Pittsburgh women bond through dragon boating after life-altering diagnoses
PITTSBURGH —
A team of women in Pittsburgh has come together through dragon boating, united not by their love of the sport but by the shared experience of facing life-altering diagnoses.
On summer evenings along the Allegheny River, Mary Radacosky and her team of paddlers launch their dragon boats, finding strength and community through the sport. Radacosky serves as the director of operations and assistant coach for the Steel City Dragons.
“’Cause a lot of times you kind of want to scream when things are going on. And so instead of screaming, you get on that boat, and you work your butt off,” said Radacosky.
Rain or shine, the team trains together.
“I mean there are times we’re out here when it’s 95 degrees and 95% humidity, and it’s dripping, you know? And then there’s times when it’s 47, and it’s raining, and the water’s dripping in your eyes, you know, from the rain,” Radacosky said.
Radacosky, who picked up paddles four years ago.
“I thought, I’ve lived in Pittsburgh my entire life, and we don’t use our waterways as much as we should, so it was wonderful to have an opportunity to get out on the water,” she said.
But it wasn’t the rivers or a love of exercise that brought Radacosky and her teammates to the Steel City Dragons… It was cancer.
“I remember saying to my kids when I first found out, ‘Don’t worry, this is not going to take me out.’ Well, I had no idea what I had. I had no idea what my journey would be,” said Radacosky, who was diagnosed after a routine mammogram.
“Couldn’t feel anything, you know, unusual. Went for it, was called back for, you know, reimaging,” she said.
After multiple biopsies, Radacosky met her surgeon and made her priorities clear.
“I remember walking in and saying two things to her. One, I’m entering the third trimester of my life. You need to do whatever you can to get me to the end of that third trimester. I was 61 at the time,” she said.
“And I also said my first grandbaby is due in Seattle in six months. So whatever we can do to make sure I can make it out there, I would appreciate it,” Radacosky added.
In October 2022, she underwent a lumpectomy, a surgery that has revolutionized breast cancer treatment thanks to clinical trials launched in the 1970s by Dr. Bernard Fisher in Pittsburgh.
“He’s changed so many lives. If I had had this 30 years ago, they would have done a radical mastectomy on me, taking things all the way down to the rib cage, all the lymph nodes out. And I wouldn’t have been able to lift more than 10 pounds for the rest of my life,” Radacosky said.
Six months later, she was in Seattle, lifting her first grandchild for the first time.
Then, she returned to Pittsburgh to rejoin her dragon boating family, which includes the “Pittsburgh Unity” team of cancer survivors and the “Pink Steel” team, representing breast cancer survivors and those in active treatment. There is also a mixed team of both men and women.
“Unless you’ve been told that you have cancer, you don’t understand it,” Radacosky said.
In these boats, there’s a shared bond and resiliency.
“It’s the best non-support, support group that, you know, that I’ve ever participated in,” said Naomi Herman, a member of the Steel City Dragons.
Herman, 81, has been paddling for 18 years. She started after her own breast cancer diagnosis.
“Being a part of the community is phenomenal. And we can also be role models for our team, but also for our families. I have a big family, 18 grandchildren. And so it’s all a win-win. Yeah, you get sore. Yeah, you have to learn the stroke. But yeah, it’s just an amazing opportunity,” Herman said.
The team’s connections extend beyond Pittsburgh. In August, Radacosky competed with a team from Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Cleveland Dragon Boat Festival, where they took home the gold.
That same weekend, Sonia “Crash” Rogers, another Steel City Dragons member, competed at the International Breast Cancer Paddler’s Commission Festival in the French Alps.
“It’s like the Olympics of breast cancer survivors,” Rogers said. “It’s about 6 to 8 boats at a race at a time.”
Together, these survivors celebrate victories on the water and hope for victories after each MRI or mammogram.
“…And you always do feel like it’s sitting on your shoulder waiting to tap you again,” Radacosky said.
It’s a fear she knew long before her own diagnosis. Her best friend Kathy lost a 10-year battle with breast cancer in 2008 at the age of 46.
“She’d tell me to kick. You know what? I’m not going to say. ‘Keep kicking it in, Mare,’” Radacosky said.
“She was a very feisty, strong woman. And I think she would maybe, if she had survived, she might have introduced me to this. Yeah, but…” Radacosky trailed off, shaking her head.
Now 65, Radacosky recently passed another milestone… four years as a breast cancer survivor.