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CNN Saturday Morning News
"Novak Zone": Interview with Lance Armstrong
Aired December 20, 2003 - 09:30 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.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier this week, five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong announced he'll try to make it seven straight before letting the air out of his tires. And while he's among the most admired athletes for his accomplishments in sports, he's making an even greater impact in another venue.
Lance Armstrong joins Robert Novak in this week's edition of The Novak Zone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.
We're at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C., with five-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong, you have been quoted as saying that if you had to choose between being a Tour de France champion and a cancer survivor, you'd be a cancer survivor. Why is that?
LANCE ARMSTRONG, CHAMPION CYCLIST: Well, I mean, clearly the horse comes before the cart. And, you know, without the success of the treatment and the surgeries in 1996, I never would have survived, never would have lived, and wouldn't have come back to even pedal a bike.
But I think that's on a -- that's more on a basic level. On a more -- on a deeper level, I wouldn't have had the new level of commitment that I brought back to the sport, the new level of focus, the new desire to win. And quite frankly, at the end of the day, I had nothing to lose. So I threw it all away and tried to win the biggest bike race in the world.
NOVAK: How did cancer affect you personally, physically, emotionally?
ARMSTRONG: Well, physically it was very tough. Very tough. And it was very tough on all of the aspects you just said. I mean, but physically, I went from being what I thought was a totally healthy, strong young man, basically, to having no strength. I couldn't go out and ride my bike with 50-year-old ladies that have just stepped on the bike for the first time. You know, I lost everything. That's the bad news. The good news is, is, that all of that came back fairly quickly. Emotionally, it was a tough time as well. I mean, you are always in this limbo area of not knowing if you are going to live or die. A lot of questions. Every time you get a headache, a stomach ache, a leg ache, Oh, my God, I'm getting sick again. Immediate reaction.
So it's a tough time. It's a tough time to get through.
NOVAK: Mr. Armstrong, you want people who have been diagnosed with cancer to get involved in clinical tests. What are clinical tests, and what does that involve?
ARMSTRONG: Clinical trials.
NOVAK: Trials, clinical trials, I'm sorry.
ARMSTRONG: Well, clinical trials are things -- really are the only way that we're going to make some drastic leaps and improvements here, because of -- this is the stuff that, for example, obviously I was not participating in a clinical trial when I was treated, but I was a product of a clinical trial.
The vast majority of our children that are diagnosed today go on clinical trials, and the vast majority of them live and survive. The -- if you consider a child is about 65 percent likely to go on a clinical trial and an adult is less than 5 percent likely to, it's -- there's a big discrepancy there, and the success rates speak for themselves.
NOVAK: What is a clinical trial? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
ARMSTRONG: A clinical trial is a new process, a new compound, a new mixture of drugs, new therapy, new treatment, new experimental sort of breakthrough treatment.
NOVAK: What -- you established the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Is that involved with clinical trials?
ARMSTRONG: No, we focus on cancer survivorship, the issues of helping people not only live with, through, but beyond cancer. What happens when they are done, what happens -- what has happened to them because of the treatment they received. Physical issues, emotional issues, psychological issues, relationships issues.
NOVAK: There's a lot of people who are cancer survivors, and I'm a two-time cancer survivor, feel that it's really insufficient government funding for cancer research, say, compared to AIDS, which has many fewer victims in this country, but much more money. Why is there a low priority, do you think, on cancer?
ARMSTRONG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I just spoke about here in the press club. I think it's -- it is an old illness. It's been 30-some-odd years since Nixon declared this war. People are used to it. And it sounds silly to say that, you know, something that kills 1,500 American every day, we've gotten used to that, we put up with it. We're just, we're the kid sits there and just gets beat up and takes it.
It's unbelievable to think that, you know, we have a 9/11 every two days, and we say, OK. But, you know, the poll that we did, that my foundation did in conjunction with the American Association of Cancer Researchers, went out and polled 1,000 Americans. It tells us that (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they care about this issue.
American people voting, Americans care that it's still such a killer. They care that the money is not enough, in their opinion. Eighty percent of the people are in favor of increasing that funding.
This is an illness that is going to touch almost half of us individually. And so, you know, I've got to do whatever I can do. All of us, as cancer survivors, and people connected have to do whatever we can do to keep it in the public eye.
NOVAK: We've just had a case where one of the most popular Americans, the secretary of state, you know, Colin Powell, just undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Apparently he's doing very well. Does the -- does a high-profile case like that lend to increased public awareness, do you think?
ARMSTRONG: You know, I think, you know, it's one of those things where you just, you hate to see that. You don't want anybody to be diagnosed. If it is somebody that's higher profile or in the eye of the media or whatever, it helps. You know, it brings this illness back to the forefront again.
And it gets people talking about it. It gets, you know, Colin Powell was diagnosed. You want to know how many guys in their 50s or 60s went out and got a PSA done that day? Hey, a lot of them did, and that helps. When you catch somebody, somebody catches it early, their chances of survival are so much higher.
NOVAK: And now the big question for Lance Armstrong.
Next year, will you try a double-header, a sixth time Tour de France and the Olympics in Athens, Greece?
ARMSTRONG: That's the plan. That's the plan. You know, the -- what you plan in the off-season right now and what you actually do in the summer is sometimes different. But the biggest goal, and the number one priority, is to win the Tour again, you know, to win it a sixth time, which would be something that nobody's ever done, would make the year, make it complete.
But to then three weeks later to go down to Athens and win a gold medal, something that -- this will be my fourth Olympic Games, and something I've tried every time, tried to win and couldn't do it. So it would make an incredible year.
NOVAK: Lance Armstrong, thank you very much.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you.
