Lance Armstrong's Oprah interview: Again with the cancer card

http://blog.nj.com/njv_kathleen_obrien/2013/01/lance_and_oprah.html

Lance Armstrong's Oprah interview: Again with the cancer card
By Kathleen O'Brien/The Star-Ledger

... He’d always been a competitor, he said. But after cancer – which he several times called “the disease” – he became a fierce competitor, willing to do whatever he had to do to survive.

“That process turned me into a person who was truly “win at all costs,” he said. “And I took that ruthless and relentless, ‘win at all cost’ attitude right into cycling.”

There it was: the cancer card, subtly played. It seemed to make a lot of sense….a life-altering event that propels one down a different path.

Until Oprah smoothly noted, “But you had already been doing drugs before that.” ...

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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-lance-armstrong-oprah-cancer-bully-20130117,0,5979142.story

Lance Armstrong tells Oprah that cancer battle made him a 'bully'
By Patrick Kevin Day

Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey during his televised interview on OWN that in the course of defending himself from charges that he'd used banned substances in his cycling, he became a "bully." And surprisingly, he attributed it to his battle with testicular cancer that changed his attitude.

"I was always a fighter," Armstrong said in the first of the two-part interview that aired Thursday night. "Before my diagnosis, I was a competitor, but not a fierce competitor. Then I said I will do anything I need to do to survive. Then I brought that ruthless, win-at-all-costs attitude into cycling."

Winfrey brought up some of the people from Armstrong's past who had made allegations against the cycling star, people whom Armstrong had sued in retaliation for their claims against him. Among them was Betsy Andreu, wife of Armstrong's former teammate Frankie Andreu, one of the first people to go public with allegations that Armstrong had once admitted to using banned substances....

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4 replies	Author	Time	Post
Lance Armstrong's Oprah interview: Again with the cancer card (Original post)	jsr	Jan 2013	OP
Most likely, the steroids caused the cancer. Armstrong is a fraud.	graham4anything	Jan 2013	#1
Man...wouldn't that be a lesson.	Ash_F	Jan 2013	#2
That's a bit much...	Scootaloo	Jan 2013	#3
Possibly, but it hasn't been confirmed, at least not yet if I read this right...	2on2u	Jan 2013	#4

Response to jsr (Original post)

Fri Jan 18, 2013, 02:19 AM

graham4anything (9,275 posts)

1. Most likely, the steroids caused the cancer. Armstrong is a fraud.

using women and kids and charity to shield himself like a terrorist does.

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Response to graham4anything (Reply #1)

Fri Jan 18, 2013, 02:25 AM

Ash_F (1,744 posts)

2. Man...wouldn't that be a lesson.

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Response to graham4anything (Reply #1)

Fri Jan 18, 2013, 04:02 AM

Scootaloo (5,885 posts)

3. That's a bit much...

"using women and kids and charity to shield himself like a terrorist does."

I'd put egocentrism on a vastly different scale than terrorism, myself...

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Response to graham4anything (Reply #1)

Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:48 AM

2on2u (1,843 posts)

4. Possibly, but it hasn't been confirmed, at least not yet if I read this right...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20890867

.

Pinto F, Sacco E, Volpe A, Gardi M, Totaro A, Calarco A, Racioppi M, Gulino G, D'Addessi A, Bassi PF.
Source

Clinica Urologica, Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma. francesco.pinto@libero.it
Abstract

Several substances such as growth hormone (GH), erythropoietin (Epo), and anabolic steroids (AS) are improperly utilized to increase the performance of athletes. Evaluating the potential cancer risk associated with doping agents is difficult since these drugs are often used at very high doses and in combination with other licit or illicit drugs. The GH, via its mediator, the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), is involved in the development and progression of cancer.

Animal studies suggested that high levels of GH/IGF-1 increase progression of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Clinical data regarding prostate cancer are mostly based on epidemiological studies or indirect data such as IGF-1 high levels in patients with prostate cancer.

Even if experimental studies showed a correlation between Epo and cancer, no clinical data are currently available on cancer development related to Epo as a doping agent. Androgens are involved in prostate carcinogenesis modulating genes that regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis.

Most information on AS is anecdotal (case reports on prostate, kidney and testicular cancers). Prospective epidemiologic studies failed to support the hypothesis that circulating androgens are positively associated with prostate cancer risk. Currently, clinical and epidemiological studies supporting association between doping and urological neoplasias are not available.

Nowadays, exposure to doping agents starts more prematurely with a consequent longer exposition period; drugs are often used at very high doses and in combination with other licit or illicit drugs. Due to all these elements it is impossible to predict all the side effects, including cancer; more detailed studies are therefore necessary.

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