Robert A Flutie
Pacific Palisades, CA
Robert first read the book "It's Not About The Bike" in the fall of 2000
and had not idea that Lance Armstrong would prove to be such an inspiration
to him, both on and off of the bike. On a plane ride in Feb of 2001,
Robert read about an event to raise money for AIDS Vaccine Research. As he
was approaching his 37th birthday he felt highly motivated to take on a
challenge that could not only help him improve his life, but the lives of
the millions of people afflicted with AIDS. He jumped on his first
(rented) all steel circa 1995 road bike in March 2001 and has been riding
ever since. In August of 2001 he completed the AIDS ride and went the 700
miles in 7 days distance and raised $12,000 for AIDS research.
On October 30th 2008 Robert was watching one of his favorite shows (Cash
Cab) and while scratching an itch on his neck he felt a pea sized lump. A
visit to a doctor suggested a possible infection or virus that was being
processed, but Robert knew and felt something was peculiar and different
about this lump. Since he never (ever) had a lump in his life with any
cold or infection, Robert took a very aggressive course of action and
sought out a head and neck surgeon who guided and advocated with Robert
that a biopsy be done. In the 3 to 4 weeks time that it took to get to
that point, the peas sized lump grew to the size of an almond. The
diagnosis was stage IIA Hodgkins Lymphoma and Robert motored into treatment
the next week. It was a short 5 weeks from his own discovery of the lump
to the first treatment and Robert credits his tenacious and driving
competitive spirt with the early detection of the HL. All of Robert's
treatments and care were done under the guise of the wonderful Dr. Lauren
Pinter-Brown and Dr. Christian Head at UCLA in Westwood California.
"From the start there wasn't any option but to get treated and cured,"
Robert says. "When you find yourself in these kinds of circumstances, you
have to close off and shut down the doubt, negativity and fear and put your
focus on the your desired end result. For me, it was beating cancer and
getting back to taking care of my family and my three amazing children!"
Robert set a goal during his chemo treatments that he would once again do a
life changing ride and event and set his goal to raise money and ride in
the LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE in Austin in October 2009. He will have raised in
excess of $10,000 as a member of CCC and is looking forward to logging
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of miles in the years and decades
to come.
Cancer Overview:
General Cancer Type:
Lymphoma - Hodgkins
Specific Cancer Type:
Stage IIA
Treatment Summary:
November 2008 - Biopsy in the neck region
December 2008 - 4 cycles (8 treatments) of ABVD, once a week, every 2 weeks for 4 months
On the advise of opinions from leading Lymphoma specialists and research
that Robert found from Canada and other parts of the world, Robert
completed after the 4 cycles of ABVD and concluded his treatment on March
19th, 2009.
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