The Armstrong Lie Page #5

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it is the best way to

promote this initiative.

It's the best way

to get the word out.

He understood the power of

that story, and he used it.

The disease, testicular

cancer, travels up a young man's body,

so next stop is the abdomen.

Next stop is the lungs.

And the last stop is the brain.

My dumb ass just

ignored symptoms,

obvious, glaring, dirty

symptoms, for a long time.

And it traveled all the way up.

Severe headaches.

Blurry vision.

Coughing up of blood.

Extreme pain downstairs.

I read that you had a testicle

the size of an orange.

That's an exaggeration.

Lemon?

Good-sized lemon.

In 1996, Lance had

the cancerous testicle removed

and flew to Indiana University

for an experimental treatment.

The doctors there

thought Lance's chances

of survival were less than 50%.

Lance underwent brain surgery

to remove cancerous lesions,

then began a special chemotherapy

program that would not scar his lungs.

The immediate side

effects would be brutal,

but if he survived, the treatment

would protect his career.

Whatever I do in cycling, or

whatever I do in the Tour de France,

or whatever I do in training, I'll

never suffer like I did then.

That initial surgery to remove

that primary tumor in the testicle

was a big surgery, a big cut.

The cut was

probably six inches long,

right up at the waist

and very physically painful.

So I got on the bike and I just

gently rode

around my neighborhood.

That was a big day for me.

And I went half a mile.

And I did it in tennis shoes, and

I did it on a mountain bike.

But I was on the bike.

I was pedaling the bike.

All the feelings that are associated

with that, the wind in the hair,

that initial sense of freedom

that a bicycle gives a child.

Kids love bikes because it's the first

time in their life they're free.

It's the first time when they're

not in their mom's car,

they're not in Mom's living room,

they're not in Mom's backyard.

They get on the bike,

they go down,

they take a right, take a left.

Nobody sees them.

They're completely free.

I'm a mean machine

I'm the kind

you don't wanna meet

My middle name is trouble

I'm a danger in the street I'

Lance Armstrong

grew up in Plano, Texas,

raised by a young mother

who worked as a receptionist.

He never met his father.

He comes out of Plano,

Texas, and he comes out angry.

He comes out ready to

take on the world with

his mom at his side

and needing no one else.

My morn, she doesn't

really have that much money, so...

I could probably get

money from somebody,

but I don't wanna borrow money,

so there's pressure

to make the money.

You can see in

the yellow helmet there

the youngest professional in

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