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Hello!

Welcome to Humans of Dragon Boat, a photo-blog that tells the stories of dragon boaters from around the world. We hope you enjoy and will share your story with us!

Christine Edmonds

Christine Edmonds

“I started dragon boat in honor of my husband, Kevin Edmonds, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2012. Our 6 teams honor his memory and raise awareness and funds for pancreatic cancer research at the University of Pennsylvania. Kevin felt ill a few months after his sister Nora died of pancreatic cancer, and after spending many months in hospitals, we could not figure out what was wrong with him.

He had colonoscopies, endoscopies, bone scans, MRIs, CT scans, a capsule endoscopy, ultrasounds, bone biopsies, and tons of bloodwork. There was no definite diagnosis; perhaps gallbladder? Appendix? Fibromyalgia? Crohns disease? Eventually, we found the cause and, like his sister, he was diagnosed at 49 and died at 51.

Kevin had the most adventurous spirit. He was a snowboarder, a sailor, and a healthy man with a contagious love for life. He was beloved by all who knew him. Our neighbors started a dragon boat team the first summer after he died and we have added a team or two each year since then. Now people who have never met Kevin or Nora paddle for those they have loved and lost. We raise over $100,000 every year and are nearing our million dollar-goal.

Four years in, we were all at the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival. There were 150 teammates in our race shirts and hundreds of friends and family members cheering us on. Our children Harry and Adrienne (then 26 and 23) were surrounded by all of these people, with their grandfather flipping burgers at the grill and their dad's name printed on the backs of our team shirts. Someone walked up and said, ‘Kevin would love this.’ The sun was shining so hard and it was easy to believe that something amazing had sprung from something so very sad.”

[Christine Edmonds (Newtown, PA, USA), paddler on A Love for Life.]


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Florence "Vhence" Baito Brillantes

Florence "Vhence" Baito Brillantes

Lim Chun Yu

Lim Chun Yu