Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention

British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is urging men over 50 years-old to get regular tests for prostate cancer after he was successfully treated for the disease last year and given the all-clear.

Lloyd Webber, 61, said in a health diary published on his website that he noticed the first symptoms of his cancer last summer and underwent an operation to remove his prostate gland after a biopsy came back positive.

He was told the cancer had been caught early and the treatment was successful, but he then battled an underlying e-coli infection that had been there all along.

“If that infection had been found and cured, I could have been blissfully unaware that I had a cancerous tumor that was on the verge of breaking loose around the rest of my body. I could have thought that my frequent peeing was due to a weak bladder. I have been bloody lucky,” wrote Lloyd Webber.

“I say to every red-blooded male, if you do begin to have a problem down under, however embarrassing, go to your GP at once. Even if you don’t have any symptoms, if you are over 50 get regular PSA (prostate specific antigen) tests.”

Lloyd Webber, the composer behind hit musicals including “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats” and “Starlight Express,” is staging a sequel to “The Phantom of the Opera” called “Love Never Dies” that is due to open in London in March this year.

He has also just kicked off a search for Dorothy to star in his West End production of “The Wizard of Oz” with his search to be the topic of a BBC television talent show.

Interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lance Armstrong is the ultimate athlete, a cancer survivor, who dominated the most brutally intense event in sports. Armstrong won seven consecutive Tours from 1999-2005, He not only made history, erasing previous records, he revolutionized cycling.

By doing so, Lance Armstrong became one of the most controversial athletes in his sport. His athletic prowess was so unbelievable that it divided mere mortals into two camps: those he inspired against those who suspect that he must have been doping.

With Armstrong, it all comes down to belief. No one believes in Armstrong more strongly than Armstrong himself. Of everything, that was perhaps his most vital winning ingredient.

A modest, fatherless childhood and being written off as an athlete when cancer doctors gave him less than a 50/50 chance of living left Armstrong with a chip on his shoulder as large as his native Texas. “I’ll show ‘em” could be his motto. More than merely competitive, Armstrong thrives on confrontation. Deadly illness, dizzying mountain climbs, accusations of doping, perceived slights from other riders — all these and more he burned as fuel to power his intense drive.

His first post-op words to the surgeon who removed tumors from his brain, according to the cyclist, were “I can kick your ass on a bike any day.”

At the Tour, the most ferocious demonstration of his implacable will came in the mist-cooled Pyrenees in 2003, when his winning streak brushed within a whisker of a premature end. Accelerating uphill away from his rivals, Armstrong shaved too close to the roadside crowds and snagged his handlebar on a spectator’s bag, slamming him to the ground.

Riders with less steel and less luck — Armstrong was fortunate not to break a bone — might have thrown up their hands in despair. Not him. His eyes burning charcoal black with fury, Armstrong jumped back on his bike and powered past everyone, rescuing what until then had been a sub-par race for him. Of the Tours he won, that was the only one where he showed hints of vulnerability.

“Everyone has a bad day, an off day but Lance is that well trained that it never happens to him. Hats off,” says 13-time Tour veteran Stuart O’Grady. “For seven years, to never fall sick, to never have (a serious) accident. The level of professionalism that he’s shown has made cycling that much bigger. Armstrong is a superstar, a celebrity in all aspects of life.”

Passing years, wealth, fame, fatherhood and traveling the world smoothed some of Armstrong’s abrasiveness. As much as he showed a mean streak on the bike, he has shown compassion off it, throwing himself into campaigning against cancer with the same zeal he once reserved for cycling. But even as he developed a taste for modern art, populated gossip pages and rubbed shoulders with presidents and pop stars, the need to prove himself still smoldered under his tailored suits.

After his last win in 2005, Armstrong announced that he was “100 percent retired” and that “it would take an absolute miracle to bring me back.” In fact, it took less than that in 2008 — just a belief that his successors weren’t worthy and that he could still be a contender, and anger that doping accusations had followed him into retirement.

“I’m doing this for my kids,” he told biographer John Wilcockson, explaining his comeback. “I don’t want them growing up and reading all these things about me and doping.”

Yet nothing Armstrong does will silence the suspicions. They appear destined for perpetual limbo, with Armstrong unable to prove he was clean — short of spending 24/7, 365 days a year under constant surveillance, who could? — and his accusers unable so far to produce incontrovertible evidence he was dirty.

It’s an unsatisfactory situation that bothers even some of those who know, like and respect him. Prince Albert II of Monaco, a member of the International Olympic Committee, says Armstrong wouldn’t be his athlete of the decade because of the doubts.

“Obviously you can also argue, ‘OK, maybe he took something a few years ago and then now how could he be on something after winning the battle against cancer? How could he afford simply health-wise to be on any kind of drugs?’ But he still had results after that, incredible ones,” the prince told the AP. “It is a very tricky one.”

What is certain is that five of the eight riders who shared the Tour podium with Armstrong in his winning years served doping bans at some point in their careers. Another two were allegedly tied to doping rings. Armstrong was the leader among a sullied bunch.

Armstrong’s laserlike focus on the Tour, building his year and team toward that sole goal, had no equal. His attention to detail and use of new technology raised standards in cycling. In spring training, on empty, rain-soaked roads and snow-blocked mountain passes, Armstrong methodically reconnoitered the route, planning where he would strike during the three Tour weeks in July. Traditionalists in France huffed at Armstrong’s “American” ways, bridling that he steamrollered over their beloved race without the off-the-cuff panache of a rider like Eddy “The Cannibal” Merckx, whom Armstrong calls the greatest cyclist ever.

