Below is an email sent today from Dr. Andy von Eschenbach, Director of
the National Cancer Institute.

This weekend the Tour de France begins and Lance Armstrong, a member of the President's Cancer Panel, will be competing for an incredible 7th consecutive win. His is a story of making the impossible possible.

The passage of the National Cancer Act in 1971 committed our national will and resources to fight cancer. In that same year, Lance Armstrong was born.

In 1971, a young cancer patient with testicular cancer that had metastasized to his lymph nodes, lungs and brain had no hope of survival. This was the shocking diagnosis that Lance Armstrong received 25 years later in 1996, just at the time when his cycling career was beginning to flourish.

But due to the commitment we made in 1971 with the passage of the National Cancer Act, progress in cancer research and treatment made a new future possible for Lance. He not only survived cancer, he is accomplishing the incredible and the unimaginable. He is the greatest cyclist in the history of the Tour de France, but he is most grateful to be a symbol of hope and inspiration to all cancer survivors.

As the Tour de France kicks off and we enjoy the Fourth of July weekend with family and friends, I would like to take this time to reflect on Lance's story. He is able to race because of the tremendous progress that we have made in understanding and pre-empting cancer as a disease process. There is no doubt that this progress is attributable to the extraordinary scientists and staff who have committed their professional lives to working toward a time when no one suffers or dies from cancer.

NCI thrives on making the impossible possible for all who face cancer.