A Floating Support Group

by Madeleine Maccar | Oct 3, 2024
A Floating Support Group
About 13 years ago, Joan Grossberg’s life changed for the better in a development she never imagined could be credited to the cancer diagnosis that she wouldn’t let define her.

“I had my treatment, I had my surgery, I had my radiation and then I said, ‘OK, I’ll do what I have to do, I’ll check in every year, but we’re not talking about it, this is not who I am,’” she recalls. “And then a friend of mine told me about this dragon boat team she was on for breast cancer survivors. I had never heard of dragon boats but it piqued my curiosity so I came down and tried it out. I have to say, from the minute I put a foot in that boat, I was in. I was a lifer.”

That dragon boat team was the River Sisters, a group predominantly comprising breast cancer survivors. The Sisters welcome survivors of all ages, athletic ability and backgrounds to discover a passion for the sport through weekly training at the Camden County Boathouse, competing with other teams in their league locally, nationally and globally, and a team-first mentality that cements their collective bond.

It’s also a team rooted in mentorship, guidance and support—all of which remain cornerstones of the sisterhood’s ethos. The Sisters’ original incarnation was born of the River Sirens dragon boat team expanding their support of what’s now MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper from supporting fundraisers to sponsoring a team of survivors, at the urging of the center’s director Generosa Grana, MD, FACP.

“At that point, because the River Sirens were fundraising and donating, Dr. Grana said to them, ‘If you will sponsor and mentor a survivor team, I’ll give you a grant to buy a dragon boat,’” says Ruth Gubernick, a survivor of endometrial and breast cancer who, along with Jacki Radano and Denise Lannon, has been a team member since its 2007 beginning, despite her initial fears that a bad back and herniated discs might limit her involvement. “The person who was spearheading the River Sirens’ amazing mentorship told me to just get in the boat, so I did. And I’ve stayed in the boat!”

A name change and now operating as an independent team instead of under the River Sirens’ umbrella, plus an ever-changing member roster, have all been part of the Sisters’ evolution over the years. But the prevailing constants remain the camaraderie that’s instantly apparent as soon as a potential member takes her first seat in the Sisters’ dragon boat.

“Everyone here is so warm and welcoming, they are just the kindest bunch and we all feel so alive when we’re in the boat,” Grossberg says. “It is such a special—almost a sacred—place for all of us that people stay for many years. You don’t know what it is until you’ve tried it, and then you can’t imagine your life without it.”

And while membership does change as women feel they’ve aged out of boat racing and newcomers fill their seats, the group’s demographics tend to underscore the reality of how cancer doesn’t discriminate, with members ranging in age from 30s to 70s.

No matter the mix of individuals, the River Sisters remain an incredible, supportive community of empathetic women who understand the ups and downs they’ve all faced, from how much life changes after surviving a cancer diagnosis to understanding the necessity of the escape that both an athletic pursuit and common goal offer.

“It’s not just the physical activity that keeps me here: It’s this community of women who have been through hell and back,” Gubernick affirms. “We just support each other so much. Several of our members have had additional episodes, with either additional cancers or metastatic disease, and we’re there for each other, in the boat and out of the boat. It’s that community that’s so important to all of us. And when we get on the river, for me, it’s that mind and body benefit.”

Given the nature of what brings the River Sisters together, the team has had their share of painful goodbyes. They’ve recently lost two of their members, and are always looking for ways to honor their late Sisters’ memories while keeping them close at heart.

“We have two dragon boats, Hope and Spirit,” Grossberg begins. “In the past year, one of our beloved members passed away, she lost her battle in the early spring. She lived longer than she expected to, and she was a woman who was in the boat right up until the very last second, somebody who stepped up to be captain—she was quite a woman. With her family’s blessing, we are going to rename one of the boats ‘Mary’s Spirit’ because it was such a heartache and we all wanted to do something to honor Mary.”

Forging ahead for those they’ve lost often serves as additional motivation to keeping going for the gold as regular practice sessions give way to traveling across the country and internationally to compete as a team, led by their coach Maureen Kane and cheered on by the loved ones who stood beside them during one of the most terrifying times of their lives.

To be both an effective support unit for each member and a powerful force on the water, though, neither cancer nor ego have a place in the boat.

“We talk about everything but cancer,” says Grossberg. “It’s just this upbeat, fun team. … You do have to put your ego aside because you get on this boat and it’s not about you: It’s about what you can do for this cohesive unit. If your coach tells you you’re sitting in a certain place, doing something wrong or to do something harder, your ego has to be put aside in favor of the greater good.”

The River Sisters’ twice-weekly practice sessions on the Cooper River have their therapeutic benefits, but there is, of course, an end goal of going for the gold. Both Grossberg and Gubernick admit that while it’s not always about medaling, it certainly is an incredible payoff for their united efforts to earn some hardware. And as the River Sisters prepare for competition—including 2026’s international festival in France—their eyes are always on the prize, especially when they stop to appreciate the extent of their collective journey, from diagnosis to dragon boat.

“When we get on the water for the races, we go from that Kumbaya feeling of ‘We’re a team and we love everybody’ to ‘All we want to do is win!’ when it’s between us and a group of 18-year-olds,” Grossberg notes with a laugh. “We’re focused. We’re in a breast cancer survivor division, BCS, so we’re racing against other teams, and these are athletes. You can’t believe it when you look at all these women and you think about how every single one of these women have cancer in their background: You see muscles, you see strength, and we’re out there on the water and we’re killing it. We’re paddling as hard as we can.”

And they do appreciate when they can be an inspiration for others who are fighting the same battle they have. In the offseason, the River Sisters participate in Blankets of Hope, delivering the blankets they’ve made to cancer patients in an effort to not only care for others but also serve as living proof that cancer isn’t always a life sentence.

They’ve also invited medical professionals like Dr. Grana to join them on the water as witnesses to just how thoroughly they’ve been able to reclaim their lives, their health and their bodies.

“We have now gotten physicians and staff from MD Anderson in the boat with us,” Gubernick proudly notes. “The last two years, we organized that through MD Anderson, and it’s been great. We’ve invited them to the boathouse, we’ve talked about our team and we have taught them how to dragon boat—and we make them get in the boat with our membership interspersed, and then we race against each other. It’s really an educational opportunity: Part of it is to thank them for what they’ve brought to our lives, but also to be able to encourage them to share this with their patients who are finished with treatment, who are looking for something for their health and well-being and a sense of community.”

The River Sisters know all too well how life-shattering cancer diagnosis and treatment can be, and they’re here to help make things feel less scary and more like a team effort, always welcoming new members with the same open arms they extend to long-timers.

“Everybody’s waiting for the other shoe to drop: Once you’ve had cancer, every time you go for a mammogram or a doctor’s visit, until they say, “OK, you’re good,” you don’t fully exhale,” Grossberg explains. “But what you have here is a built-in support group. When things are good, your teammates cheer you on; when things are not-so-good, you have somebody to talk to, you have somebody to put an arm around you who gets it, and that’s the uniqueness of this dragon boat experience.”

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Author: Madeleine Maccar

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