NEWS: PINK OCTOBER

On the occasion of this yearly awareness and information campaign about breast cancer, Ingrid Ulrich talks about how sport helped her face this disease.

Ingrid has been a GONG ambassador for SUPing for many years. Her story and her fight against this terrible disease is part of a book that we presented to you in our Magazine a few years ago. Today she tells us about the physical and psychological benefits of her practice of Stand-Up Paddle on her personal journey.

Find self-confidence

“Practicing SUP during my fight against this disease allowed me to keep my spirits up and we know today that your state of mind has a huge impact on the body. There is the activity itself which has done me a lot of physical good. But it also allows for better self-esteem, well-being, rediscovered confidence, not to mention the support of this community of athletes that I met thanks to SUP. This community always supported me and encouraged me not to give up.

It is also proven that practicing regular physical activity during and after cancer considerably reduces the risk of recurrence, also increases the survival rate, and reduces the side effects of treatments. And I validate all of that!”

Maintain some control

“Cancer treatments and chemotherapy take their toll, both morally and physically. It’s a struggle to stay alive. The fatigue is intense. Cancer took over my body so I didn’t want the disease and the treatments to take over my life as well. So I told myself that I would tire my body out myself. Morally, I felt like I had some control.

Every day I went paddling. Not for long but I was going. Sometimes it lasted 10 minutes and yet I had given so much energy that I had the impression of having paddled across the Atlantic… but my challenge was met and therefore my morale boosted.”

The “Au delà des Océans” association

“The energy that I put into the association “Au delà des Océans” which helps people with an illness to get back into sport was born from my meetings. At the hospital I met lots of girls, mothers and older women,… We are all the daughters of someone who doesn’t want to see us die, we are all friends of someone who cares about us… In short, none of us deserve to be there. SUP did me good. It carried me across the water when I thought I was drowning. I never asked myself the question why. Helping others is something everyone can do and if SUP allowed me to keep my head above water, it can do the same for other people.”

The importance of cancer screening

“We must remember that this disease can happen to any of us. “That only happens to other people !” is what I was thinking when diagnosed with the disease. I was 39 years old. I saw the Pink October campaigns on social media and I told myself that it was a thing for other people, and especially a thing for older people, so I didn’t pay attention to it. I should have ! Because my cancer would certainly have been taken care of earlier and the treatments would have been less burdensome.

So once a year, you must have your breasts palpated by a health professional and after age 50 have a mammogram. Pink October helps support associations that help sick women and finance research, but we must not forget the primary goal which is to raise awareness and encourage cancer screening. So take care of yourself and please do it!

I remind you that one in eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. This cancer causes 13,000 deaths per year in France and is the leading cause of death among women.”