Breast Cancer Survivors Pursue Good Health, Team Work With Rowing Group
(CBS) -- Three times a week, on the banks of the Chicago River on the city's West side, a group of women gather to row.
But these women have something else in common.
"I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer July 25, 2012," says Kimberly Reynolds, who started rowing three years ago as a way to deal with her emotions after a double mastectomy.
"At first, I thought African American woman, water and hair, those things don't go together in this world," she says, laughing. Then she hit the water. "I love it. It's become a part of me. I miss it if I can't do it."
Recovery on Water, or ROW, began in 2008 with four rowers who were breast cancer survivors. Now, it has 60 members. Coach Devlin Murdock says it's healing through exercise and teamwork.
"For at least 2 hours a day, our members can hang that breast cancer tag at the door and just be athletes, be rowers," Murdock says.
WBBM's Lisa Fielding
Studies show exercise reduces the risk for cancer recurrence and even diminishes the side effects of chemotherapy.
Most of the women had never rowed before they joined.
"I was living in New Orleans when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. We moved to Chicago in 2014 and I knew I wanted to be active, but I couldn't find the right fit. Then someone told me about the row club. I had never rowed before," says Joanne Baldwin-Glenn, who joined in 2015.
"I love being on the water. There's a community of like-minded people. Everyone understands where we've been. It's been really incredible," she adds.
Baldwin-Glenn says the sport has given her purpose: "It's changed my life in that I now don't have an excuse not to work out. I've tried different sports over the years and with the amount of endurance I've built up, I see myself as an athlete, which I've never felt before."
Several of the women race competitively and have even become instructors themselves. For Reynolds, she says ROW has changed her life.
"It's made me stronger, it's made me happier, it's made me a purpose to get up in the morning, I want to give back to my team," she says.
The women row in a 60-foot fiberglass boat, running drills and sprints every Monday night. Wednesdays and Sundays, and through the winter, they take to rowing machines in an industrial loft.
"It's difficult to describe but the light that you see on someone's face when they take that first stroke, is infectious. It's the moments that make it really worthwhile as a coach," Murdock says.
For more information about ROW log onto recoveryonwater.org
