Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Lance Armstrong: Quotes


"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell."

"If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."
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Lance Armstrong: Living Strong











Though all of his victories in biking and sports are numerous and well recognized, Lance’s trophies go beyond the world of cycling. He created the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides support for anyone whose life is affected by cancer. “At the Lance Armstrong Foundation, we unite people to fight cancer believing that unity is strength, knowledge is power and attitude is everything” (http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.khLXK1PxHmF/b.2660611/k.BCED/Home.htm). The foundation helps people who have cancer, people who have a family member or a friend with cancer, and provides information for healthcare professionals to care for cancer patients. The foundation provides people with knowledge of what they can expect, give you one-on-one support, help people become aware and learn about their treatment options, and teach what questions to ask about cancer. In 2004, the foundation launched the LIVESTRONG campaign to raise money and awareness for cancer, and by 2005 sold 55 million LIVESTRONG wristbands. The Lance Armstrong Foundation has not only raised $320 million, but it has raised the hopes for all those suffering from cancer.
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Lance Armstrong: Back On The Bike











After his chemotherapy ended, he married Kristin Richard on May 8, 1998. Lance’s complete recovery from cancer was an unbelievable phenomenon. But going back to racing was a trouble for him; other teams considered him a risk. Eventually he ended up signing with the newly formed United States Postal Service team, but he didn’t finish the Tour de France. With a rocky start back to racing, Lance decided he wasn’t quite ready yet. After spending some rejuvenating time in Boone, North Carolina, Lance got in tough with the love he had for biking and became determined to overcome the past and get back to riding competitively. His first race back on the bike was the Lance Armstrong Foundation Downtown Criterium, which he won. He also went on to finish top five in the World Championships and Tour de Spain Late that year, he won the Tour de Luxembourg, the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfarht in Germany, and the Cascade Classic in Oregon (http://www.answers.com/topic/lance-armstrong). By 1999, he certain he was ready to try the Tour de France again and spent his spring training through the European mountains. Lance went on to win the 1999 Tour de France, and six more back to back Tour de France wins between then and 2005. Lance Armstrong was an international hero.
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Soon after Lance’s 25th birthday, he began coughing up blood and was forced off the bike because he was in so much pain. On October 2, 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen, lungs, lymph nodes, and his brain. His chances for recovery were far less than 50-50, but that didn’t stop Lance. He went into surgery the next day to remove one of his testicles. For the cancer that spread to his brain, Lance and the doctors opted for brain surgery to remove the cancer rather than radiation, because the radiation would throw off his balance enough to affect his racing. He also chose a non-traditional course for his chemotherapy. Instead of taking the prescribed drug, bleomycin that normally produces fewer side effects of nausea and vomiting, he chose to take ifosamide because bleomycin is capable of diminishing lung capacity, which would also affect his racing. “Taking the short-term discomfort for the long-term gain," said medical oncologist Lawrence Einhorn. During his chemotherapy, Lance first came up with the idea about creating a charitable foundation to raise caner awareness. Lance and a few of his biking buddies came up with Ride for the Roses, charity bicycle race around Austin, Texas.

An athlete from the start, Lance enjoyed running, swimming, and most of all, biking. He would ride his bike to school, swim practice, and back home. Lance won the Iron Kids Triathlon at the early age of thirteen, and by the age of sixteen, Lance became a professional triathlete. Focusing more on cycling, Lance trained with the U.S. Olympic team in Colorado Springs and soon after traveled to Russia to ride in his first international race in Moscow. He turned towards professional cycling after he became the U.S. National Amateur Champion in 1991. From then on, Lance’s career as a bike racer took off. Moving up the ranks, Lance quickly made a name for himself in the cycling world, winning the USPRO Championships, stage victories at the Tour de France, a World Championship, a position on the U.S. Olympic Team, and earning himself a No. 1 world ranking (http://www.lancearmstrong.com/). Lance was on the top of his game.

Lance Armstrong: The Early Years




Lance Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas. His father, Eddie Gunderson, abandoned him and his mother Linda, who was only seventeen when she gave birth, before his second birthday. Linda remarried Terry Armstrong three years later, and he formally adopted Lance. With little money, Linda was set on giving Lance a good life. When he was seven years old, she gave him his first bike. Terry and Linda divorced when Lance was in his mid-teens, leaving Linda to raise Lance on her own once again.
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