Category Archives: Journal

Lance Armstrong

Posted on by

So maybe some of you have heard, but Lance Armstrong has been in the news alot lately. I have alot of friends ask what I think of all the doping allegations, the USADA’s report, and all the other professional cyclist that have come forward and testified against him.

IT DOES NOT MATTER.

I was diagnosed with Cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) on June 6, 2003. I had a mediastinal mass in my chest just above my lungs that was encroaching on my heart. The mass was 9 x 5 inches in size. The oncologist had said that if we had caught this any later I would have died. My wife and I fought this disease for 6 long months and we beat it.

That summer my brother-in-law convinced me to buy a bike and we started to ride together. Now I used to ride alot when I was a teenager (Palmyra-Victor, Palmyra-Newark, Palmyra-Clifton Springs, Palmyra-Shortsville .. you get the idea). On the bike I felt free and invincible. Or so we thought.

10 months later I relapsed. I was told there was no evidence of the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, but a couple biopsies showed I now had Hodgkins Lymphoma.

This started another battery of tests. Every couple of weeks I would stay the weekend at the hospital while a new combination of chemotherapy (ABVD, ICE)  was tried to see if the Cancer would respond to it. The Cancer was not responding to any of the chemotherapy. That is when my oncologist said that our only choice was to try an Auto-Stem Cell Transplant.

On December 24, 2004 I went into the hospital for the Auto-Stem Cell Transplant. I asked my oncologist what my chances were at this point. He said you have a 30% chance of getting through this treatment and going home. I started the BEAM chemotherapy treatment that day. It would last 4 hours everyday for 5 days. It was on the 3rd day of the treatment that I was lying in bed wondering how I am going to get through this when I saw this commercial come on. I saw Lance Armstrong and he was some sort of cyclist and he was talking about something called the Ride for the Roses in Austin, Texas. I felt this instant connection. I felt hope for the first time. I kept thinking this guy had cancer, beat it and is now a professional cyclist. If he beat it then so can I and I am going to make it to the Ride for the Roses and ride 100 miles.

That day I started training for this Ride for the Roses. The transplant ward was on the 8th floor. I would walk up and down those 8 floors of stairs twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. I spent 19 days in the hospital and as soon as I got home I put my bike on a trainer and started riding.

I raised $10,490 that year for the LiveStrong Foundation at the 2005 Ride for the Roses and earned the Green Jersey. I was only 10 months out from an Auto Stem Cell Transplant and was able to ride 75 miles. It was one my greatest athletic achievements.

My point in all this is this. My feelings for Lance Armstrong have never been about his bike or the races he won or lost. The bike was just the object that sparked the connection I felt I have with him.

New Year’s Eve 2012 will mark 8 years in remission for me. I have an amazing wife and even more amazing 4 year old twins (Jamie, & Luke). Something I thought back in 2003 when all of this started would never happen.

Lance in my darkest hour you gave me what I needed most:

HOPE

Nothing the USADA, UCI, other professional cyclists, other amateur cyclists, or the news will ever be able to take that away from me.

 

2012 LiveStrong Challenge: Austin, Texas

Posted on by

In March of 2012 I joined the LiveStrong program at The Eastside YMCA.  LIVESTRONG at the YMCA is designed for adult cancer survivors who have recently become de-conditioned or chronically fatigued from their treatment or disease. The small group, physical activity program utilizes a private, non-intimidating circuit style that helps participants build strength, increase flexibility and endurance and ultimately improve quality of life. Additional goals include reducing the side effects of treatment, preventing unwanted weight changes and improving energy levels and self-esteem.

During this free 12-week program I was able to connect to other cancer survivors that were just out of treatment or about to go back into treatment. A final goal of the program is to assist participants in developing their own physical fitness program so they can continue to practice a healthy lifestyle, not only as part of their recovery, but as a way of life. In addition to the physical benefits, the program provides participants a supportive environment and a feeling of community with their fellow survivors, YMCA staff and members.

The Greater Rochester YMCA had asked their LiveStrong trainers to nominate one participant to go Austin, Texas and participate in the 2012 Livestrong Challenge on October 21st. On Wednesday Jun 6, 2012 (exactly 9 years to the day of my initial diagnosis of cancer) I was given the most amazing gift. The YMCA of Greater Rochester awarded my wife (Carrie) and I a trip to Austin, Texas to ride in the Team LiveStrong Challenge.  We cannot thank the Greater Rochester YMCA, Delta Airlines, Radission Hotels, Maureen, and Robin enough.

Please join me in helping other cancer survivors LIVESTRONG by making a donation today. You can read the full story and make an online donation HERE.

Quick Update …

Posted on by

One of our local news stations ( 10 NBC / WHEC TV-10 ) was doing a piece on blogging and illness. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed for the segment. I thought I would share the video with you.

This is just a quick note until I have time to write more about the experience.

Thanks!
Shan

Life is definately unpredictable …

Posted on by

So I have not updated my journal in quite some time (52 days to be exact).

My health just seems to be getting better and better as my gut seems to be getting bigger and bigger. It seems I have put on some 22 pounds since our trip to Texas. I know what will fix this, but I just can’t seem to make myself ride my bike in the basement. It just seems silly to sit there and pedal nowhere.

