Member Spotlight
Betsy Burden
by Nichole Segal
Betsy Burden is Of Counsel at Caldwell Pacetti Edwards Schoech & Viator LLP. She practices primarily environmental
and administrative law for government clients. Betsy is originally from Tennessee. She received her undergraduate
degree from Harding University in Arkansas and her law degree from Louisiana State University. She moved to Florida
in 1988 with her husband Dan, a Florida native. They have two children, Cody, a mechanical engineer, and Lauren, a
speech pathology major at the University of Central Florida.
Betsy is a 13-year breast cancer survivor and has participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for many
years. In fact, this year she was selected to lead the race as a Warrior in Pink. Warriors in Pink are recognized as those
who “take action, raise funds, and get involved to support the Race for the Cure.”
In 2015, she was looking through her survivor bag from the race when she saw a card advertising the creation of a
dragon boat team in Palm Beach County by another survivor. Although Betsy was an avid kayaker and paddleboarder,
she was unfamiliar with dragon boating, but was intrigued enough to reach out to the organizer. She was immediately
“bitten by the dragon!” Dragon boating is an ancient Chinese sport with ceremonial, religious, and ritualistic traditions.
Dragon boating takes place in a wide, canoe-like boat that seats up to 20 paddlers, including a steersman in the back
and a drummer in the front to keep cadence. During races, these boats are adorned with an elaborately painted
dragon head and tail.
Dragon boating became associated with breast cancer survivors in 1996. At the time, breast cancer survivors were
advised to avoid rigorous upper-body exercise because of fear it would cause further damage. To combat this school
of thought, Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine physician from Canada, recruited breast cancer patients to start
dragon boating. Contrary to popular wisdom at the time, he discovered that paddling provided great benefits to
survivors, including improved strength, flexibility, immune system, bone building, and general well-being.
In China, the dragon is a symbol of strength, unity, and leadership. For many breast cancer survivors, including Betsy,
dragon boating has become a symbol of their struggle against cancer and their celebration of life; it gives them
confidence to no longer think of themselves as victims, but as strong athletes fighting back at the disease. Betsy
explained that “dragon boating improves the lives of breast cancer survivors, empowering and inspiring us not only
to be physically fit but more importantly, giving us wonderful camaraderie and sisterhood. We are literally ‘all in the
same boat.’”
There are now more than 150 registered breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams throughout the world, including
Lighthouse Dragons, based in Jupiter. Lighthouse Dragons is Palm Beach County’s first and only breast cancer survivor
dragon boat team. Their mission is “To promote a healthy, active lifestyle and provide organized opportunities for
physical fitness, wellness education, and psycho-social empowerment among Breast Cancer Survivors and their
supporters through the sport of dragon boating.”
Betsy has been a Board Member of Lighthouse Dragons since its inception in 2015 and is now President of the nonprofit
corporation. The group, which currently consists of about 50 breast cancer survivors and their supporters, has two
boats, a 10-person boat and a 20-person boat. They meet three times a week at Lighthouse Park, adjacent to the
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum, for practice and typically compete six times a year throughout Florida and have
earned several medals. The races often feature a moving Flower Ceremony to honor those who have lost their battle
with breast cancer. The group also participates in a variety of social activities and community outreach events to
promote the sport of paddling as well as breast cancer related causes.
A highlight of Betsy’s time as a member of the Lighthouse Dragons was a 2018 trip to Florence Italy to participate in
the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission Festival. The festival takes place every four years and Betsy and
her team plan to participate in the 2022 festival in New Zealand. For more information about the Lighthouse Dragons,
visit their website at www.lighthousedragons.org.
If you know a member who should be featured, please let us know
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