On a Monday morning four years ago, then 50-year-old May Kwong discovered a lump on the right side of her right breast. Unsure of what it was, she continued her daily routine of shower, dress and hop on the bus to work as a bank cashier.

A week later, when she noticed the lump hadn’t gone away, she told her friends and family, who advised her to see a doctor. Ever so stubborn, she held off for another week before getting that checkup. “I guess part of me was hoping it was just a benign lump,” she admits now. It wasn’t.

Nearly a year of treatments ensued. “Chemotherapy, radiation, medication – I did all of that,” she explains. The chemotherapy wasn’t so bad at first, she thought, but by the sixth session she started feeling its toll: hair loss, constant fatigue, lack of appetite.

For Kwong, who had led a healthy life up until that point, it was a petrifying experience. “I thought I was going to die,” she says. After that tough stretch lasting nearly six months, Kwong went under the knife and successfully had her lump removed.

“I was healed physically, but emotionally I wasn’t there yet,” she says. “I needed support from people who understood.” And so she found Dragons Abreast, a non-profit organisation that aims to encourage women diagnosed with breast cancer to lead full and active lives via outdoor activities, most notably dragon boating.

Within the first month of joining, Kwong flew to Singapore with the group and participated in her first dragon boat race. “It’s the perfect exercise for people who’ve undergone lump-removal surgery,” she says. “The rowing works the back and chest muscles, and at just the right level – it’s not too strenuous nor is it too easy.”

Best of all, they won. “It was a good bonding effort for all of us, and winning a prize made it feel all that much better.” These days, Kwong is back to her old life, almost. She still works at the bank, still takes care of her family at night, but every Sunday she paddles with her newfound family.

Ben Sin

The Dragons Abreast team competes in the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival from July 23-25. For more information, see Around Town feature.