As the 2006 Tour de France begins and we wait to see who will replace perhaps the race’s most dominate rider ever, seven time champion Lance Armstrong, I have a different question to be answered. Where will I find my annual inspiration that has given me and thousands of other cancer survivors and patients continued strength to fight on and accept the challenge that cancer presents?

In early 2004 at the age of 43 I was diagnosed with a Stage III Colorectal Cancer. Like many, I had no idea I was even sick, much less facing a deadly serious fight for my life. The diagnosis was such a shock and initially I was lost and confused about how to deal with it. While my family was no stranger to cancer, my parents and sister are all cancer survivors, I was not prepared for the impact my own diagnosis would have on me.

One of the most important factors in preparing me for what I would face came in the form of a gift from a close personal friend of mine by the name of Chris Anthony. When he heard of my cancer diagnosis he gave me Lance Armstrong’s book “It’s not about the bike”. It contained Lance’s story of his own cancer fight and survivorship and introduced me to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Chris nor I could have realized at the time what an impact the book would have in the formulation of my own plan to fight my cancer.

With the book as a source of inspiration, guidance and perspective I made it through the initial stages of treatment in pretty good shape. At every turn no matter what I faced there was always a mention in the story of something that seemed far worse than anything I was dealing with. I find it difficult to articulate how the story of Lance Armstrong’s personal fight with cancer, near death and subsequent rise to dominate what is maybe the world’s toughest individual sporting event inspired me. His words pulled me along through each day of what was becoming the toughest year of my life.

The 2004 Tour de France came along at a time when I was ending my second bout with chemotherapy, feeling physically run down and mentally exhausted but encouraged by continuing good medical reports. I watched that year’s race with great respect for the performance that was unfolding in front of me.

Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Team were completely dominant. He seemed to be able to call upon some unseen reserve of strength from within that no one else had. His team seemed to feed off of his strength. I felt like I knew where that strength came from. It was the same strength he used to fight cancer with complete and unwavering determination to win at whatever cost. Lance’s victory that year was validation again for all cancer survivors and patients that you can came back from the brink and win despite all the odds against you. If showed that statistics are just someone else’s number, you can choose to fight on your own terms and be successful. Fighting cancer is about attitude and Lance was displaying it for the whole world to see.

As the 2005 Tour de France approached I was in the beginning stages of being able to call myself a cancer survivor. My cancer had miracously responded to the pre-surgical treatment and up to that point cancer was no longer detectable in my body. Colorectal cancer has an extremely high rate of recurrence and I had to stay on top of it but I was beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. As a means of fulfilling my obligation of the cured that I believe all survivors have to those who come after them, I began to raise funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and was anticipating Lance’s attempt to win his seventh straight Tour de France.

As the 2005 Tour de France unfolded it was very different for Lance Armstrong and his team. While they initially seemed dominant again, as the 21-day race rolled on it became apparent his supporting cast of Discovery Team members might not quite be the unbeatable force as in previous years. Team members ride to protect their leader, to allow him to draft much like stock car racing, to provide support and to chase down other riders or teams that may try to break away and gain an advantage. The team’s possible weakness began to show itself on the fourteenth day of the race during a very difficult and demanding mountain stage.

As the stage climbed upward, Lance found himself abandoned by his team members who were unable to keep up with the demanding pace of the stage. The pace of the previous day’s stages had worn them down. Worse yet, his main rivals were in front and had their support riders still with them. It could have been the turning point of the whole race had those riders gotten away from Lance.

It was a defining moment for the 2005 race. Here we would find out if the great champion had enough left in his post cancer 37 year old legs to once again do the unthinkable, win the world’s most difficult bike race for the seventh straight time.

Somewhere within the psyche that had helped him survive all that had come before, he did not let those rivals and their teams get away from him. He may have been left alone to face them without his team and their support, but it did not matter. He was a fighter and summoned that special reserve from within that had helped him stare down cancer and focused it on all those challenging him now. Not only did they not get away, he nearly won the stage outright and helped preserve the defining accomplishment of his biking career, a 7th straight Tour de France victory.

It was his statement in a post race interview after the difficult day his Discovery Team had, leaving him unprotected and alone while other riders were aggressively attacking his lead that summed up for me personally what the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) means to millions living with cancer. His words that he was left with only two options; to "Fight or Quit" say it all. It turns out the 2005 race was every bit as inspiring as the previous years to me and cancer survivor’s everywhere in the way Lance chose to fight in the face of great odds.

It is that spirit and determination that was on display every year during the Tour de France as Lance Armstrong competed that provided those affected by cancer a shining beacon of hope. An example of what could be done, the possibilities that exist despite what the odds may say.

Although his competition days are over, that same spirit is alive and well in the foundation he formed to fight cancer and to help those affected by it. While I receive great inspiration from those I have met raising funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, I am still hopeful that there will be a storyline from which I can gain new inspiration in this year’s Tour de France.

Unfortunately it will not be authored by one of the most influential voices and inspirational leaders for those affected by cancer, Lance Armstrong.