WLRN CELEBRATES BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the United States. Statistics estimate one in eight women during their lifetime will have breast cancer. Today, women sharing the same journey as breast cancer survivors are finding the personal and physical strength to not only fight, but triumph over the growing disease.
As South Florida Storyteller Station, WLRN is committed to bringing inspiring stories to life that educate and uplift our audience. In the spirit of Pinktober -WLRN will be broadcasting three of our award winning local documentaries that share the stories of breast cancer survivors and how through the sport of dragonboat racing, they are transforming their lives.
- Wednesday October 5th, 7pm - ALL IN THE SAME BOAT
- Wednesday October 5th, 7:30pm - CONQUERING THE DRAGON
- Friday October 7th, 11pm - ALL IN THE SAME BOAT
- Friday October 7th, 11:30pm - CONQUERING THE DRAGON
- Wednesday October 12th, 7pm - OCEANS OF PINK: WARRIORS OF HOPE
- Friday October 14th, 11pm - OCEANS OF PINK: WARRIORS OF HOPE
(2009) All in the Same Boat: Stories of Breast Cancer Survivors ALL IN THE SAME BOAT: Stories of Breast Cancer Survivors is about spirited women who overcame their insecurities, battled breast cancer, and refused to let their diagnosis take away the joy of life. More than that (and as the title implies), it is a half-hour television program about Save Our Sisters (SOS), a dragon boat racing team whose members are all breast cancer survivors, and how that “twist” in their lives prompted them to embark on a journey “all in the same boat”.
(2010) In CONQUERING THE DRAGON: Stories of Breast Cancer Survivors, the dragon boat team Save Our Sisters (SOS) are back and the stakes are high as the women must learn to work together to gain control of the tempo of their boat and their lives to overcome the disease. More than that, it celebrates the global community of breast cancer survivors who learn to face the dragon and transform the breast cancer experience into redemption.
(2016) In our latest WLRN documentary in this series, which premiered earlier this year, OCEANS OF PINK tells the story of how dragon boat racing has become a fast-growing sport among breast cancer survivors across Florida. A sequel to our two earlier WLRN documentaries about the birth of dragon boat racing in South Florida, the film follows the efforts of Miami boat leader Kim Bonomo, herself a survivor, to expand the movement with new teams throughout the state and her campaign to make Florida the host of the Fourth International Participatory Dragon Boat Festival. It’s an emotional journey that tells the stories of several Latina women diagnosed with advanced stage cancer and their desperate struggle for survival. Their stories speak to a widespread problem in the Hispanic population where women tend to seek breast mammography much later than other groups, which results in them being less likely to be diagnosed in the earliest stages of breast cancer. The stories build to the international race event in Sarasota, the first of its kind in the United States. Thousands of survivors from around the globe celebrate the sisterhood of dragon boaters, a community of support that is helping women overcome the challenges of cancer.
