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Braintree Woman Helps Cancer
Braintree resident Shirley Hook-Therrien is full of the joy of life—it shines from her eyes as she speaks about the fulfillment she gets from helping women who have survived cancer. A cancer survivor herself, she volunteers her time with a unique program called Casting for Recovery, which teaches female cancer survivors how to fly fish. A national non-profit support and education program for women who have or have had breast cancer, it provides weekend retreats that incorporate counseling, educational services and the sport of fly fishing to promote mental and physical healing. For Hook-Therrien, who first became involved as a participant in 1997, the program was a godsend. "It was the best program I’d ever been in," she said, "and it was the first time I really opened up about my cancer. I’ve had it three times, so I’ve been going down to Dartmouth-Hitchcock for 18 years. I just hit my five-year mark from the last time, and now I have a pacemaker, so I call myself the bionic woman," she laughed. Welcoming visitors to the Braintree home that she shares with Doug Bent, which reflects their many interests and her love of collecting, Hook-Therrien explained that she first heard about the program from a salesman at Orvis. "Doug fly fishes and my grandmother used to take me when I was a kid," she said. "I enjoyed the first retreat I went to so much, and then, a year or two later, I was asked to host one." Being a hostess involves organizing events, getting sponsors, putting together gift bags, signing people in, etc. Of course, the hostess also gets to fish and Hook-Therrien noted proudly that she recently caught two 20-inch rainbow trout at a retreat at Tall Timbers in Pittsburgh, N.H. "We had a great group of women there," she recalled enthusiastically. "One of them was an 80-year-old former June Taylor Dancer. She got right into it and had a lot of fun." Casting for Recovery provides these retreats at no cost to the 14 participants at each event, including lodging, meals, and professional instruction. Any woman who has experienced breast cancer is eligible to attend, with clearance from her physician. Each retreat costs about $10,000 to organize, and organizations such as Trout Unlimited often provide sponsorship. Much of the work is done by volunteers, however, such as Hook-Therrien, who noted that there are many others, such as "one older man who makes hundreds of hand-tied flies for the women." These women come from all over New England to attend the two retreats held here each summer, and Casting for Recovery is now active in 27 states, as well as Canada, England, and Ireland. At the retreats, everyone has a nickname and Hook-Therrien’s is "Harley," because she has two of those vehicles. She equates learning to fly fish to learning to play the drums, because "you have to get the rhythm." A life-long Vermont resident, Hook-Therrien grew up in Chelsea, and is the mother of two daughters, Jenny, 29, and Amy, 19. She and Doug, who also helps out with the retreats, often go to fish on Shadow Lake in Glover. One of her other interests is genealogy and several years ago, she was thrilled to confirm that she had Abenaki ancestry. For this effervescent woman, life is pretty good right now and she wants to continue to help other cancer survivors meet, learn a new skill, and get some much-needed respite from their everyday concerns. "When I went to that first retreat, I really learned the value of talking about my cancer and getting it out into the open," Hook-Therrien said. "We all found that we had the same feelings." As a big smile lit up her face she concluded, "You just have to remember to keep your sense of humor." For more information, write to Casting for Recovery, PO Box 1123, Manchester, Vt. 05254, call (toll-free) 1-888-553-3500, or e-mail info@castingforrecovery.org. ____________ |
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