Riding for Roses

Spencer with Lance Armstrong in Sports Illustrated

The phone rings on April 18. Austin Murphy is writing the story about Lance and wants to talk about the Sports Illustrated cover photo. Spencer is home sick and is happy to talk with Austin – as long as I leave the room while they are on the phone together. Austin is looking for a little information about what was going through Spencer’s mind during the shoot when the photographer was asking the survivors to show their cancer experience in their eyes. Austin is either curious or forgiving of my desire to share Spencer’s story. Before I know it, we have talked for almost half an hour.

Spencer takes his turn. I leave the room. I’ll never know all of what he said, but clearly part of it was about hating all the shots and needle pokes. I hear the cordless phone beep that it is running low on battery and I bring in the spare. As I walk into the family room, Spencer says “hold on”, puts down the phone, and starts to do push ups. I turn on the backup phone and finish the call with Austin, but not before reporting that Spencer did 35 pushups¹. Apparently they were talking about what Spencer does in his Tukong martial arts class and Austin asked how many pushups Spencer could do. I tell Austin how Spencer started back at martial arts class when he was still not always able to walk from his bedroom to the kitchen and how Master Ali Brown gave Spencer private lessons to help him regain strength until Spencer was able to fully participate again in the group class.

Austin Murphy’s article The Next Stage is available on the Sports Illustrated web site. Here’s a taste of what he has to say:

Spencer is a foot soldier in what could be called Armstrong’s Army, a generation of cancer patients who are the opposite of passive victims. They are, like him, warrior-survivors. If he walked away from the fight today, that would be his legacy. But he isn’t walking away. He’s just getting warmed up.

As always, talking with someone about cancer survivorship is rewarding and fun. Remembering the good times reminds me of the happiness. Remembering the hard times reminds me of hope, but I also remember that we have it easy compared to many. Cancer is hard. It is, as Lance says, one tough hombre.

If you have a cancer story, please share it here or at the LAF Share Your Story web site.

Soon, I’ll formally announce Spencer’s effort to raise money this year for the LAF. He wants to help cancer survivors and defeat cancer – and maybe get to spend a killer weekend with supporters, cancer survivors, and Lance.

¹ Austin, if you are reading this: Spencer was unsatisfied with that number and did 50 later in the day just to prove it.