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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Eric Miller

Aired October 19, 2003 - 07:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A week long cross country journey by 26 cyclists comes to an end this weekend in Washington. It's not a race, even though five time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong led the pack out of the gate from Los Angeles.
They were all peddling for a purpose.

Eric Miller, a cyclist in the Tour of Hope, is joining us now this morning to explain a little bit more about his experience. Eric, so nice to see you. I realize that you are still in Washington, D.C., rode in yesterday after a week of incredible peddling, shall we say. What was this like?

ERIC MILLER, CYCLIST, TOUR OF HOPE: Well, I'll tell you, the whole experience has been unbelievable, to say the least. The most miserable part was Ohio and Pennsylvania, where we came up with the phrase, "hey it's raining, it's dark, it's cold, but at least it's miserable, too."

COLLINS: Why did you do this, Eric?

MILLER: Well, back in June 2000, my son, Garrett, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. So cancer is very close to our family. And we wanted to help anybody else with cancer, but also -- but more importantly, children with cancer.

COLLINS: And I know that you were one of 26 cyclists. We're looking a little bit now at one of the maps, showing your journey from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. and quite a long trek, obviously.

But once again, as I was saying, 26 cyclists chosen out of thousands of applicants because of something that you decided to do for Garrett. What was that?

MILLER: Well, the -- Garrett lost his vision to the brain tumor. And we ended up starting a foundation that donates tandem bicycles to blind and low vision kids all over the country and now all over the world.

And I think that helped -- when the selection criteria came around, I'm sure that was in my favor.

COLLINS: And I think right now, Eric, we're actually looking at the story that you and I did together in Colorado, of the very first tandem bicycle that you gave away, a little girl by the name of Emily Romero. MILLER: That's right.

COLLINS: And I remember the incredible screams of kind of a combination of fright and yet joy after she did it. Tell us what you thought about that.

MILLER: Well, that one was so funny. She was so cute. She -- I remember she -- you or someone asked her where she wanted to go. She goes I want to go to Paris and I want to go to France and Japan. And her parents thought well how about we just go to Burger King, honey. And she that's fine. She was so excited.

COLLINS: But that's what this is about, isn't it, given them a little bit of independence so that they feel like they can go just about anywhere.

MILLER: Absolutely, absolutely. And interestingly enough, we just gave her sister a bicycle as well this year.

COLLINS: In fact, I know that obviously not only in Colorado, many other states across the country, and even Kenya. You guys have had an experience of giving some bicycles internationally now.

MILLER: Yes. We've given them -- bikes away in Canada, Kenya. And we've got two going to Prague, Czechoslovakia.

COLLINS: How does that make you feel?

MILLER: Makes me feel great. You know, I'm very humbled to be able to do that for kids all over the country and all over the world. It's overwhelming to have that kind of success in the last two years.

COLLINS: We just saw the shot of the folks in Kenya who got their bicycles. I want to also ask you how is Garrett doing, your son?

MILLER: Well, he's doing great. Bristol Myers Squibb gave us a wonderful surprise yesterday. My family wasn't going to be able to be with me here in Washington, D.C. And right after Lance left the room, in walked my family. Bristol Myers Squibb called my wife on Friday afternoon and said, hey, we want you here. And they put him on a plane Saturday morning. And I'm very excited to say they're all here. Garrett's doing great. All the family's doing great.

COLLINS: That must have been incredible, because I know that you're a little bit upset about him not being able to see you right in. And more importantly, ride with Lance. Is that something that you got to do?

MILLER: We rode with Lance all over the place. You know, I'll tell you, the guy is the real deal. You always wonder about celebrities because you see them on TV and things like that, but Lance is real. We rode with Lance across Illinois. And what a guy. He's quite the guy. I raced him a little bit. I lost, but that's all right. COLLINS: All right, well I'm so glad to have you with us this morning. Eric, it's so good to see you once again. Please give our best to your little boy, Garrett, and the rest of your family. And glad you made you made it into D.C. OK.

MILLER: Oh, this is beautiful.

COLLINS: Your bike's still intact, yes?

MILLER: Yes, the bike's intact, but it's on its way back to Colorado already.

COLLINS: OK, very good. Eric Miller coming to us from Washington, D.C. this morning. Thanks so much.

