Two days after a round of chemotherapy, Laura Ousley is back on the water. She rows with ROWsist, a West Sacramento rowing team that unites cancer survivors and fighters through camaraderie and strength, according to WBAL News Radio. Ousley has cancer that has spread to her lungs, tumors that doctors consider inoperable, and a monthly chemotherapy regimen that would sideline plenty of people from any kind of exercise. She keeps rowing anyway.
ROWsist rows from February through October and practices twice a week.
A Diagnosis That Started It All
ROWsist was founded by Shari Lowen, herself a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, according to WBAL News Radio. After her diagnosis, Lowen had one urgent question for her health care providers: “when will I be able to row again?” she recalled, per jlathletics.com. A lung lobe was removed as part of her treatment, and she has said that returning to rowing helped her regain breathing and endurance, telling the outlet, “Since I had a lung lobe removed, it was a slow process to gain back breathing and endurance.”
Lowen founded the ROWsist group within River City Rowing Club in 2023 for cancer survivors like herself, according to Inside Sacramento. The goal, per that account, was to give people who have been through cancer an opportunity to use their bodies and minds together while building community and emotional support. Many ROWsist members are now in remission, according to WBAL News Radio, though the team includes both survivors and those still fighting the disease.
Ousley's Fourth Season on the Water
Ousley is one of those still fighting. She was diagnosed with severe anemia in May 2022, which led to a diagnosis that same month of colon cancer that had metastasized to her liver, per WBAL News Radio. She has since undergone colon and liver surgeries, radiation, and months of chemotherapy, and now undergoes chemotherapy monthly as her cancer has spread to her lungs. Her tumors are inoperable, and she has said the goal now is to stabilize or shrink them.
Despite all of that, Ousley has participated in four seasons of rowing with the team, using the sport as a distraction from her health struggles, the station reports. She initially thought rowing would be easy, she has said, but has come to see just how difficult it really is. Coach Jeanie Mascia, one of ROWsist's coaches, called Ousley an inspiration, saying members remain positive despite challenging and traumatic experiences. Fellow coach Sheryl Leamer put it plainly: some ROWsist members have had parts of their bodies removed and rearranged, and yet, as she said of Ousley, she keeps showing up.
Coaching Through Fear and Fatigue
ROWsist brings cancer survivors together through rowing, building community among teammates. The club also offers an adult program for people ages 18 to 80 and older, with instruction in rowing basics, per the Daily Democrat.
ROWsist members describe living one day at a time, one stroke at a time, according to WBAL News Radio. That philosophy has carried some of them beyond West Sacramento. Athletes including Dale Parenti, Dan Lynch, Lowen and Napoleon Griffin competed in Survivor Rowing Network boats at the 2025 San Diego Crew Classic, marking the network's inaugural presence at that event, per jlathletics.com.
ROWsist practices twice a week, and Ousley has returned to the water two days after chemotherapy. For a team that lives by row for life, persistence is the point.
