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Donna Fischer

How Donna inspires others:

Cool, fresh water swirled around Donna Fischer’s hip waders as she cast her line under the Arizona sky. Fly-fishing was even better than she’d thought it would be, and to be there with thirteen other women who were also screaming and yelling with delight as they hooked fish after fish was incredible. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open in laughter; a photographer clicked a photo and captured the moment.

Donna still has that photo. She keeps it as a reminder of that weekend back in 2006 when she left her life behind and experienced pure joy through fly-fishing with amazing women she now calls friends.

Yet there’s something the image doesn’t show: the seven long months she spent undergoing surgery, radiation and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Donna, now cancer-free (cautiously) for over five years, was a survivor participant with Casting for Recovery, a national nonprofit organization based in Manchester, Vermont, that has been running fly-fishing retreats for women who have or have had breast cancer.

Despite first impressions, breast cancer and fly-fishing do indeed connect. The gentle casting motion is therapeutic for muscles and tissues that have been damaged through surgery and radiation. Being outside, on the water, and the meditative nature of the sport also can’t be beat.

“When you’re fly-fishing, that’s all you think about,” says Donna, who is now a dedicated and passionate volunteer. “You don’t think about your cancer. You’re in the moment,”

The ripple effect

Founded in 1996, Casting for Recovery is the unique brainchild of a breast cancer reconstructive surgeon and a professional fly-fisher. What began as a local grassroots effort to empower cancer patients and survivors has since gone national—and beyond. The organization now offers forty-three programs in thirty U.S. states and has inspired similar programs in Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.

It continues to grow, no doubt due to its focus on fun, education and bonding. In most cases, women show up on Friday afternoon, learn fly-fishing basics, hit the water and participate in support groups in the evening, hosted by therapists and medical personnel. The groups are kept small—just fourteen people—so everyone is heard and supported. On the final day, each participant is paired with an experienced fly fisher, or river helper. It’s the only time men are included in the weekend, but it’s an important time.

“It’s a very intense two and a half days, and the women get so much out of it,” says Lori Simon, the group’s executive director. “But we find that men get so much from the program because they, too, are affected by breast cancer when their wives, moms, sisters or daughters have it. This is a way for men to give back.”

The groups are also spread out geographically in order to make it easier for the women to attend. Fly-fishing programs in Nebraska, for instance, accept only women from Nebraska. Although the program is free to attend, participants must pay their own way to get there. For many of the women, it’s one of the first times they’ve traveled on their own, without husbands and children in tow.

Donna remembers her own drive to Greer, Arizona—a four-hour car trip. Despite typically being a passenger and allowing her husband to drive the family around, she hopped into the car and drove herself. By the time she reached the retreat location she was already feeling empowered, although apprehensive. What was she getting herself into?

The other thirteen women had similar expressions on their faces when they showed up. But that all changed after everyone was suited up in hip waders and taught basic casting moves.

“Soon we’re showing each other scars and pointing to where things hurt. We were just so out there and I didn’t know these people from Adam!” she says now, laughing.

The supportive atmosphere works. Women say they arrive as strangers and leave as friends. Many continue to stay in touch years after their retreat. Others use what they learned during their weekend away and turn it into a new hobby—fly-fishing. No wonder 100 percent of attendees say they would recommend the program to others, and 90 percent say they felt better able to cope with their disease after the retreat.

Hooked on giving back

Donna, a busy executive assistant for Banner Home Care, says Casting for Recovery changed her life. Her retreat weekend in 2006 gave her the time she needed to recover emotionally after cancer. “I didn’t need a support group,” she says now, “but I needed to talk.”

As soon as she returned home, she spoke to her two children, who encouraged her to step up and volunteer for Casting for Recovery. Donna knew that it cost roughly $1,000 to send a woman on the retreat, and decided then to join Casting for Recovery’s 1,800 volunteers and dedicate her time and energy to ensure one other woman would receive the same experience she did.

Since that day, Donna and her family often raise over $1,000 each year (enough to fulfill her promise to send one woman to the retreat annually) in a Bunco tournament. Supporters play the popular dice game, donate money and win prizes that Donna has convinced local businesses to donate.

Beyond that event, Donna is also known for balancing her commitment to family, colleagues, cancer survivors and her community in a dignified and loving way, whether she’s talking to bikers about Casting for Recovery when they’re on a motorcycle run, or running a booth at a trade show. She also shares her story at wine tastings and with fly-fishing clubs. And she’s the first to welcome women as they register for a retreat. She’s the consummate ambassador, enthuses Lori Simon, who says Donna is also “hysterically funny.”

Donna is quick to point out that humor is important to get through recovery, but organizations like Casting for Recovery are needed, since breast cancer is no laughing matter. In 2009, more than 192,000 women in the U.S. were newly diagnosed with the disease. In Arizona that year, there were 3,470 new cases.

Knowing the incredible need, Donna took on the responsibility of Arizona program coordinator after the former coordinator resigned. She says she simply could not allow the state’s program to go dormant until a new coordinator could be found.

“After you have cancer, you realize it’s pretty darned good to be alive,” she says. “So you need to give back, because every day we get something great out of life. It’s important to make sure that others do, too.”