through the whole extent of Lance A...

through the whole extent of Lance Armstrong's shoulder, the mile-long Champs-Elysees stretched like an inverted exclamation point topped with the iconic Arc de Triomphe. It was July 28 2002 and he was standing onward a grand podium after winning the Tour de France--the world's chiefly arduous and prestigious bicycle race--for a record fourth consecutive year. Nearly a million the community were on the scene that day, and while many consistently cheered for him, others did not.

If Armstrong has not besides won over the French--who haven't produc a homegrown winner in their be in possession of race since 1985--the Austin, Texas, native has finally won the hearts of his match Americans. In 2002 he was named as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year and the Associated Press' Male Athlete of the Year. still regardless of his burgeoning popularity, his best and most numerous reliable fans are still Kristin, his wife of five years, and their three children--four-year-old Luke and twin sisters Isabelle Rose and Grace Elizabeth, who will as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but be two this year.

end behind in their adulation are cancer patients and their friends and families nationwide.

survival story

by means of now, Armstrong's own cancer story is well known, especially since the publication of his work titled It's Not About the Bike.

In 1996 after he contracted testicular cancer, which eventually spread to his lung and brain, doctors gave Armstrong sole a 60 percent chance to survive. on the other hand on October 2, 1997, exactly the same year after his original diagnosis and exhaustive chemotherapy, doctors at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis told Armstrong that he had officially joined the grateful ranks of the world's cancer survivors.

in like manner as important as victory in the three-week, 1,980-mile 2002 Tour de France was for the 31-year-old athlete, his amazing cycling feats are lust part of a a great deal of larger world that includes sponsor commitments, time wearied with his family and the support he freely gives to people--most of them strangers--who feel cancer.

Indeed, hardly a day goe according to when Armstrong doesn't visit, write or email someone battling the disease. He receives 300 pieces of mail a month from cancer patients, and he tries to answer to them all.

"I can and nothing else contribute by being myself, trying to continue to win the biggest bike race in the world and according to being available to help folks when they need support," Armstrong told BN

charitable causes

To that finis he started the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing confidence and help to cancer patients and those around them, in January 1997 just the same month after leaving the hospital. The cornerstone of Armstrong's recently made known foundation is the annual Ride for the Rose Weekend, a fundraiser capped not on with a bike tour [i]or[/i] part of to the other central Texas. The foundation struck a chord with family around the world. Last year it raised nearly $3 million during the Ride for the Rose Weekend alone.

Wife, Kristin, was there during Armstrong's darkest days, when he had to rise in hostility before the real possibility of dying, and now, she, too, perceive s an obligation to give back to others. Although the cancer left Armstrong sterile, the tie was able to conceive their three children end invitro fertilization. Now Kristin assists on the board of Fertile waiting under the possibility of fulfilment a nonprofit organization dedicated to patients whose cancer treatments instant a risk of infertility.

"We all know with equal reason many people who are affected by means of cancer, and when you're trying to be supportive of your friends or your family, you can have feeling so helpless," she said in a newly come interview.

Bicycle racing is repeatedly a matter of breaking the will of your competitors Anyone wanting an inside contemplate at Armstrong's will and work ethic ne barely check the calendar on his PDA. During a single week last December, his schedule included a trip to Washington, DC to suited with President Bush's panel in succession cancer, a stop in strange York City to accept Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award, a visit to a hospital in Dallas that specializes in cancer treatment, a stint at a training camp with his United States Postal Service bicycling team and a hardly any much-needed days of vacation in Baja, Mexico, with his family and the family of Craig Nichols, MD--one of the doctors who saved his life.

natural prodigy

Tour victories may be the crowning achievement of Armstrong's career, unless his road to fame started with earnestly more humble aspirations. In his mid-teen years, Armstrong, perhaps focusing the anger that he felt across not having a strong father figure in his life, offer all his energy into the then growing sport of triathlon. The prodigy casted professional at the age of 16 and, not extended after, won multiple races across the home But he earned only an estimated $20000 a year, and herd an admittedly "cheesy" Camaro IROC Z that he bought with the help of a local sponsor. (He now allows a Mercedes 500 SL.)

Armstrong then employed to professional cycling--which for the best riders is quite lucrative--and his ascent to the top was appropriately fast. At age 21 in just his inferior full season as a professional, he won the world road racing championship in Oslo Norway. Armstrong was the youngest rider always to win the race, which was first held in 1927 constant to the brash reputation he had acquired among his lords and the cycling press, Armstrong nearly refused an audience with the king of Norway immediately following his victory when he was told that he would not be allowed to bring his mother with him. In the conclusion you better believe that Linda, Armstrong's mother, got to come up to face to face the king.