Life was starting to wind down for Carrie and I. It was almost starting to seem normal and then something amazing happened …

This is so huge I just do not know where to start … or how much of it I am allowed to write about online so I will give the short version.

I have known for quite some time (10 years) that I had 6 older siblings. Their names are John, Mark, David, Steve, Paul, and Cyndi. My Mom has not seen her kids for over 40 years. She had to give them all up for adoption. The amazing thing is that these children were all adopted by the SAME family. Not all at once, but one by one this family tracked the children down and adopted them. So they were able to grow up together. (Bear with me because this is the VERY simple version)

Now I had promised my Mom that someday I would find her children for her. I have been searching off and on over the years and just never turned anything up. I could not afford to hire an investigator and neither could my parents. So I would give up and then retry again in another year or so. Well this month (February) I found out the name of the man my Mom married when she came to the US. I had never had that bit of information. So the following day I entered that name into Google and I got one hit. My brother Paul had put an information page up on Adoption.com. It had all the information I had known RIGHT THERE!

At this point I could not believe my eyes. I printed that page out and did the search again. Google returned hundreds of hits this time, but Paul’s page was not there. I ran to the printer and looked over what I had printed out. I went back to Adoption.com and found Paul’s page again. This time I signed up on Adoption.com’s forums and made a post in their discussion forums (READ POST).

I kept the post simple, but wasn’t really sure anyone would see it. Paul made his information page in 2000 so it was already 6 years old. Luckily an investigator on the forums (Mackie) saw my post and was intrigued by it. This person did a little digging and was able to find my sister’s married name. Don’t ask me how they found that out because I still don’t know. This person emailed me and said they had sent an email to Cyndi, but did not get an answer back. The investigator said since her name & address is publically listed in the phone book that they could legally give the phone number to me. I hesitated all of about 60 seconds that Saturday morning and called the number …

Now in my excitement I did not realize there was a two hour time difference between where I live and where Cyndi lives. It was 9:30am my time which meant it was 7:30am their time. Luckily, my sister’s family are early risers! smile

I was not sure how they would react to me so I blocked my number. My Mom has had a VERY hard time emotionally and physically these last 40 years because of all the guilt and pain she has carried. I did not want my siblings to know where I was at first. I am very over protective of my Mom. I wanted to make sure that these were indeed them at that they were not going to hurt my Mom. It seems kind of silly to think that, but you have to understand … I am VERY OVER PROECTIVE of my Mom.

So .. where was I .. Oh yeah .. so the phone is ringing and I am trying to think of what I am going to say. A man answers the phone and I almost hung up, but I kept it together and asked if Cyndi was there. He sounded a little cautious on the phone .. probably because I was a new voice he had never heard before … he said she was home, but just heading out the door .. then he asked “May I ask who is calling?” I am not exactly sure what I said, but I think it went something like this.

Me: “Is Cyndi home?”
Monte: “She is on her way out. May I ask who is calling?”
Me: “Umm .. Uhh .. My name is Shannon. I can’t give you my last name right now, but I believe that Cyndi and I have the same birth mother..”
Monte: “Really?”

Now from the tone in his voice I get the feeling he thinks I am joking or something. So he asks me a couple of questions. I can’t even remember what those were, but then he said,”Please don’t hang up .. I think Cyndi is going to want to talk to you …”

I was terrified. I almost hung up. I can only imagine what Cyndi was feeling like as her husband handed her the phone. She got on the phone and she even had more questions for me. It was so heart wrenching. Her and her five brothers thought Mom wasn’t alive anymore. I told her Mom is alive and well as were me and my younger brother. Cyndi was like wait a minute … Did Mom raise YOU and a younger brother?!? I nervously said yes and she said my Mom’s alive and I have TWO YOUNGER brothers?!?

We talked some more and I just felt an instant connection with her. I cannot explain the bond that is there. I explained to her that Mom did not know I had found them yet and that I would like to talk to as many as I could before I told Mom. I was worried about how my Mom would take this news. I was worried the news would kill her. Looking back that seems silly, but as I said I am very protective of my Mom.

So that day was Saturday February 11, 2006. A day I will never forget. I was able to talk to a few of my brothers in the next couple days and I explained to them our situation and why I was a little cautious. They said they understood which made me relax a whole lot. I thought this process was going to take months or weeks, but I ended up telling my Mom just five days later. My Dad was just as excited as my Mom. We have not seen my Mom this happy in a long, long time.

Mom has since been able to talk to five of the six children and it has been going very well. I know this is just the beginning of a wonderful journey. I know there will be ups and downs along the way, but what good is life if it is boring and predictable. There is a lot of healing that needs to happen in my family. We had grown apart over the years. I am hoping that this event brings us all closer together. Only time will tell, but I am looking forward to story that unfolds …

(Please forgive me .. this is a pretty watered down version of the events that have transpired. I think I could write a book on just this alone. As I have time to take all this in I will write more about it. I am still trying to process it all. I hope to have some photos of them up soon. I just need to get their permission first)