But, in doing so, the French also paid Armstrong a strange backhanded compliment, because only those at very top draw such emotion in this nation of revolution.

“The French public doesn’t like people who win,” says Jean-Francois Pescheux, who as competition director for the Tour designs the route. “The first year, they’re happy. The second year, less so and at the third, they have had enough.”

Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention – Local cancer survivors — some with their arms linked in a show of strength, solidarity and support — kicked off the inaugural lap of the 2009 Paso Robles Relay for Life event on Saturday morning.

Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraising event, tasking its participants all around the country to celebrate survivors, remember those who have lost their lives to the disease and, most especially, to fight back against cancer. The event has been going on for 11 years in Paso Robles and 25 years nationwide.

This year, 44 teams — amounting to roughly 400 participants — took to a makeshift track at River Oaks Hot Springs in Paso Robles, each team committed to have at least one person on the track at all times for 24 hours.

Relay for Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will have support and that one day cancer will be eliminated, according to the ACS. Moreover, the event raises both awareness and funds for ACS, which will be utilized for cancer research and services for patients facing cancer.

Paso Robles Mayor Duane Picanco thanked the hundreds of Paso Robles Relay participants for their commitment to stamping out cancer, a disease that will be diagnosed in an estimated 1,479,350 people in 2009 alone, according to the ACS.

“None of us are immune to this particular disease,” Picanco told the crowd. “We all know family and friends who have it and who have had it.”

In acknowledgment of the ACS’ mission, the effort of the event’s participants and the dedication of dozens of local volunteers that made the Paso Robles Relay for Life event possible, Picanco offered organizers a proclamation issued by the Paso Robles City Council, which declared Relay for Life to be a “meaningful, worthwhile event.”

First District Supervisor Frank Mecham was also on hand with an offer of appreciation from the county of San Luis Obispo.

“There are two things that I told my kids all through their life, that every morning you need to wake up with two things: hope and purpose; without them, there is nothing else,” he told team members who gathered for Opening Ceremonies. “You provide that hope and you provide the purpose by which we seek the means to address this terrible disease.”

Mecham himself lost both of his parents to cancer; his mother succumbed to the disease just over a year-and-a-half ago. It was in the same spirit of remembrance that other participants were inspired to dedicate themselves to the cause, as daughters walked in memory of their mothers, sisters in honor of their lost brothers and parents for children whose lives were cut short by cancer. And while there are tears shed for those who have passed on, every step taken by participants was strengthened by a hope for a future without the ravages of cancer.

“I lost my mother 21 years ago to a dreadful disease there was no hope for,” said Paso Robles Relay For Life volunteer chairperson Julie Aikenhead. “I have a friend today who has that same disease and for five years he has had hope. That is why we Relay.”

The enduring strength of cancer survivors is also lauded during the event. Each Relay for Life event across the country starts off with a lap by cancer survivors, some of them still immersed in their fight against the disease. At one time, Caroline Mercado of Templeton was given two weeks to live during her second battle against lung cancer, on Saturday she marched at the head of the group of survivors during the first lap in her role as Relay for Life ambassador. She is now a five-year survivor of the disease. Organizer Liberty Lowe praised the bravery and strength of all those, like Mercado, who have fought cancer.

“After watching my mom battle the ups and downs of cancer for almost five years, I have seen that it takes an extraordinary person to battle this evil called cancer,” she said. “With that, each and every survivor is remarkable.”

San Miguel resident Charlotte Holloway has now walked the survivors lap for two years in a row. She has been free of cancer for 18 months.

“It is very emotional, because I think I am totally in-check and then you look around at different people . . .” she trailed off, throwing up her hands in the air to communicate a depth of emotions not expressible in words.

It was Holloway’s struggle with cancer that prompted members of the SLO County Trailblazers, an all-women’s horse riding club, to get involved in Relay for Life.

“She was the inspiration for us having a team last year and then we found out there are more people [in our club who are survivors],” said team captain Alyssa Rigby.

They won a prize for the best decorated campsite in 2008 and were back this year to live up to their reputation. The women of the team transformed their campsite into a façade of an old western saloon, complete with swinging doors. From their home base, team members passed out educational information on cancer and sold items to raise more money for cancer research. Each of the 44 teams involved in Relay undertook a similar “Fight Back” activity.

At the official ACS “Fight Back” booth, volunteer Donna Jones, who lost both of her parents to cancer, was encouraging all participants to pledge to do something this year to fight back against cancer.

“We can eat right, we can exercise, we can not smoke and get whatever tests we need,” Jones listed as some of the ways to fight back. “I think prevention is really the answer.”

In many cases, taking preventative measures against cancer are small changes.

“It’s little baby steps that we can start with little kids,” Jones said.

Perhaps the most significant way that participants of Paso Robles Relay for Life fought back against cancer was by signing up for CPS-3, a groundbreaking, long-term cancer prevention study by the ACS to better understand the lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer and to ultimately eliminate cancer as a major health problem for this and future generations. To date, 42,272 people have been enrolled in the historic study, according to the ACS.

Thanks to the Paso Robles Relay