At the heart of The Jane Project: Carried by the Current is Kara, whose story reflects the strength, connection, and healing found on the water. From navigating breast cancer to finding purpose through Casting for Recovery, her journey shows how the river can carry us forward. Read her story here.
My worlds collided at age 40.
I grew up in an outdoorsy family. I learned to ski when I was four or five. We camped and hiked on the banks of Rock Creek outside Missoula every summer. My dad and I were chased off Plum Creek in the Big Horns by a momma and baby moose when I was seven or so. We trekked into the woods every Christmas to cut down our tree and relished in the hot cocoa to help warm up our tummys and fingers.
But, when I was old enough to hold and cast a fly rod, there was no turning back. My dad would piggyback me across Rock Creek (which knowing how treacherous that wading is now amazes me that we never fell in) plop me down, hand me his fly rod, and I’d cast to hungry trout with a fluffy caddis.
My adventures of identifying wildflowers with my mom and grandmothers waned while my time on the river fishing with my dad and brother steadily increased. The clincher was my high school graduation trip with my dad to the South Fork of the Flathead in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Fly fishing became the love of my life.
Fly fishing dominates my life
After a brief career in environmental science, I stumbled my way into working in the fly fishing industry. I managed public relations and communications for a handful of well-known fly fishing manufacturers, which is where I was first introduced to Casing for Recovery. I wrote a press release about a gorgeous pink fly rod and reel Sage made to help raise money for the organization, and then while at trade shows, I got to meet some of the stellar people running this meaningful non-profit.
At the time, aware of its worthy mission, I didn’t click with it, so I turned my passions to non-profits focused on watershed education and habitat restoration. This allowed me to give back to the rivers and habitats that gave me so much. Those volunteer efforts eventually led to a job with Trout Unlimited on the communications team.
Surviving cancer while on the river
Three months into that job, I got the diagnosis: stage 2B breast cancer….at age 40.
The journey was long and arduous, to say the least, and is continuing, but luckily, I had fly fishing to get me through.
I spent many days on the river throughout my treatment. Many of them found me napping on the banks. Often, I’d nearly fall over from the intense dizziness that’d overcome me each time I bent down to land a fish. But it was beyond worth it.
I’d come back feeling rejuvenated for the battle. I’d sleep soundly with the gurgling river noise running through my mind. My nausea subsided thanks to the cool, fresh mountain air. The feel of a slippery trout running through my fingers connected me to the nature I grew up loving.
CfR takes the spotlight in my life
All the while, I knew Casting for Recovery would be a big part of my life, but it took a while to find my groove. Unfortunately, (for many reasons) I was treated throughout Covid, so my applications to a CfR retreat had to be put on hold and I couldn’t attend the retreat nearest my home in southwest Colorado.
In the summer of 2022, I was accepted to the New Mexico retreat and was elated but also conflicted. I certainly didn’t need the education on how to fly fish, but I desperately needed the connection to other women on a similar journey. So, to Cimmaron, New Mexico I went.
And oh man, what an incredible weekend. I bonded with the other women, learned that my journey was hard but not the hardest of the bunch, cried, laughed, and rejoiced in life.
The staff were aware of my desires to host a retreat myself, so they kindly took me
under their wing and encouraged me to reach out to CfR national staff and see where I could jump in for the Western Slope retreat in Colorado.
That next year, I volunteered as the fly casting instructor for the New Mexico retreat and got to be part of a team that emulates to a tee the mission of CfR. I also helped with the Western Slope retreat and learned so much from both of the teams.
Jumping in head first
The following year, I jumped in to be program coordinator and retreat co-leader with my esteemed and well-CfR-versed friend, Shannon Outing. I planned and coordinated. I fundraised and conducted extensive outreach across the Western Slope. I connected with veteran CfR retreat leaders to pick their knowledgeable brains. And I pulled it off. The 2024 retreat turned out to be one of the most meaningful events, certainly of my breast cancer journey and likely of my life.
I’m feeling blessed by the help I’ve received both by my mentors in New Mexico as well as the rash of volunteers who apply to help with my retreat every year. My volunteer staff couldn’t be better if I hand-picked them myself, and the addition of my mom to the team put me over the moon.
Casting for Recovery changed my life for the better. It helped liberate me from my
breast cancer journey, and it gave me purpose and a drive to give back to a deserving community a pastime I love.
Now that my worlds are intertwined irrevocably and I can share the incredible healing fly fishing brings me, I see through the dark cloud of cancer to a bright future of Casting for Recovery participants with smiles for miles and tight lines.
