Exercise and the rehabilitation of the cancer patient: Celebrating survivorship through “extreme exercise”

Doug Ulman is the President of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and founder of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. He is a three-time cancer survivor, diagnosed with chondrosarcoma in 1996 and subsequently diagnosed twice with melanoma. diagnosed with cancer in the “athletic prime” of my life. The summer I learned I had this terrible disease, I was 19 and my greatest concern was getting into shape for the fall soccer season. Cancer almost robbed me of my ability to run and compete, and for a short time, stole the trust in my own body I had always taken for granted. Ten years out from my diagnosis I am cancer free and am able to push my body in ways I never thought possible. My love of exercise first provided me with a context in which to understand the gravity of my diagnosis. Early in my survivorship, exercise served as a guide down a gradual, and sometimes very painful, path to physical recovery. Now, exercise in some of its most extreme forms—marathons and endurance mountain runs—is the vehicle through which I choose to celebrate my survivorship.