Allison Poltorak, an engineering executive from Annapolis with no family history of breast cancer, was shocked in 2018 to find out she had the illness.

“You can’t help but wonder what the future holds for you,” Poltorak said. “You’re wondering if you’re going to make it. What’s going to change in your life? Are you going to become a burden to your family?”

She had a great support system, but nobody who’d battled the disease before. She was determined to keep working as the CEO of an engineering firm while undergoing a mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy. And she wanted to keep working out to maintain her physical health, which her doctors emphasized.

So when a nurse at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center mentioned the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club, Poltorak reached out right away.

Soon she was paddling every Saturday with a group consisting mostly of “fit, strong” breast cancer survivors. She never looked back.

“Most of them had been in my shoes, they were supportive in just the right way. It wasn’t a pity-like feeling, but a ‘you got this,’” Poltorak recalled. “It kind of inspired me to realize I was going to be OK. … I could still be an athlete.”

Poltorak, 62, is now one of the club’s coaches. She takes pride in supporting others diagnosed with breast cancer, while pushing them to be their best in the boat, where intricacies like the angle of each paddle entering the water contributes to how quickly the narrow, 48-foot-long vessel moves.

Founded in 2010, the Annapolis Dragon Boat Club competes against other teams in the mid-Atlantic. While many members have been diagnosed with breast cancer, that’s not a requirement for joining. The club hosts “wellness paddles” for more casual participants and “racing practices” for those who want to compete. Participants range in age from 34 to 87.

Dragon boating traces back 2,000 years to southern China, and the modern sport endeavors to respect its ancient roots. During races, a decorative dragon’s head is affixed to the bow and a tail to the stern. A drummer sits on the bow, beating the stroke pace for the 20 paddlers.

On a Saturday morning in October, coaches led paddlers through a warmup of lunges, squats and jumping jacks. Then coach Peter Van de Castle carefully assigned the 20 seats on the boat. It’s important, he said, to distribute weight evenly and to position people based on their strength.

Van de Castle’s wife, Barbara, coached the team through drills as they traversed Spa Creek.

Paddlers practiced piercing the water’s surface with their oars silently. They worked on stamina. They drove their paddles with their legs, rather than pulling with their arms.

“The key is timing,” Barbara said.

The goal is to propel the boat three meters with each stroke. That’s especially important because the club is sending a team of breast cancer survivors to compete in the “Olympics of dragon boating”: The once-every-four-years International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission’s Dragon Boat Festival. Next August, it’s happening in the French Alps.

But the sport is not just about competition and fun.

Research demonstrates it’s beneficial to people who have or had breast cancer.

“Multiple studies have shown that regular aerobic exercise reduces recurrence,” said Dr. Rubie Jackson, a breast cancer surgeon at Anne Arundel Medical Center who encourages her patients to get 90 minutes of such exercise each week. “Most breast cancers are estrogen-fed, and exercise is a component of lowering estrogen levels.”

Surgery to remove lymph nodes and radiation therapy can lead to scarring, limited arm movement and swelling called lymphedema, said Kai Andrews, a cancer survivorship nurse practitioner at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center’s Aiello Breast Center in Glen Burnie.

“Resistance exercises — like the paddling and strength used in dragon boating — are safe and helpful for people with breast cancer,“ Andrews said in a statement. ”These exercises can improve muscle strength, help prevent or reduce swelling, boost self-confidence and overall enhance the quality of life for those who participate.”

Rica Nelson, a 45-year-old Hanover resident, experienced significant swelling under her arm after surgery. After about a year of paddling, she said, “it’s pretty much gone.”

Last October, Nelson, an IT contractor, got a call from a nurse practitioner.

“When I heard ‘breast cancer,’” she said, “I saw my life flash in front of me.”

An oncologist at the hospital provided her with several resources for people going through treatment, which for her required radiation and lymphatic massage, Nelson recalled.

“One of those pamphlets was Annapolis Dragon Boat Club,” she said. “I was like, ‘What is this? That sounds fun.’”

She started with a Wednesday wellness paddle and worked her way up to racing practices. She’s now training for the championships in France.

Estela Diaz, 66, scoffed at dragon boating when she first learned about the club at a health fair near BWI Marshall Airport in 2014 after beating her bout with breast cancer.

The Glen Burnie resident wasn’t feeling optimistic. A gene that increases the risk of the disease runs in her family, and two of her sisters died from breast cancer.

She instead focused on conducting audits and managing projects for the U.S. Department of Agriculture — and raising her three children.

But she was diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2022, requiring another lumpectomy and round of chemotherapy. She didn’t think she was going to make it the first time, and felt similarly bleak this time.

“At that point, I was just throwing in the towel. Goodbye. I hate this,” Diaz recalled.

When her doctors recommended support groups, she remembered the boating club she learned of in 2014.

Three years later, she can’t imagine her life without it.

“Nothing would compare if I were to go through my health insurance to a counseling session,” Diaz said. “This has helped to rehabilitate me emotionally and psychologically.”