Screw the critics, and screw cancer

While my time with the Lance Armstrong Foundation was short in college, it left a huge impression on me. I wasn't into riding. I wasn't into spending thousands of dollars on a fancy bike, helmet and gear. I knew little about the ins and outs of peloton and cycling and the thrill you feel riding on the road in the middle of nowhere.

But it did leave me with compassion and the wish to be a part of something so big (it was big back then, but now is gargantuan!) that had so much meaning. To this day, if there was some way I could be on the inside again day in, day out and support this cause, I would drop everything.

Cancer has affected my life, just as I'm sure most of yours as well. We had a neighbor, when I was eight, be diagnosed with breast cancer. She had two very young children, who were my sister's and brother's ages, and I remember them staying over at our house for a few nights the week she was getting some major surgery and chemo. She lost her 15+ year battle this past January.

I have an uncle, who we don't get to see very often, who unfortunately seems to 'attract' every sort of cancer imaginable. Once he shakes off one, another is discovered. He's been fighting cancer for what seems like 20 years, and with lack of great health care coverage, he goes between Mexico and New Mexico for treatment.

Then all of a sudden, two years ago this month, my dad went in for some chest pain, and not only did they find a mysterious and very rare mass in his heart, they found a mass in his lung and his kidney. After many tests, travel to Minnesota to the Mayo Clinic for heart surgery by the one surgeon who has seen this type of mass (though it was still the largest and most mysterious ever), more tests to check the kidney (which they then suspected it to be cancerous because of it's own blood supply), and another couple months to wait for his heart surgery recovery, 40% of his kidney was cut out. And guess what? It turned out to be very early stages of cancer. Luckily, he did not have to go through chemo, he gets checked regularly for masses, but he went through enough pain and torture of tests, open heart/double bypass surgery and a long, arduous, painful recovery to last our whole family a lifetime.

I even had a scare in college, while at the LAF. I was first diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Then they did more tests and said I had Graves' Disease. Then they decided I had a tumor and wasn't sure if it was benign yet or not. After many tests, many pokes and prods with needles (which is why to this day I can sit and stare at a needle going into my arm. Thank God for good veins.), it eventually was diagnosed a benign tumor, which was killed off with iodine. I am now on medication for the rest of my life.

Seeing Lance Armstrong's new Nike commercial gave me chills. It hit me to the bone. Here's to kicking cancer's ass and helping those who are afflicted with this disease. It's a tough ride but coming out victorious is bone-chilling.

Good luck Lance! And here's to those who are diagnosed or know someone who is fighting cancer right now.