Aug. 27, 2007
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- An amazing thing happened in downtown Cedar Rapids Monday and will do so again this morning.
The word ‘‘amazing’’ was used by Lance Armstrong.
If Armstrong considers something amazing when he has been the very definition of the word, we probably shouldn’t disagree.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Presidential Cancer Forum was held with four Democratic presidential candidates Monday in the U.S. Cellular Center. The second round today will feature two Republican candidates.
In individual sessions before an arena floor-full of intent listeners, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson answered cancer-related questions of Armstrong and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. Today, Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee will attend.
All major-party presidential candidates were invited.
Those who skipped the event missed a great chance to speak in depth on a serious issue instead of being limited to 90-second snippets in a debate format that lends itself to heat more than light.
It was yet another example of Armstrong’s willpower getting something done. The more time that passes, the more the 35-year-old is making his seven straight Tour de France championships look like an ordinary accomplishment compared to what he’s now doing.
Armstrong has raised more than $65 million in the fight against cancer through the sale of yellow ‘‘Livestrong’’ wristbands alone. That’s just a sliver of what he’s done since he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, launched his foundation in 1997, and won Tours every year from 1999 to 2005.
The mission statement of the Lance Armstrong Foundation is to inspire and empower people affected by cancer. Which is or has been almost all of us, really.
So Armstrong organized this forum in Cedar Rapids, smack-dab in presidential caucus territory. He phoned most of the candidates himself. Six have come.
‘‘I personally thought it was amazing,’’ Armstrong said after Monday’s event. ‘‘I think you had a lot of very important people, a lot of significant candidates there. They discussed the issue that we wanted them to discuss.
‘‘We obviously think something that kills 600,000 Americans a year deserves having all of the front-runners here.’’
Five years ago, Sports Illustrated called Armstrong a ‘‘hope machine.’’ He was once given a 40-percent chance to live. Ever since his recovery, he has said he has the obligation of the cured.
Apparently, part of that obligation in Armstrong’s mind is to get presidential candidates on the record about what they’re going to do to lead a war. A war on cancer, that is.
Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act in 1971, declaring a war on the disease. But it hasn’t been fought with full force in Washington, has it?
‘‘Why wouldn’t you talk about the number one killer in the country?’’ Armstrong asks on his www.livestrong.org Web site.
‘‘The immediate goal is, really from today until election time for me personally, is to make sure that whatever candidate or candidates we have now and ultimately the two that want to be president, discuss the number one killer in this country just like they would discuss war or terror or taxes.
‘‘So that’s my objective now. I think I have an army of people behind that want to see that happen as well.’’
A word Armstrong often used Monday in questions to candidates was ‘‘priorities.’’
‘‘This just comes down to an issue of priorities,’’ he said after the forum.
It does seem like it should be just that simple. This year, 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. As Armstrong said, 600,000 Americans will die from it this year.
Six hundred thousand.
Maybe it takes someone who bicycled up the French Alps faster than anyone else and has never slowed down, an unstoppable hope machine. Armstrong has his army, and has declared his war. A just war.