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'We don't focus on breast cancer, we focus on life'

Isobel Fry,North Westand
Lauren Hirst,North West
News imageBBC Ann Johnson, who is wearing a pink T-shirt with a dragon logo representing Manchester Dragoneers, is standing in front of a reservoir and smiling at the camera BBC
Ann Johnson set up the group in 2012 after being diagnosed with breast cancer six years earlier

A woman who set up a dragon boat team after undergoing treatment for breast cancer said the sport had helped her to forget about the gruelling reality of the disease.

Ann Johnson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, is the founder of Manchester Dragoneers which was created in 2012 to help women navigate life after cancer.

"After diagnosis, after treatment, you feel like you have been thrown off the edge of a cliff," said the 69-year-old.

"The traditional support groups are all in church halls [where you are] sat round and talking about breast cancer.

"I didn't want to do that. I wanted to be outdoors and be doing something different."

Ann had initially joined a breast cancer dragon boat team in Windermere in Cumbria before setting up the group closer to home.

"It's just so unique that you can get out on the water and forget about the clinics, the consultants and the doctors and your diagnosis really," she said.

"We don't focus on breast cancer, we focus on life."

News imageFive women, who are wearing red Team GB T-shirts and medals around their necks, are grouped together for a photograph in front of the water.
Kathy Yates, Anita Jones, Shelle Bradley, Lynn Ridgeway and Sue Merby competed for Team GB's breast cancer squad in the European Championship in Munich

According to research carried out by Canadian sports medical specialist Dr Don McKenzie in 1996, dragon boat paddling can help women to rebuild their strength and confidence.

His findings challenged the belief that strenuous upper body exercise was dangerous after treatment.

For people like Kathy Yates, who diagnosed in 2013, dragon boating has alleviated secondary symptoms.

"For over a 10-year period, I've really struggled with pain in my side from where I had radiotherapy," said the 58-year-old.

"I started coming here three or four years ago and I could not believe the difference the exercise was making to me.

"I came off my painkiller drugs that I've been taking every night, I was getting more flexibility and I was literally hooked from day one."

News imageKathy Yates, who is wearing a red T-shirt and has two medals around her neck, is smiling at the camera in front of the reservoir.
Kathy Yates said the exercise had made a huge difference to her life

When Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer, her daughter was just nine years old.

"All I could think about then was about survival and wanting to see her grow up, to see her get through school and graduate," she said.

"Not only have I seen her grow up but I've discovered a whole new passion in my life that I would have never known existed otherwise."

Now what started as a support system has turned into so much more for five of the Manchester Dragoneers, who competed for Team GB's breast cancer squad in the European Championships earlier this month.

The team won four silver medals in the tournament in Munich.

News imageSue Merby, who is wearing a red T-shirt and has two medals around her neck, is smiling at the camera in front of a reservoir.
Sue Merby said she found the group to be "empowering"

"It was disbelief really to think little old me who had breast cancer can then perform for the country," said Sue Merby, 60, who was diagnosed with the disease more than 10 years ago.

"It's not until you start doing stuff like this that you realise 'wow – all that I've achieved because I've had breast cancer – it's mad'."

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