How archery is helping breast cancer patients in Uruguay
The sport of archery can change athlete’s fortunes, but the practice of it can change people’s lives.
Although curable, breast cancer like many other variants of the prevalent, foul disease leaves many physical scars as well as mental ones including lymphedema, a long-term condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues.
It often occurs for patients’ post-surgery, with the condition creating an “aching, heavy feeling” as described by the British National Health Service’s symptom guide, in the upper body.
But two archery instructors in Uruguay have made it their mission to treat this issue.
In May 2023, Alejandra Borsani and Andrea Castroman set up Flechas de Vida – “Arrows of Life” in English – a free rehabilitation programme specialised for mastectomy patients through the practice of archery.
Borsani and Castroman, with the latter also being a nurse, were inspired to create Flechas de Vida after discovering a similar programme in Spain that proved the vibrations of strings on a bow act as lymphatic drainage, preventing lymphedema development and helping to recover mobility of upper limbs.
It has been an outright success as the number of patients joining has grown exponentially across Uruguay after being initially launched in Montevideo.
“So far, 123 patients have participated,” Borsani and Castroman said. “We started in May 2023 with two patients and today there are 42 active patients, and we have a waiting list of more than 100 women.”
Any woman that has suffered from breast cancer after one year or more from an operation can take part as long as they have a written consent form signed by their doctor.
The programme is free to join in all archery clubs throughout Uruguay and for an initial six-month period all equipment is also free to use.
As well as the physical benefits it brings, other remits of the project involve improving patients’ mental health and social lives with “generating a positive attitude towards life” and “feeling part of a group to avoid isolation” two of the targets outlined in the plan.
The programme, which is carried out in workshops twice a week, has only been going for little over 18 months and Borsani and Castroman have data and statistics recorded in that period which is just awaiting validation.
“The improvement is immediate, from the first class and those who have been practicing para archery at least once a week, they keep the good effects.”
"What we like most from Flechas de Vida is seeing the positive physical and emotional changes that occur in these women with the practice of this sport that we are so passionate about,” they added.
Flechas de Vida is currently only operating in Uruguay but its expansion across South and Central America is Borsani and Castroman’s next objective, making sure this invaluable service can be accessed by all who have been affected by breast cancer.
“It is one of our next challenges,” the pair said on Flechas de Vida going to surrounding nations. “Some Latin American countries have contacted us and are interested in learning this therapy."
“This is one of the reasons why we need support to spread it within a professional context.”
It may be small for now in the grand scheme of things, but Borsani and Castroman’s detailed research into the subject as well as time and dedication, mean they have already changed over 100 people’s lives for the better with another 100 waiting in the wings.
Those who have done the six-month initial period and still can’t afford bows are automatically added onto this waiting list with Borsani and Castroman stressing that continuous practice of archery is paramount to reducing lymphedema due to its ability to grow.
Should increased funding and further research backing the concept take place, then countless more lives will be changed for the better, ridding the battle scars of an awful illness and igniting a new passion for some.
All at the same time, proving there is sometimes more to archery than medals and adulation.
Images courtesy of Flechas de Vida.
