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Jamie Lindsay rides on Hill Ewell Road in the Wilderness Battlefield in preparation for a 500-mile ride across Iowa with Team Livestrong. |
On Sunday, when Lance Armstrong and the rest of the Tour de France field will be pedaling their way into the Swiss Alps, Spotsylvania resident Jamie Lindsay will be setting off on a long bike ride of his own.
Lindsay, 60, will spend next week making a 500-mile bike trek across Iowa in an event called the Ragbrai.
Armstrong has made appearances at this event in the past to help raise awareness and money for his foundation, which seeks to give cancer victims inspiration and information to fight the disease.
Lindsay says the Lance Armstrong Foundation, through the information it puts out on its Live strong.org Web site, played a big role in his own cancer fight.
Three years ago, Lindsay spent most of his time sky-diving. He had worked for 31 years as an international pilot, a captain on Boeing 777s for United Airlines, but he was medically grounded after an eye surgery went awry.
After competing in the sky diving national championships in California in October 2006, Lindsay noticed a pain in his left hip and more fatigue than he was used to.
He was living in Arizona at the time to train in his sport, and his doctor at the time told him that at 57, he was simply too old to be jumping out of planes 500 times a year. It was time to chill out.
So Lindsay moved back to Spotsylvania and did just that. But it didn't help. His pain got worse.
Lindsay went through weeks of MRIs and repeated visits to his orthopedic surgeon and primary-care doctors, who then sent him to a bone cancer specialist at the Washington Hospital Cancer Center, who sent him to a blood-borne cancer specialist at that hospital, who ordered more tests.
On March 27, 2007, Lindsay was told he had stage 4 lymphoma, and that he had between three and 12 weeks to live.
Lindsay got into a clinical trial at the Washington Hospital Cancer Center that put him on an intense chemotherapy regimen.
He underwent six cycles of chemo that each lasted 5 days straight. In between each cycle, he went home for two weeks and two days.
It was during that time at home that Lindsay, who is not married, leaned most heavily on what he was reading on Livestrong.org.
The chemicals had left him dehydrated, weak and so forgetful that he would forget to take the medications that were supposed to calm his nausea.
"You wonder, am I going to make it through this?" Lindsay said.
He'd watch videos on the Livestrong Web site made by survivors. He carried a card with the Lance Armstrong Foundation's "manifesto" on it.
One day when he was particularly down, he said three sentences on that card changed his outlook.
Over and over again, Lindsay read from the card, "Unity is strength. Knowledge is power. Attitude is everything."
"I made a deal with myself: 'You quit whining. You start fighting,'" Lindsay said.
It has been almost 21 months since Lindsay was told his cancer was in remission, news that came six months after his diagnosis, after following up his chemotherapy with radiation treatment at the Cancer Center of Virginia in Spotsylvania County.
Lindsay's doctors told him he would need to be especially vigilant for the first three years after he was told he was in remission.
But Lindsay's fight now doesn't end with his own health. You might call him a Livestrong evangelist. His PT Cruiser has the yellow wristband logo affixed to its side, and Lindsay says his goal is to create a "Livestrong army" in Fredericksburg that would support those living with cancer and raise money to find a cure.
That's why he's about to spend seven days on a bike riding across Iowa. He's one of 84 people who are riding as "Team Livestrong," trying to keep the Armstrong Foundation's message visible at the annual race, even though the man himself is on the other side of the Atlantic.
So far, Lindsay and his teammates have raised $110,000 through their ride for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He said they hope to get to $150,000 before the ride starts on Sunday.
After that, Lindsay said he hopes to participate in other Livestrong events, maybe make it back to the sky diving national championships and, after he hits that three-year mark, get back in the pilot's seat.
"There's a lot of life ahead," he said.
Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
Follow Jamie Lindsay's 500-mile ride across Iowa at twitter.com/jamielindsay. To contribute to his efforts to raise money through the ride for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, visit livestrong.org/grass roots2009/jamieLiowa09. |
