The Dragon Heart Award
In Asia, dragons are regarded as honorable, altruistic, and are worthy of admiration. It is in this spirit that we present the Dragon Heart Award to someone who has made a significant impact on cancer survivors in the lowcountry. The dragon boat ritual, Awakening of the Dragon, involves a Taoist priest dotting the eyes of the carved dragon head attached to the boat, re-energizing its spirit or qi (pronounced: chee). The recipient of the Dragon Heart award exemplifies the commitment to the rejuvenation of the spirit of cancer survivors.
The award is presented to someone who has made a significant impact on cancer survivorship in our community. Recommendations must include a description of how the person has made a difference in the life of a cancer survivor or the cancer community in general. The recipient may be a cancer survivor, co-survivor, care-giver, or any other member of the community. There is no age limit as children often havethe biggest hearts of all. The recipient may work in the field of medicine, but the impact must be beyond the scope of his/her paid profession.
The recipient is selected from the nominations by the acting Board of Directors of Dragon Boat Charleston.
Below are just a few of the many, many nominations for Lynda:
- I would like to nominate Lynda Rock for her courage and zest for life. I was lucky enough to paddle with Resurge the past two years. Lynda coached us and lead by example. Her enthusiasm was contagious. The second year I paddled, I had just completed my radiation treatments for breast cancer. I actually had no idea that Lynda was ill, and most particularly, no idea that she was coming directly from her chemotherapy treatments to coach us! Any possibility of ever feeling sorry for myself vanished when I learned of this. Lynda affected many, many people that way! Probably more than she'll ever know. Thank you.
- Lynda Rock in my estimation deserves this award. She has been a courageous leader and has been a great example to many of the non-cancer and cancer survivors. Through years of cancer recurrences and chemotherapy, surgery and set backs she has never complained or expressed a negative comment.
- I've been around DBC for about 5 years, and she has always been the red-head in the boat (tall enough so you can follow her stroke wherever you sit in the boat), attending every practice (unless she wasn't well) either coaching or paddling. She has been one of those invincible cancer survivors that gives us all hope. She was there to give us pointers, lessons on the fly, and give us encouragement. To me, DBC=Lynda Rock, and in her words, we are her "peeps." I just thought this might be something we could do for her to let her know how much she means to each one of us. I don't have enough information to write up paragraphs about why she deserves this award and was hoping there is already something submitted on her behalf. I just know that she truly has a dragon heart.