NOVAK: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone. (END VIDEOTAPE)
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 December 20, 2003 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Earlier this week, five-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong announced he'll try to make it seven straight before letting the air out of his tires. And while he's among the most admired athletes for his accomplishments in sports, he's making an even greater impact in another venue.
Lance Armstrong joins Robert Novak in this week's edition of The Novak Zone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to The Novak Zone.
We're at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C., with five-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.
Mr. Armstrong, you have been quoted as saying that if you had to choose between being a Tour de France champion and a cancer survivor, you'd be a cancer survivor. Why is that?
LANCE ARMSTRONG, CHAMPION CYCLIST: Well, I mean, clearly the horse comes before the cart. And, you know, without the success of the treatment and the surgeries in 1996, I never would have survived, never would have lived, and wouldn't have come back to even pedal a bike.
But I think that's on a -- that's more on a basic level. On a more -- on a deeper level, I wouldn't have had the new level of commitment that I brought back to the sport, the new level of focus, the new desire to win. And quite frankly, at the end of the day, I had nothing to lose. So I threw it all away and tried to win the biggest bike race in the world.
NOVAK: How did cancer affect you personally, physically, emotionally?
ARMSTRONG: Well, physically it was very tough. Very tough. And it was very tough on all of the aspects you just said. I mean, but physically, I went from being what I thought was a totally healthy, strong young man, basically, to having no strength. I couldn't go out and ride my bike with 50-year-old ladies that have just stepped on the bike for the first time. You know, I lost everything. That's the bad news. The good news is, is, that all of that came back fairly quickly. Emotionally, it was a tough time as well. I mean, you are always in this limbo area of not knowing if you are going to live or die. A lot of questions. Every time you get a headache, a stomach ache, a leg ache, Oh, my God, I'm getting sick again. Immediate reaction.
So it's a tough time. It's a tough time to get through.
NOVAK: Mr. Armstrong, you want people who have been diagnosed with cancer to get involved in clinical tests. What are clinical tests, and what does that involve?
ARMSTRONG: Clinical trials.
NOVAK: Trials, clinical trials, I'm sorry.
ARMSTRONG: Well, clinical trials are things -- really are the only way that we're going to make some drastic leaps and improvements here, because of -- this is the stuff that, for example, obviously I was not participating in a clinical trial when I was treated, but I was a product of a clinical trial.
The vast majority of our children that are diagnosed today go on clinical trials, and the vast majority of them live and survive. The -- if you consider a child is about 65 percent likely to go on a clinical trial and an adult is less than 5 percent likely to, it's -- there's a big discrepancy there, and the success rates speak for themselves.
NOVAK: What is a clinical trial? (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
ARMSTRONG: A clinical trial is a new process, a new compound, a new mixture of drugs, new therapy, new treatment, new experimental sort of breakthrough treatment.
NOVAK: What -- you established the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Is that involved with clinical trials?
ARMSTRONG: No, we focus on cancer survivorship, the issues of helping people not only live with, through, but beyond cancer. What happens when they are done, what happens -- what has happened to them because of the treatment they received. Physical issues, emotional issues, psychological issues, relationships issues.
NOVAK: There's a lot of people who are cancer survivors, and I'm a two-time cancer survivor, feel that it's really insufficient government funding for cancer research, say, compared to AIDS, which has many fewer victims in this country, but much more money. Why is there a low priority, do you think, on cancer?
ARMSTRONG: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) I just spoke about here in the press club. I think it's -- it is an old illness. It's been 30-some-odd years since Nixon declared this war. People are used to it. And it sounds silly to say that, you know, something that kills 1,500 American every day, we've gotten used to that, we put up with it. We're just, we're the kid sits there and just gets beat up and takes it.
It's unbelievable to think that, you know, we have a 9/11 every two days, and we say, OK. But, you know, the poll that we did, that my foundation did in conjunction with the American Association of Cancer Researchers, went out and polled 1,000 Americans. It tells us that (UNINTELLIGIBLE), they care about this issue.
American people voting, Americans care that it's still such a killer. They care that the money is not enough, in their opinion. Eighty percent of the people are in favor of increasing that funding.
This is an illness that is going to touch almost half of us individually. And so, you know, I've got to do whatever I can do. All of us, as cancer survivors, and people connected have to do whatever we can do to keep it in the public eye.
NOVAK: We've just had a case where one of the most popular Americans, the secretary of state, you know, Colin Powell, just undergone surgery for prostate cancer. Apparently he's doing very well. Does the -- does a high-profile case like that lend to increased public awareness, do you think?
ARMSTRONG: You know, I think, you know, it's one of those things where you just, you hate to see that. You don't want anybody to be diagnosed. If it is somebody that's higher profile or in the eye of the media or whatever, it helps. You know, it brings this illness back to the forefront again.
And it gets people talking about it. It gets, you know, Colin Powell was diagnosed. You want to know how many guys in their 50s or 60s went out and got a PSA done that day? Hey, a lot of them did, and that helps. When you catch somebody, somebody catches it early, their chances of survival are so much higher.
NOVAK: And now the big question for Lance Armstrong.
Next year, will you try a double-header, a sixth time Tour de France and the Olympics in Athens, Greece?
ARMSTRONG: That's the plan. That's the plan. You know, the -- what you plan in the off-season right now and what you actually do in the summer is sometimes different. But the biggest goal, and the number one priority, is to win the Tour again, you know, to win it a sixth time, which would be something that nobody's ever done, would make the year, make it complete.
But to then three weeks later to go down to Athens and win a gold medal, something that -- this will be my fourth Olympic Games, and something I've tried every time, tried to win and couldn't do it. So it would make an incredible year.
NOVAK: Lance Armstrong, thank you very much.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you.
NOVAK: And thank you for being in The Novak Zone. (END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
