I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2004 when I was working full-time as a primary school teacher. After a mastectomy I became ill with depression and retired from teaching. This was a huge life change and led me to choose two activities which I never thought I would be involved in.
Firstly I joined a Dragons Abreast dragon boat team at Port Macquarie, the Flamin' Dragons. As part of this team I have travelled to international regattas in Singapore and Caloundra and numerous times to Sydney, Grafton, Port Macquarie and Taree for local regattas. Paddling in a local dragon boat team is fun, exciting and hard work and I love it. Through this sport I have also met many inspiring, joyful and loving friends who have enriched my life.
As well, I retrained as a vet nurse so that I could work with animals and this enabled me to experience the most rewarding time of my life. In July 2008 I travelled to the Moon Bear Rescue Centre near Chengdu in China established by the Animals Asia Foundation. For 16 weeks I worked mainly as the small animal carer looking after cats and dogs, many of whom were victims of the 2008 earthquake. What a joy it was to restore these delightful animals to good health, animals who were often disabled or had been neglected but who took joy in simple pleasures and had boundless love to share.
Every day as I walked my dogs around the sanctuary I also saw the Moon bears enjoying their freedom - eating, playing, swimming, and snoozing. After years of cruel treatment on bear 'bile' farms, trapped in tiny cages, they are now free to enjoy life in peaceful natural surroundings.
--Anne
