News : »Rowing against cancer« celebrates its 10^th anniversary after Corona forced break

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The cam­paign, initia­ted by the »Living with Can­cer« foun­da­tion recei­ves signi­fi­cant sup­port from the Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal Carl Gus­tav Carus Dres­den – from pro­ject coor­di­na­tion to per­son­nel and mate­rial con­tri­bu­ti­ons. The com­mit­ment of the Saxon Elbe Regatta Club is also cru­cial. Their mem­ber clubs not only pro­vide the vol­un­teer coa­ches for the teams, but also take over the manage­ment of the race- and this for the tenth time. Dres­den Inter­na­tio­nal Uni­ver­sity has also been invol­ved from the very begin­ning. It is the main spon­sor of the cha­rity regatta.

On Sep­tem­ber 24^th, 52 ama­teur ath­le­tes, pati­ents, employees and sup­port­ers of the Dres­den Uni­ver­sity Medi­cal Cen­ter will com­pete in teams of four. The focus of the cha­rity regatta is not only on sport­ing suc­cess but above all on the com­mit­ment to a good cause. The funds rai­sed will be used to finance the­rapy pro­grams for peo­ple with can­cer in Dres­den and Sax­ony. »Rowing against Can­cer« was initia­ted by the »Living with Can­cer« foun­da­tion which orga­ni­zes cha­rity regat­tas at more than ten loca­ti­ons nationwide.

Among others, Bar­bara Haupt­mann is invol­ved in Dres­den with a very spe­cial team: she has suc­cee­ded in get­ting five peo­ple on board who are or were affec­ted by can­cer them­sel­ves. »It’s just a good thing,« she says. She is not only thin­king of the exer­cise and nut­ri­tion pro­grams of the »Natio­nal Cen­ter for Tumor Dise­a­ses Dres­den« (NCT/​UCC) for which she would like to »raise dona­ti­ons« with con­vic­tion but also of the sense of com­mu­nity that can be felt during the trai­ning ses­si­ons and the regatta. On the water, each team mem­ber can show that they are going their own way and are still ready to take on new chal­lenges despite the serious ill­ness. Most of the »Team Bar­bara« mem­bers are com­mit­ted to ensu­ring that others affec­ted by can­cer are not left alone with their dise­ase. They have initia­ted self-help groups or, like Bar­bara Haupt­mann, are active in the pati­ent advi­sory board to give other affec­ted peo­ple a voice to the NCT/​UCC team.0

The pati­ent advi­sory board of the NCT/​UCC repres­ents a spe­cial con­cern of Dres­den Uni­ver­sity Medi­cine. As a top loca­tion for can­cer medi­cine in Ger­many, it is an important goal to trans­fer pro­gress in medi­cine as quickly and directly as pos­si­ble into pati­ent care. Howe­ver, it is very important not only to be aware of the pati­ents‹ con­cerns but also to take them into account in direct coope­ra­tion in the day-to-day run­ning of the cli­nic,« says Prof. Michael Albrecht, medi­cal direc­tor of the Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal: »How sus­tainable and mutually accep­ta­ble these rela­ti­onships have deve­lo­ped can not only be seen in the remar­kable num­ber of peo­ple invol­ved in the advi­sory board. For me, taking the risk of get­ting into such a boat and rowing on the Elbe for »Rowing against Can­cer« is also a sign of the close and good ties bet­ween pati­ents and the hospital.«

»We very much hope that the Dres­den cha­rity regatta will be able to con­ti­nue the suc­cess of the first nine regat­tas after the two-year forced break due to the covid 19 pan­de­mic. The posi­tive balance also includes con­ti­nuing to coll­ect as many dona­ti­ons that all pro­jects can be con­tin­ued. Each of these is so important for pati­ents because it shows them ways of coping phy­si­cally and men­tally with the serious ill­ness during and after can­cer the­rapy,« says Frank Ohi, Com­mer­cial Direc­tor of Dres­den Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal: »Many con­cepts deve­lo­ped and estab­lished here for impro­ving gene­ral health and qua­lity of life are curr­ently not yet finan­ced by health insu­rance com­pa­nies. All spon­sors as well as donors make an important con­tri­bu­tion here. Wit­hout them and the cha­rity regatta many of these offers would not exist.«

