I like Lance Armstrong mainly for his
efforts towards cancer awareness. But I never was an avid follower. I
never knew why. Maybe because he is still a roadie and I am a
mountain biker? Maybe because he is more concerned about draft while
I more of that next drop? Maybe because he rides Trek and I ride
generic?
There is a chasm that exists between
being a roadie and a mountain biker which, for some of us, is a
divide that is difficult to cross. For this mountain biker in
particular, he finds the equipment on that side of the ridge more
expensive; where size is inversely proportional to cost. He can not
comprehend, for the life of him, how some tiny thing, merely because
it came from the land of pizza and spaghetti, can be more expensive
than his Romanian made wheelset.
Going back to Lance, I knew little of
the man. If not for friends who spoke about his exploits in Leadville
over our usual post-bike beer fest, I would have not known he
actually ride mountainbikes and can be pretty good at it. In fact, he
won that event beating a Leadville icon.
But what really stood out in my view was
he had cancer and had beaten it. For one who is familiar with this
illness, that introduction to the man was enough. My purpose has been
defined.
So I put on the band, not for the
personality who started it but because of his victory over the
disease. Indeed, I wear this band for more profound reasons.
I wear this band because of the noise
it made about cancer and its quest to find a cure.
I wear this band for the father who
will never get to experience how to walk his daughter on her wedding
day or the mother who will never know how it is to beam with pride on
her son's college graduation because they lost their children to
cancer.
I wear this band for the son who will
never know how it is to feel his dad's enduring compassion specially
on moments when all things seems lost or the daughter who will
forever miss her mom's laughter while she prepares breakfast because
they lost their parents to cancer.
I wear this band for those who now
journey on in life with a limp because the person that gives them
true strength is now gone, taken by cancer.
I wear this band for Cecille and
Carmella and those like them who have gone through, some still going
through, this dreadful experience called cancer.
Until cancer is finally beaten, I
will wear my yellow Livestrong band.
Yes, I wear this band for more profound
reasons.
