602nds with Chris Brewer

Apr 14, 2010

Many of us are well aware of the work that Lance Armstrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) do for raising cancer awareness worldwide. Behind all great organisations are great people. The Lance Armstrong Foundation is fortunate to have the services of people such as Chris Brewer campaigning the LIVESTRONG cause.

Prior to our catch up with Chris this week we met him at the 2010 Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia and shared many drinks and stories about his work, life and cycling.

602nds is pleased to present you our chat with Chris Brewer.

602nds: Tell us a little about your role with the LAF?

Chris: I’ve been fortunate to have had many roles here at LIVESTRONG… as a volunteer back in 1997 and through the years I was the original web designer, the guy who answered all the general emails, gave out testicular cancer awareness info, and helped with the Ride for the Roses event production that eventually morphed into our LIVESTRONG Challenge series.

That said, I joined the staff full time back in early 2004 working as a combination team journalist for Discovery Channel Cycling and some project management for LIVESTRONG.  That lead to me heading up the grassroots fundraising events area for a while and now I am a Senior Manager in Development Communications.  That big title means I have a great job!  I help tell the LIVESTRONG story, whether that’s something we’re doing, or some of the events that support us, or highlighting some amazing people around the world.  I’ll also get to represent LIVESTRONG at various events and personally say “Thank you!” to the folks who support us and enable us to do this very important mission: we help people living with cancer.

602nds: What does LIVESTRONG mean to you?

Chris: The very interesting thing about this question is that LIVESTRONG means something unique to practically every person that’s ever asked this… I actually have my answer printed on the back of my business card, and it says: “To me, LIVESTRONG means living your life to the fullest everyday – not just being successful, but significant, too.”

I would also add that for cancer survivors, we feel that living strong has nothing to do with being cured, or how much time you have after you hear those fateful words, “You have cancer.”  It’s what you do with that time that is so important.  My brother Robin, when faced with a very difficult diagnosis of advanced stomach cancer at the age of 40, did amazing things in his final year of life.  Did he LIVESTRONG? Damn straight he did.

602nds: As a LIVESTRONG Leader here in Australia I am asked the same question “How can I become involved?”

Chris: Another great question, and one we take very much to heart!  I think all too often charities will tend to focus on one specific area – usually fundraising – where they want to get their constituents involved.  I look at it this way, we all have three things we can contribute: time, talent, and treasure.  Each of us can contribute in differing proportions, and some in multiple manners.

It’s really up to the charity to initially establish the right relationship with the individual to make sure they are being utilized in the best manner possible.  It doesn’t make sense for you to ask me for a million dollars if I don’t have it, or to request I volunteer multiple days a week if I have a full-time job, etc.  As the relationship progresses then hopefully there will be other areas the person might like to grow into as well.  That said, a great entry point for LIVESTRONG is www.livestrong.org/getinvolved – key links to get you started with our Advocacy folks, the LIVESTRONG Challenge, Volunteering, and Grassroots Fundraising.

602nds: How did you and Lance Armstrong first meet?

Chris: Now there’s a story… LA and I were diagnosed two weeks apart with testicular cancer in October 1996.  His case was more advanced than mine, but mine was no walk in the park either.  One of the things I noted as I tried to learn about our disease was just how hard it was to get it all in one place, and for that information to be credible.  So since I was one of the early web designers and I have several months of nothing to do during treatment, I co-founded the Testicular Cancer Resource Center (http://tcrc.acor.org) with Doug Bank.  We put all the info and support that we wished we’d had available and then had it reviewed by medical professionals to make sure it was all credible.

Sometime in early 1997 Lance emailed me via the site.  And I deleted it.  Why?  I simply felt that a world champion athlete would not take the time to email a sergeant in the Air Force, and it had to be some kind of joke.  Fortunately I was wrong, that’s exactly the kind of guy he is, he wrote again a couple of weeks later and told me some things only he would know.  I was in San Antonio at the time, only an hour or so from Austin, so I asked him if we could do an interview (still up at http://tcrc.acor.org/lance.html) – he said yes, come up for lunch, and at the time we were the only two guys we knew coming off of the same kind of experience.  We became fast friends, he told me about this “little foundation” he was starting, I said I was in, and the rest is some amazing history…

602nds: Having traveled to various cycling tours around the globe, what were your impressions of the Tour Down Under?

Chris: I have long had this life fantasy that I could chuck it all and move to Australia and begin a new life; this trip to South Australia and Melbourne did little to dissuade me! (grin)  The TDU is the perfect race for this time of the cycling season.  Long travel time aside, it’s warm, the terrain is challenging but not too hard for the early season, and the opportunity to stay in the same hotel all race long is basically unprecedented.  But at the end of the day it’s still the people that make the difference.  One of the things I’ve noted is that Aussies, as a population, are “all in” once they’ve decided to do something!  So the race is top notch, the fans are super supportive, and we had a great time.  I certainly hope it’s not my last time at TDU, plus Austin is the sister city of Adelaide – how cool is that?

602nds: Australia is a one of the world leaders in raising cancer awareness through organisations such as the Cancer Council and the team at Movember to name a couple. What message do you take back to the LAF from your travels to Australia this year?

Chris: We know that Australia has some real cancer challenges; skin cancer is a very real threat to the entire population, and all the major cancers are on the rise – prostate, colon, breast, and lung.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that the government is very involved in the fight against this disease, as are some amazing NGO’s like the ones you mentioned.  And we were very honored to have Lance at the ground breaking ceremony for the first ever LIVESTRONG Cancer Research Centre at the Flinders  Medical Centre in Adelaide, a research community that stresses collaboration amongst their scientists.  So the message we took back was that there is a solid fight going on in Oz, and we want to be a part of that effort.  We’re now working with these great folks to find the best ways we can support them, because at the end of the day its people who are on the ground making it happen that will get the job done, and we need to highlight these great efforts and find ways for organizations to work together – the old “work smarter, not harder,” model.

602nds: Through your years of following cycling is there one memory that stands out ahead of the rest?

Chris: Personally that was in 2003 when I was part of an amazing team called “The Tour of Hope.”  This team represented all aspects of the cancer community – survivors, caretakers, doctors, nurses, and researchers.  We rode in squad relay format with Lance – 4 teams, 24 hours a day, from Los Angeles to Washington DC covering over 3,000 in just over 7 days!  As I rode beside LA into DC and the capitol rose up to greet us and we could hear thousands of people cheering our accomplishment, we reflected back to when were in treatment in 1996, wondering if we’d be alive in a few months, let alone five consecutive Tour de France wins and millions of dollars raised in the fight against cancer. Wow.

As for cycling in general, I’d have to go back to 1999 when Lance first stood atop the final podium on the Champs Elysees.  That was the moment I think cancer survivors literally “came out of the closet.”  No longer were they willing to be treated as just victims, or patients following the whims of the medical establishment.  They looked up to that podium and said, “If he can do this, then I’m on his team. I’m with him.”  The brand LIVESTRONG had yet to be established, but the idea certainly took hold on July 25, 1999 and the world was changed forever after.

602nds: Do you have a personal favourite wine?

Chris: And a great question to end on, too!  As many of my friends know, I am a fan of big red wines and so it was quite an honor to be in South Australia, home to one of my favorite brand of wines, Penfolds.  I’ve really started liking the blends, and their Shiraz Cabernet is always a solid choice.  Here in America I would have to go with our friends at Silver Oak out of Napa Valley.  They simply make amazing wines, you can’t go wrong with any choice – so cheers, thanks for your time, and as always: LIVESTRONG!

If you wish to keep track of what Chris is up to, follow him on Twitter or Facebook