MILLER: Thanks, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 19, 2003 - 07:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A week long cross country journey by 26 cyclists comes to an end this weekend in Washington. It's not a race, even though five time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong led the pack out of the gate from Los Angeles.
They were all peddling for a purpose.

Eric Miller, a cyclist in the Tour of Hope, is joining us now this morning to explain a little bit more about his experience. Eric, so nice to see you. I realize that you are still in Washington, D.C., rode in yesterday after a week of incredible peddling, shall we say. What was this like?

ERIC MILLER, CYCLIST, TOUR OF HOPE: Well, I'll tell you, the whole experience has been unbelievable, to say the least. The most miserable part was Ohio and Pennsylvania, where we came up with the phrase, "hey it's raining, it's dark, it's cold, but at least it's miserable, too."

COLLINS: Why did you do this, Eric?

MILLER: Well, back in June 2000, my son, Garrett, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. So cancer is very close to our family. And we wanted to help anybody else with cancer, but also -- but more importantly, children with cancer.

COLLINS: And I know that you were one of 26 cyclists. We're looking a little bit now at one of the maps, showing your journey from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. and quite a long trek, obviously.

But once again, as I was saying, 26 cyclists chosen out of thousands of applicants because of something that you decided to do for Garrett. What was that?

MILLER: Well, the -- Garrett lost his vision to the brain tumor. And we ended up starting a foundation that donates tandem bicycles to blind and low vision kids all over the country and now all over the world.

And I think that helped -- when the selection criteria came around, I'm sure that was in my favor.

COLLINS: And I think right now, Eric, we're actually looking at the story that you and I did together in Colorado, of the very first tandem bicycle that you gave away, a little girl by the name of Emily Romero. MILLER: That's right.

COLLINS: And I remember the incredible screams of kind of a combination of fright and yet joy after she did it. Tell us what you thought about that.

MILLER: Well, that one was so funny. She was so cute. She -- I remember she -- you or someone asked her where she wanted to go. She goes I want to go to Paris and I want to go to France and Japan. And her parents thought well how about we just go to Burger King, honey. And she that's fine. She was so excited.

COLLINS: But that's what this is about, isn't it, given them a little bit of independence so that they feel like they can go just about anywhere.

MILLER: Absolutely, absolutely. And interestingly enough, we just gave her sister a bicycle as well this year.

COLLINS: In fact, I know that obviously not only in Colorado, many other states across the country, and even Kenya. You guys have had an experience of giving some bicycles internationally now.

MILLER: Yes. We've given them -- bikes away in Canada, Kenya. And we've got two going to Prague, Czechoslovakia.

COLLINS: How does that make you feel?

MILLER: Makes me feel great. You know, I'm very humbled to be able to do that for kids all over the country and all over the world. It's overwhelming to have that kind of success in the last two years.

COLLINS: We just saw the shot of the folks in Kenya who got their bicycles. I want to also ask you how is Garrett doing, your son?

MILLER: Well, he's doing great. Bristol Myers Squibb gave us a wonderful surprise yesterday. My family wasn't going to be able to be with me here in Washington, D.C. And right after Lance left the room, in walked my family. Bristol Myers Squibb called my wife on Friday afternoon and said, hey, we want you here. And they put him on a plane Saturday morning. And I'm very excited to say they're all here. Garrett's doing great. All the family's doing great.

COLLINS: That must have been incredible, because I know that you're a little bit upset about him not being able to see you right in. And more importantly, ride with Lance. Is that something that you got to do?

MILLER: We rode with Lance all over the place. You know, I'll tell you, the guy is the real deal. You always wonder about celebrities because you see them on TV and things like that, but Lance is real. We rode with Lance across Illinois. And what a guy. He's quite the guy. I raced him a little bit. I lost, but that's all right. COLLINS: All right, well I'm so glad to have you with us this morning. Eric, it's so good to see you once again. Please give our best to your little boy, Garrett, and the rest of your family. And glad you made you made it into D.C. OK.

MILLER: Oh, this is beautiful.

COLLINS: Your bike's still intact, yes?

MILLER: Yes, the bike's intact, but it's on its way back to Colorado already.

COLLINS: OK, very good. Eric Miller coming to us from Washington, D.C. this morning. Thanks so much.

MILLER: Thanks, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com