Following my op-ed in Saturday’s Washington Post, CTV News contacted me to participate in a live interview this morning about the Lance Armstrong controversy. Click the image below to view the segment.
Click the image to view segment.
Tags: Cancer, Cancer survivor, coming clean, honesty, integrity, Lance Armstrong, Livestrong
Wonderful segment John, and a great op-ed piece as well!
Well, this is a ling way from the Alice Faye media tour! Congrats, John!
I listened to the clip and the comments about why would a Cancer survivor put that in his body brought to mind some things about cancer treatment (CaTx) that may have started the slippery slope for Lance. It doesn’t excuse him but it may show the incremental process of self-delusion. Erythropoietin (EPO) is given after CaTx to help the bone marrow recover. More red blood cells in the blood helps with stamina. Cyclists train at high altitudes (where oxygen is low) to increase natural EPO production. I learned during recent Olympics that swimming stars sleep in low oxygen tension rooms (what was not said is that this also causes increased EPO production. A very quick solution to having not trained in the mountains is to get a transfusion of red blood cells. People being treated for cancer may also get blood transfusions. So far, I haven’t mentioned steroids used to increase muscle mass, only EPO. Would one believe that being able to afford months of training in the mountains, or being able to build a high tech bedroom which artificially lowers oxygen tension, so that natural EPO is increased is any worse or better than taking EPO or getting a blood transfusion. Should, all Tour de France competitors be restricted to training in the environments that they naturally ride in and should they also be barred from competition if they have installed in their home a low oxygen tension bed room? If that is allowed, then the EPO use or Blood transfusion use does not seem completely bad while these other artificial means of gaining stamina are not. With those thought greasing Lance’s slippery slope it is easy to see how he could rationalize and fail to see the harm.