Angie

I am so grateful beyond words to have found Hope Afloat.  After going through Stage I & III breast cancer (yes, 2 different types of breast cancers at the same time), spending over a year of my life having multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, numerous doctor appointments, and just totally being consumed with beating this terrible disease, life had definitely changed.  I was so lost in my “new normal.”

I was, and still am, so filled with gratitude to have won this cancer battle, but nothing was the same.  No one understood.  I had such a sense of loneliness and depression.  I was not the same person, I did not look or feel the same.  I searched for after-cancer support groups, looked for peers that might have gone through the same thing, but no luck.  One day I stumbled across Hope Afloat’s website.  I reached out.  I spoke with a lovely woman name Janice.  I was intrigued, but how could I go from work in the suburbs of Philadelphia to downtown on the Schuylkill River a few evenings a week?  What about my family?  I was still so weak and out of shape from what my body endured.  I decided I just could not do it – mentally or physically.

Then, a few weeks later Janice called me back.  She just wanted to check on me and we talked a lot about our struggles with cancer.  Janice asked me just to come down to the river and see what dragon boating is all about and to meet some of the team.  Well, I did!!  I am forever thankful to Janice for that follow up phone call.  I have been with the team now for 6 years.  I love being on the river.  I love the competition, not only in the boat, but in my mind.  This group of ladies have taught me so much emotionally and physically!  Dragon boating is the bridge that gave me my life back.  I am strong, I am healthy, I am Hope Afloat!

Angie Hagstrom

Special dedicated to my teammate Janice Antner. RIP.