Lance Armstrong

As some of you might know Lance Armstrong became my hero during my darkest hours when I was lying in my hospital bed. I read his book under the covers of my bed at night and I cried for the first time in my 13 years of life because of a book. I read this book (and his second one) again and again until I had memorized large parts of it. Until I had memorized the message: Life goes on after cancer. One day you WILL leave the hospital with all its torture and just be again. Because of Lance I stayed active during my chemo and I bought a very nice bike after my chemo and started to gain my body and my freedom back. He taught me that giving up is not an option. He and his story pushed me to try harder when I just wanted to rest. Lance had a huge impact on the person I am today. He showed me there was hope to not only live, but to thrive. His story made me able to face the illness and the world.

Everybody who knows me, knows about Lance. In the past days I got several messages simply asking: "So, what do you have to say?" My answer was exactly what I just wrote here. I am still grateful that there is Lance and his story. It does not matter that he doped. The victory is  getting up from this darn hospital bed and to start training again. He would have been my hero if he had finished 56. seven times in a row.

Watching the interviews with Oprah made me sad. But it still was strangely reassuring that this super human is indeed just human. He has many undesirable traits that I hope people will never associate with me, but there are still two things I hope I learned from him: determination and endurance. World, do no be too hard on him (and his family)!

The picture I took of Lance when the "Tour de France" came to Germany in 2005. I was hyper for days afterwards.