Fly-casters find a little respite on the water

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Shawna Henderson works an Umpqua River pool with her fly rod last weekend.

A smallmouth bass finning its way around an Umpqua River pool caught Shawna Henderson's eye, and she hoped this fish would usher her into the world of women on the fly.

Her casts beat the surface like a snare drum, yet the bass still decided to give Henderson's woolly bugger a quick look.

"He saw it, but he didn't take a bite," Henderson says. "We were laughing and having a good time. I think we made too much noise and scared him."

For that moment, Henderson was a fly-fisher and not the Grants Pass woman who has suffered through 21 surgeries in her 43 years.

Even the refusal of a little bass can provide a small respite from reality for women like Henderson, who are in search of diversions from lives cloaked in the pain and worry that comes with cancer.

"Fly-fishing is very relaxing," Henderson says. "You're one with nature. It's a very cool experience.

"And when we were out there fishing, cancer was the least and last thing on our minds," she says.

Henderson is one of the latest batch of cancer survivors who have tasted life a little more sweetly thanks to a group of Southern Oregon women bent on easing life's pains through the art of fly-fishing.

Calling themselves "Women on the Fly," the group on Sunday completed its sixth annual series of weekend workshops that help breast-cancer survivors like Henderson improve their post-cancer lives through a three-day retreat. Participants are taught the nuances of fly-fishing, an exercise known to help improve strength, range of motion and other physical deficiencies brought on by mastectomies.

Therapists also are on hand to dispense information and counsel survivors about the realities of post-cancer life.

"When they're not busy doing that, we teach them the fine art of fly-fishing," says Marty Phillips, a Shady Cove woman who is one of the founding members of Women on the Fly.

Participants like Henderson come away embracing their camaraderie, as well as the appreciation of a good back cast.

"It was very emotional and very fun at the same time," Henderson says. "Unless you have cancer — you can sympathize with someone — but you can't really know what (survivors) are going through. There are different effects that nobody else really understands.

"Here, everybody did," she says.

"Here" is the Big K guest ranch along the Umpqua near Elkton.

Phillips and her group spent much of the past year raising the $11,000 needed to gather and equip 14 breast-cancer survivors for the retreat, which is free for participants and includes a rod and reel.

Much of the fundraising comes from an annual May golf outing, and much of the weekend comes via donations by seasoned fly-fishers who spend Sunday guiding participants on the river.

"It's good for everyone, but there are always a couple standouts — and Shawna was one of them," Phillips says.

Henderson's story is as much about Oregon as it is cancer.

She's a fourth-generation Oregonian and life-long Grants Pass resident. Her mother had breast cancer, and her grandmother died of breast cancer at age 28.

Henderson's cancer brought with it a double mastectomy, but it did not remove her humor and sense of irony.

Henderson sells health insurance.

"I've had 21 surgeries and 34 casts," she laughs. "When it comes to health problems, I've pretty much had it."

She hadn't fished since childhood. But she heard Phillips' presentation about the retreat during a meeting of a local service organization and felt drawn to it.

Participants are all signed up through an umbrella organization called Casting for Recovery, which has a branch in the Portland area.

Henderson says the fly-fishing part of the retreat was at first "a little nerve-wracking."

She did learn to tie three woolly buggers and how to cast them.

Sunday's time on the Umpqua definitely revealed to Henderson the truth behind Women on the Fly's post-cancer mantra of better living through fly-fishing.

"I've lived it, I've survived it," Henderson says. "That's good."

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.

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