Prostate Cancer
Not usually a subject for this blog, but an important subject to consider, nonetheless. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers to affect men in the United States. Depending on the age a man is diagnosed with the disease and what stage the cancer is in when the diagnosis is made, it can be a major threat to his health and longevity or it may be a relatively benign problem. The older you are when you’re diagnosed (especially if you’re over 65), the less likely it is that the disease will kill you. But that’s not to say it’s a benign disease.
Prostate cancer in younger men is often a very aggressive disease and if not caught early, can lead to death. Frank Zappa is one example of a man who died at a relatively young age due to the disease. It’s not something to mess with. You can learn more about the disease, the symptoms and treatments for prostate cancer here.
So why write about prostate cancer? Well, two reasons. First, one of my wife’s relatives in Denmark succumbed to the disease in October 2005. I had the privilege of meeting and spending time with him, and he was a wonderful, gregarious person. He bore his illness well. We managed to spend part of a day with him just about 3 or 4 weeks before he passed away. Hans was not a young man, but not terribly old, either, being in his early 70s. He had a real zest for life, and I wish I’d gotten a chance to know him better.
Second, there’s a fundraising effort going on this weekend, involving a certain Tour de France champion. Floyd Landis is racing at the Teva Mountain Games, in part to raise money for prostate cancer research. It’s not too late to donate (and, I believe, this is a tax-deductible donation, to boot). If you’re so inclined, go here to make a donation to a very worthy cause. I did.
And speaking of the Teva Mountain Games …
Cheers and Jeers in Vail
While racing at the Teva Mountain Games yesterday, Floyd Landis was met by both cheers and jeers. Some participants wore jerseys emblazoned with the phrase “Dopers Suck” or black armbands with the same message, and some spectators were sporting “Dopers Suck” t-shirts. And according to a couple of reports, the winner of yesterday’s mountain bike race showed a lot of class. According to the Vail Daily:
[A] few minutes after claiming one of the biggest wins of his career, local boy Jay Henry explained why he didn’t have a problem with Landis showing up — even though the 49th-place finisher had upstaged Henry on his home turf.
“If a third of these people are here to see Floyd,” Henry said, looking around at the sun-drenched masses, “I think it’s great. Because this is the biggest crowd I’ve seen at a mountain bike race in a long time.”
Not all the participants were so charitable, however. Travis Brown, who finished fourth in the race, told the Vail Daily:
I don’t think he should be competing because he’s banned from any sanctioned competitions. When his appeal comes out, if he’s cleared, then it’d be OK. But I don’t think it reflects well on the Teva Games or mountain biking to have him here.
Despite what Brown said, the Teva Mountain Games are not a sanctioned event, therefore Floyd Landis is free to compete. Brown went on to say that he felt that Landis’ appearance was more about painting Landis in a favorable light.
I wonder, though, how much Brown knows about Landis’ case (or any of the folks in “Dopers Suck” regalia, for that matter). My hunch is that he hasn’t taken much time to learn about the details. And I suspect that would be even more true for those wearing their thoughts on their jerseys, t-shirts or wrists.
For his part, Landis had things in perspective, telling VeloNews:
I’m going to suffer, but I’ll be alright. I don’t really have anyone in mind who I’m going to target. Ned Overend isn’t one of them.
Overend told VeloNews:
I think it takes some guts to come out here and do this – you know everyone has a target on his back.
I’d always heard Ned Overend was a classy guy. That kind of confirms it for me.
For Floyd Landis, the weekend’s events are a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the last 10 months. As CyclingNews reports:
“I just get tired of having everything focused on me,” Landis said. “Once I got here, it occurred to me again that it’s not always like that.”
Here’s to hoping Floyd gets more time to focus on other things. He is competing again today, in a road bike hill climb up to Vail Pass.
