Incredible Week with Family, Friends and Sports!

“The same way Escola Politécnica (my College) develops the professional, sports develop in people the key aspects of their character. It is where one learns to win and lose; it is where one practices solidarity all the time, it is where one nurtures respect for the opponent. AAAP (Athletics Association of Escola Politécnica) does that: it helps to improve the human being. That is why it is indispensable and helpful.”

Senator Mario Covas, January 19, 1993.

With this letter São Paulo’s deceased Senator, State Governor and democratic leader Mario Covas opened our Athletics Association honors book. Before my surgery my College friends, specifically from AAAP, with Livia’s magical touch and help, gave me an incredible gift, a Photo Album with many wishing well notes, pictures of our College days and demonstrations of love. For this and so many other reasons I love my friends and sports and feel so compelled and positive to keep battling my tumor. I was sent to France for surgery in the most upbeat state possible. Mario Covas, who also played basketball at my College, was a prominent political leader that helped shape Brazil’s current democracy. He also shared my passion for sports and hard-work.

This past week was probably the best week since I was diagnosed. If anything it was the closest to normal week since I was diagnosed, despite the fact that I was in my fifth chemo cycle, which continues to be light on my body and I hope aggressive on my tumor. As a matter of fact my tumor continues to remain quiet, not showing any signs of growth.

I worked really hard this week as we had a very important trade show, but my great week started with a conversation on Saturday that really energized me to exercise. I met a talented cancer biologist and shared my story with him and was curious to hear his opinion on exercising and cancer. He had an irrefutable argument to demonstrate that cancer and exercising go in opposite directions. In fact if exercising was a potential cause of cancer high performance athletes would have a higher incidence of cancer, but in fact it is just the opposite. Maybe that is why we have Race for the Cure, Livestrong and so many other fundraising organizations that use sports to help in the fight against cancer.

On Monday I called my “older brother”, it had been a while since we last spoke and I knew he would be excited with my progress. I also wanted to share the great news that I am back exercising, as he was one of the people that inspired me to get into biking, leading me into triathlon. He was very excited to hear the news;  he is one of those people that just feed you with energy, cheering me up to work-out as I was. As soon as I hung up I started feeling a light pain in my lower back, which I immediately associated to my spinal bone marrow.

One of the first things my oncologist shared after my first chemo cycle was that I must have a great bone marrow as my blood was nearly unchanged after my first chemo cycle. When I felt the pain I thought to myself, talking to my bone marrow: “if this is how it is going to be I am going to teach you a lesson”. I hopped on my bike and rode hard for 30 minutes. The pain was gone.

Interestingly I felt like the chemo was making me handle exercising better. In fact the next day I went for a run and was on the treadmill for 30 minutes, which enabled me to run 6 km. In essence I ran at my pre-tumor training pace and didn’t feel a thing. I hadn’t run 6 km straight at that pace since I was diagnosed, and to do that felt great!

An interesting fact happened this week too: all of a sudden I started remembering several names from the past. From kindergarden friends I see in school pictures whose names I had long forgotten to my whole basketball team at the club I played for when I was 13 years old.

The brain is just incredible! I used to be a decent student at school and right after I came back from surgery a school friend of mine jokingly said, after I shared I removed a large chunk of brain, that we were finally playing on a leveled field. I never laughed so hard but little did he know that I uncluttered the brain as if I've done a total system recovery!

On Wednesday I went to the gym again after a long day of work and ran for 15 minutes to warm-up and lifted weights. To do that a day after a 6km run, to which I was not used to anymore, made me feel like I am ready to get back to business.

On Thursday I went to my oncologist for a consultation and he encouraged me to keep exercising, I felt so great!

After that I went to a party to celebrate my College’s Athletics Association Birthday. We probably had at least 20 generations of College grads there, every one of which at some point involved in building and maintaining AAAP. To watch how things have evolved made me feel really hopeful about Brazil’s future. The students are much better at fundraising, preserving the history of the organization and most importantly continue to demonstrate the importance of sports to build the character of those that love it.

To my surprise a current student knew about my story and was curious to know how I was doing. He sold to a friend of mine a sweatshirt from my College that I took with me to France for my surgery. My friends gave me it at my farewell party and the student found out about me when my friend picked it up. He was happy to see me well and every smile I get just feeds me up with energy. I got home at nearly Midnight, something I hadn’t done in a long time!

One would think I would be tired on Friday after such a week, but I was feeling great! I worked hard all day and was meeting my cousins for dinner as one of them was at São Paulo from out-of-town. Before they met me at 9:30PM I decided to ride my bike on the trainer and hit another milestone: for the first time since I was diagnosed I rode for one straight hour on the trainer, which is even more painful than riding on the road as there are no downhill roads to rest or landscape to relax the mind.

On Saturday I woke up early and repeated my running/lifting routine, getting me ready to go out and walk around my neighborhood to get Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and Livia. It was a long week and we still had more ahead: we went to a friend’s twin-girls birthday party, dropped the girls at my mom’s house and closed the day with dinner with friends and once again a great time!

At the birthday party I was speaking to a friend who has an 18 years-old son that is also battling cancer. I am confident that he, just like me, will beat this beast. Interestingly when I shared the pain I felt in my lower back she shared that her son felt the same pain during chemo, so my remote hypothesis might be right, I might have put my bone marrow to work as planned.

To close this perfect week Sunday was Mother`s Day and Livia made the best lunch she has ever prepared to celebrate Mother`s Day. Hers and my parents came over with my brother and her brother and sister and we had a great time. We have officially inaugurated our kitchen with an amazing homemade meal.

I was tinkering with the idea of going downstairs to exercise but I wanted to share this amazing week with you with a conclusion: as long as we have a loving family, great friends and a passion to live for we will always be happy. Life is perfect as long as we live it well, despite all the hardship and battles we face.

I have been reading another amazing book that a Pittsburgh friend sent me: "The Sunny Side of Cancer", from Sunny Carney. The power of staying strong as we face our battles will always determine how well we live, whether we have 60 months or 60 years to live ahead. I thought I was having some original thoughts about life but Sunny faces Carcinoid Cancer, a rare and tough cancer, with the same strength and positivity I am facing my tumor, focusing on living life to the fullest and battling her cancer with an uplifting attitude, inspiring me even more to do the same.

Like a friend I still owe a visit to used to tell me when I said I didn`t have time for something he would reply “How can you not have time? What separates us from death?”.  Since then I rarely say I don’t have time for something, I always say I am doing something better instead.

Enjoy your time, I hope you liked this update; life is great and will continue to be no matter what! Focus on the positives and fix the negatives, this is what life is about.