Assessment Centre will ensure that this standard of care remains available in the future.

To make a gift, call 705-876-5000 or visit www.prhcfoundation.ca. Your donation will help save the lives of women and men from across our region.

VIDEO: Leaf’s Story – How donors helped save this mother of three’s life

All photos by Linda McIlwain / kawarthaNOW except where noted.

It’s a topic often avoided, but one in nine Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Tragically, one in 30 women will die from it.

Studies also show that early detection is critical and regular mammograms can reduce the risk of dying from breast cancer. That’s why the Breast Assessment Centre at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) is so important. The centre performs 8,000 mammograms each year using its three mammography machines.

“Many people don’t realize that the government does not typically fund hospital equipment or technology,” says Lesley Heighway, President and CEO of Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation. “That’s why the most generous communities have the best hospitals.”

Community donations furnished PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre with state-of-the art equipment back in 2008 when the new hospital opened. Since then, the centre’s technologists have conducted 64,000 mammograms for residents of Peterborough and surrounding communities, saving lives in the process.

But the equipment at the centre is now eight years old, and the time has come to replace it. Like any technology, says Heighway, medical equipment suffers from wear and tear and eventually needs to be replaced. An additional benefit of replacing medical equipment is that it often provides the opportunity to take advantage of the latest technological advances.

For the Breast Assessment Centre, that means buying three new mammography machines — one over each of the next three years — that have the capability to do three-dimensional imaging, a technology called “tomosynthesis.”

“Tomosynthesis provides clearer images so that doctors can catch anomalies in the breast sooner,” Heighway explains, adding that one of the biggest benefits of tomosynthesis is the reassurance it offers patients.

With traditional mammograms, patients are often called back because of a shadow on an image that might or might not be cancer. Tomosynthesis helps minimize false positives and reduce the number of call backs, lowering stress and anxiety for both patients and their families.

“This can ensure you have a quicker answer: either I have cancer and my life is going to change, or I don’t and my life is back to normal,” Heighway says. “Those are huge swings of emotion and thought, and impact on family.”

The projected cost of three new mammography machines is almost $1.9 million. The 2015 and 2016 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festivals were a great start to the campaign, raising more than $337,000. Since then, community donations have brought the PHRC Foundation two-thirds of the way to its goal (as of May 2017).

“We can only do this with the support of the community,” she says. “Our community transformed the Breast Assessment Centre. We wouldn’t have the technology available that we have today if the community hadn’t stepped up. It funded the mammography machines, much of the ultrasound technology, and even lab equipment used in breast cancer diagnosis.”

Heighway adds that the effort made by the community to build a state-of-the-art facility has extended beyond screening to include breast cancer care as well.

“Through its generous support, the community has helped PRHC offer cancer care services across the spectrum, supporting laboratory, surgical and palliative care investments, and bringing life-saving radiation treatment to our community for the first time,” she says.

While donor investment has already enabled a standard of care at the Breast Assessment Centre on par with the top hospitals across this country, investing in the three new mammography units will ensure this standard of care remains available in the future.

“Breast cancer screening saves lives,” she adds. “This is the next investment our community is being asked to make to keep cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment close to home, particularly for women.”

You can help ensure the Breast Assessment Centre maintains its high standard of care, and continues to save the lives of men and women from across our region, by making a donation to the PRHC Foundation.

To make a gift, call 705-876-5000 or visit http://bit.ly/make-a-gift-to-prhcf.

Donations towards mammography machines at PRHC will save lives