Coun­seling for male uri­nary incon­ti­nence pro­vi­des a bet­ter qua­lity of life
One of the newly deve­lo­ped pro­jects at the Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal for an impro­ved qua­lity of life has been laun­ched by the team of the Cli­nic for Uro­logy led by Cli­nic Direc­tor Prof. Chris­tian Tho­mas. With an amount from the pro­ceeds of pre­vious regat­tas, the cli­nic orga­ni­zes a pati­ent semi­nar for men with uri­nary incon­ti­nence – espe­ci­ally stress incon­ti­nence. Alt­hough incon­ti­nence is pri­ma­rily asso­cia­ted with women, it can also affect men – espe­ci­ally among those who have under­gone radi­cal pro­sta­tec­tomy due to can­cer. And they in par­ti­cu­lar are under­sup­plied with this sym­pto­ma­to­logy for a variety of reasons. Cau­ses are, on the one hand, the shame of those affec­ted to talk about it and, on the other hand, a lack of infor­ma­tion about sui­ta­ble aids and the­ra­pies. The uncon­trol­led loss of urine in ever­y­day life means a signi­fi­cant loss of qua­lity of life for the men affec­ted. With the finan­cial sup­port from the pro­ceeds of the cha­rity regatta, the Cli­nic for Uro­logy of the Dres­den Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal is now coun­ter­ac­ting this with a new pro­ject. Thanks to the finan­cial sup­port of the »Living with Can­cer« Foun­da­tion, PD Dr. Mar­tin Bau­na­cke deve­lo­ped the pro­ject »Pro­Kon­ti­nenz – tre­at­ment offers against and living with unwan­ted urine loss after total rem­oval of the pro­state due to pro­state can­cer«. The pro­ject will start at the end of Sep­tem­ber with the first Pro­Kon­ti­nenz pati­ent semi­nar. In this con­text, par­ti­ci­pants are infor­med about uri­nary incon­ti­nence, aids and the­rapy opti­ons. In addi­tion, the men have the oppor­tu­nity to exch­ange ideas with other peo­ple affec­ted and to try out various aids in con­crete ever­y­day situations.

2019- cha­rity regatta with record donations
A total of almost 240,000 euros have been rai­sed at the Dres­den rowing regat­tas since 2011. The last edi­tion of »Rowing Against Can­cer« in Dres­den in 2019 rai­sed 50,000 euros for can­cer pati­ents in the region – the hig­hest amount rai­sed in Dres­den to date. The foun­da­tion »Living with Can­cer« curr­ently uses the dona­ti­ons to finance seven pro­jects in Dres­den, from which pati­ents from the Dres­den region bene­fit during and after can­cer the­rapy. The goals of the pro­jects are bet­ter per­so­nal coping with tumor dise­a­ses and an increase in qua­lity of life, in addi­tion to the pro­ject of the Cli­nic for Uro­logy, for exam­ple through tar­ge­ted exer­cise and nut­ri­tio­nal the­rapy. »Of course we are hoping for a large amount of dona­ti­ons this year and for many peo­ple to visit and sup­port us at the regatta on Sep­tem­ber 24^th. It is great that so many Dres­de­n­ers fol­low our cause and want to be part of it,« says Prof. Michael Albrecht, Medi­cal Direc­tor of the Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal. »As a top loca­tion for can­cer medi­cine in Ger­many, we are very con­cer­ned about sup­port­ing can­cer pati­ents out­side the hospital.«

These pro­jects are made pos­si­ble by »Rowing against Cancer«:
Pro­ject Uro­A­qua­Fit: Aqua gym­nastics for pati­ents with blad­der car­ci­noma after cys­tec­tomy with crea­tion of a urostoma
Yoga clas­ses for breast can­cer pati­ents and pati­ents with other types of can­cer (UKD Women’s Center/​Physiotherapy)
Nut­ri­tion pro­gram: spe­cial nut­ri­tion and coo­king clas­ses for can­cer patients
Exer­cise pro­gram: for onco­logy pati­ents in tre­at­ment as well as in aftercare
Pro­ject Syn­Er­Fit: Nut­ri­tio­nal moni­to­ring and impro­ve­ment of phy­si­cal fit­ness through trai­ning as sup­port­ive mea­su­res before and during radio­the­rapy and chemotherapy
Pro­ject »Pro­Kon­ti­nenz«: Tre­at­ment offers against and living with unwan­ted urine loss after total rem­oval of the pro­state due to pro­state cancer
Riding the­rapy for child­ren with onco­lo­gi­cal disease

This is a press release from: Uni­ver­sity Hos­pi­tal Carl Gus­tav Carus Dresden