What does it mean to LIVESTRONG?

In just about an hour or so, I'll be heading down I-35 to Austin for the 2007 LIVESTRONG Challenge Weekend. The LIVESTRONG Challenge is a series of cycling & running events put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (www.livestrong.org) each year to raise funds to support those living with, through & beyond cancer. Riders and runners raise funds throughout the year to qualify for the event and various levels of incentives, up to and including a private ride with Lance himself for the top fund raisers. It has become an annual event for me. After my own cancer diagnosis almost 5 years ago, I found myself drawn to the cancer community. My story is that of someone who got out easy...I found the cancer early, had it removed surgically, and was spared the brutality of chemo & radiation. But there are far too many others who have not been as fortunate as I have been.

During my 4 years of involvement with the Lance Armstrong Foundation and with my brothers and sisters from Cyclists Combating Cancer, an online community of cancer survivors who share the passion of cycling (www.ridetolive.org), I've seen far too many people fight the good fight only to lose to this horrific disease. Within CCC alone, we've lost close to a dozen of our teammates during that time. All of them were special people...husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters. In the last 2 months alone, I've been to the funerals for two friends from church who died of cancer. One was a wonderful and loving big bear of a man in his early 60's who died from pancreatic cancer. Another was a 36 year-old father of 2 who had valiantly fought brain cancer for 2 years. Then, a few weeks ago, we learned that my wife's grandmother has had a recurrence of the breast cancer that she fought 7 years ago and is now Stage IV (metastatic).

Sometimes, it gets to be too much to take in. About 3 weeks ago, I had decided that I was going to skip the LIVESTRONG challenge this year. Cancer was all around me, and the last thing that I wanted was to spend a weekend surrounded by it. Without fail, this weekend always has its emotional moments. Crossing the finish line of the ride by pulling into the area for survivors and being handed a single yellow rose is always special. But then there are the moments that are hard to watch...someone crossing the finish line and breaking down in tears as they complete their challenge in honor of a loved one no longer there. The people you see on the course that are obviously still shells of themselves from the treatments that have just completed or are still on-going. Meeting up with my friends from CCC to realize that someone who was there with us last year won't be with us ever again.

Not long after I had decided to skip this year's event, a very good friend and fellow survivor from CCC reminded me that this is the weekend that we use to recharge our batteries and recommit ourselves for battle. Sure it can be emotional, and cancer will be all around us. But so will incredible stories of survivorship. Stories of people who will never give up...those who fight tooth and nail against a disease that is no respecter of age, race, sex, financial or social status or anything else. It's a weekend to spend time with people who have become like family to me, most of whom I only see at this event each year. It is a weekend to appreciate the gift of life with those who have also been in the trenches and to hug and laugh an awful lot. The people in attendance are the living embodiment of what it means to LIVESTRONG. And that is why I must be there.

In honor of the LIVESTRONG Challenge weekend, Cyclists Combating Cancer and all of those who fight to make a difference in the war against cancer, I share with you the Lance Armstrong Foundation Manifesto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SDBOHpKI6g