Kamloops Spirit Warriors heading to Italy for dragon boat festival

KAMLOOPS – In a few weeks, the Spirit Warriors Dragon boat team will be joining more than 120 teams from all over the world in Florence, Italy for a dragon boat festival organized by the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission.

The festival takes place every four years to bring together breast cancer survivors.

"There will be 4,000 breast cancer survivors from all over the world," Biruta Groves, a paddler with the Spirit Warriors says. 

Groves, a breast cancer survivor for nearly six years, says 25 paddlers from the Kamloops dragon boat team will be heading to Europe from July 4 to July 8.

"Some women have already left and some are leaving this week," she says, adding the team has been fundraising for two years for this trip.

"We have raised $36,000 so that will cover registration, accommodation and spending money," Grove says.

The Kamloops Spirit Warriors dragon boat team was started nearly a decade ago and Grove says she joined shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"Life after breast cancer is not the same, your body and mind are not the same," she says.

Becoming a paddler for the Spirit Warriors dragon boat team has helped her emotionally and mentally.

"I can't imagine my life without the Spirit Warriors, we call each other sisters," she says.

Grove says the festival will be an emotional but rewarding experience for all the people who attend.

"There will be a carnation ceremony where all the women will hold hands and have a pink carnation," she says. "At the end of the ceremony, everyone will throw the carnation into the water to represent those of us who haven't been lucky with our journeys or the ones that are struggling."

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