How a non-profit uses fly fishing retreats to help breast cancer patients and survivors

A cancer diagnosis is life-changing. The journey of treatment and recovery carries a heavy emotional and physical weight. The non-profit Casting for Recovery is helping to lift that burden for hundreds of women diagnosed with breast cancer through a nature-based alternative to traditional support.  

Carolyn Craft never expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"I was diagnosed in 2014, just serendipitously," Craft described. "I'd actually gone in for breast augmentation and had a fibroadenoma removed during that surgery. And because of pathology reports that came back, I was informed that all the tissue surrounding that fiber adenoma had invasive carcinoma, and that was not on any of my mammograms."

Craft was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. 

"Which is probably one of the more aggressive forms of breast cancer," Craft noted. 

Ashley Gentry was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2024 at the age of 33. 

"I was doing self-exam, and I found the breast cancer myself and went in to the doctor, did a biopsy, and then was diagnosed with stage three triple-positive breast cancer," Gentry says. 

Craft and Gentry had two unique cancer diagnoses and two different treatment paths. 

"I did eight rounds of chemotherapy followed by a double mastectomy," Gentry said. "And then after that, I did radiation, and then I did a targeted chemotherapy." 

"I ended up having a double mastectomy," Craft shared. "Then I was meeting with an oncologist, and we were making plans to start chemo, and I was meeting with radiology to find out if I need to do radiation. So it truly was just a whirlwind." 

Their roads to recovery may have looked different, but there was one similarity: fly fishing. 

Both women participated in free fly fishing retreats organized by Casting for Recovery. 

"Our mission is to empower women in any stage of treatment or recovery from breast cancer through healing retreats that incorporate oncology support and the therapeutic sport of fly fishing," Susan Gaetz, Executive Director of Casting for Recovery, said. 

Casting for Recovery was started by two women, a professional angler and a reconstructive breast surgeon, who recognized the healing powers of fly fishing. 

"The casting motion of fly fishing can be really good for women who have had a mastectomy or radiation and have scar tissue," Gaetz said. "So, there's a physical recovery aspect of it, but there's also a spiritual and just emotional healing that comes from the retreats." 

"I learned just how therapeutic nature is and how it is just something about just being still and being able to just connect with nature that surpasses all of the chaos that you might have outside," Gentry says. 

"It's so calm, and you just get to clear your mind of everything, but this one lovely activity," Craft says. "And then if you're really lucky, you catch a fish at the end of it, and you get this little celebratory moment like, 'look what I can do.'"

The current of the river is a constant reminder during the retreats that life keeps moving, despite our current circumstances. 

"When you're in the throes of [cancer treatment], you just can't think of anything else," Craft described. "You know, you feel this sinking sensation, and it's the end of your life. And just saying, I'm going to focus on today. I'm going to focus on now and getting through that. Fly fishing is the same way when you're stuck in the mud. You've got to go, 'okay, I've got to focus on my feet and loosen,' and then you can step, and then you can keep walking." 

"We've served women in their early 20s to the early 90s," Gaetz said. "If you're thinking, 'I can't fly fish, I'm not strong enough, I don't want to touch a fish, it's going to be too much for me,' we've got you." 

Casting for Recovery hosts dozens of free oncology-informed fly fishing retreats for women in treatment and recovery from breast cancer. Many of them are hosted in Texas. 

Applications for the upcoming retreats are available on the Casting for Recovery website, and selection is through a random lottery.