The real perils of life

At 25, Lance Armstrong was the world's top-rated cyclist. Then he underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor and testicular cancer. Doctors gave him a 50% chance of survival. After he recovered one doctor admitted that he'd only given Armstrong a 3% chance. When asked if the rigors of cancer treatment had depressed him he said, "No, I thought being depressed would be detrimental. It was a very positive time in my life."

From then on Lance wanted something more; he wanted to race again which wouldn't be easy to say the least. At one point in his come back he actually quit right in the middle of a race, something he'd never done before. But he came back from that setback and went on to win, not one, but seven consecutive Tour de France races (1999-2005). An extraorindary feat and comeback! After winning his first Tour de France, he said, "If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you've got to go all the way." He shared something else which I thought very profound ~ "Without faith we're left with nothing but an overwhelming sense of hopelessness every single day, and it will beat you. I didn't fully see until the cancer, how we fight every day against the creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of cynicism. Dispiritedness and disappointment, these are the real perils of life, not some sudden illness."