One in four patients operated on for breast cancer develops lymphedema as a sequel to the operation. lymph node removal auxiliaries. When it happens, the arm becomes inflamed and can become very disabling. On the occasion of the World Day for the Fight against Breast Cancer, the Projecte Arkus club claims its FrancinArc project. They have been helping this type of patient for two years with an unorthodox treatment, little known but highly rehabilitative: archery. “I’ve had four sessions and I’m hooked,” he confesses Maria Concepcion Rodriguez, one of its users. She’s had lymphedema since she had breast cancer surgery in 2002, only back then “there weren’t the techniques now,” she says.
She was recently diagnosed with a new cancer, in the other breast, and as a result of this, in Son Espases they made her aware of the project. After 20 years of bloat he has taken up archery and “I’ve already noticed the benefits,” he notes. From the Projecte Markus club that works with patients from the reference hospital and also from the Inca district, Elionor Morante explains that women “recover muscles and mobility through the vibration of the bow. The swelling is almost instantaneous. Together with her husband, Pedro Carreño, they were in charge of bringing to Mallorca the project that was born in the Infanta Leonor of Madrid and that also took place in Maó.
It is an initiative designed solely for the benefit of patients and, as cancer does not understand social classes, they have turned it into a free rehabilitation service for the entire first year without the need to pay a license, fees or materials. «I already surgeon recommended who operated on me to empty the lymph nodes two and a half months ago, ”explains another of its users, Eva Santamaría. “It is important that public service professionals know about these projects and prescribe them. It helps us patients a lot », she points out.
María Concepción Rodríguez and Eva Santamaría.
In his case, three fingers of the hand corresponding to the side of the affected chest were inflamed and he has also seen the effects. However, he goes beyond the physical, he says, “it is something transversal where the environment influences because you see your agenda and there is no longer just medical appointments». It is not a therapy group, the club is going to do a rehabilitative sport, with the bonus of sharing space with people with similar experiences.
