Another Chance

I'd been in plenty of tough situations in my life before cancer. CFS, some dicey deployments in the Army, but none were as aggravating. My health was up and down since 2001, but in summer of 2003 I changed doctors. That's where the fun began.

I went for my initial physical and he found a lump on my lymph nodes in my groin. After some tests it was determined to be malignant, and I found out I had stage one Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After fighting my health insurance for a few months I was finally approved to have the tumore removed. So in late 2003 I got ready for surgery.

Surgery went well, and I decided to return to racing after a year off. So in March 204 I lined up for my first race. Though it was painful, I finished third to last, in 30 degree windy weather 20 minutes behind the winner. Was it worth it? Definitely. Two months later I won a prologue in a stage race, placing 5th overall including the pros. At that point I knew I was going to recover, it was just a matter of time.

I kept racing and improving, and still do. I need to ride for various reasons, and every time I'm ut on the road it tells me I'm winning so far. I race because I still have some anger about getting sick, plus I'm competitive. It's my therapy. I'm one of the lucky ones. W caught it by luck, very early, and I was fortunate to be in a clinical study that my body responded to very well.

Cycling is the beauty of life, triumph over adversity, and the knowledge that I can dig deep and beat whatever comes at me. No matter how bad I feel, I just have to look around, enjoy the ride, and smile that I'm able to do that.