Editor's Note: NewsChannel 2 anchorwoman Wendy Chioji is grateful to all of the viewers who have expressed their best wishes as she wages her fight against breast cancer.

Chioji has chosen to use WESH.com as her way of keeping the public updated on her health. New diary entries will be posted periodically.

BREAST CANCER INFORMATION Four Steps Promote Early Detection WENDY'S DIARY Oct. 31: Ride For The Roses Oct. 24: Another Cycling Weekend Oct. 18: An Emotional Finish Oct. 17: Singin' In The Rain Oct 16: Rally In Indianapolis Oct. 15: Chilling In Arkansas Oct. 14: Monster Crosswinds Oct. 13: Tailwind To Texas Oct. 12: An Uphill Climb Oct. 11: The Race Begins Previous Diary Entries WEB LINKS Florida Hospital mammography locations Complete Guide For Breast Cancer Breast Cancer Decision Guide Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation National Breast Cancer Coalition American Cancer Society National Breast Cancer Coalition INTERACTIVE Breast Cancer Survivors: Share Your Experiences Meet Other Breast Cancer Survivors

I've been looking forward to this weekend for weeks. The Tour of Hope team gets together for three days of training rides and communications sessions and meetings in California.

We'll be in Napa Valley, but doing more mileage than merlot. We will ride in the daytime and in the dark, kind of "pre-creating" the rides we'll make in October. The team hasn't been together since we met each other in August. That weekend was emotional and powerful and uplifting, and I bet this weekend will be all that and more.

We've all taken the mission of the Tour of Hope to heart (not hard to do, since we all live it anyway) and are committed to making a difference. It's been the most fantastic assignment of my life.

Two hundred eighty five miles in the saddle. That's what I logged last week in Winter Park, Tuscawilla, Clermont and Windermere. Each of us riders has a cycling coach from Carmichael Training Systems. Lance Armstrong works with the owner, Chris Carmichael, himself.

My team's coach is Ivana Bisaro. She usually works with elite-level athletes, which we all now fancy ourselves to be (actually, some of us -- not me included -- are). Ivana puts together training programs for us -- riding schedules that will make us stronger for the 1,000 miles we'll each ride next month. For instance, we practice riding hills, endurance rides, all according to a managed heart rate.

We're building up, not breaking down, as I like to say in my Spin classes. Ivana is terrific. Even though, looking ahead at my training schedule for the rest of September, I have no days off. That's OK, though. I wake up in the morning and can't wait to get on the bike. Very motivated.

I think I told you we are riding in four teams of five, plus a support rider. Let me tell you about my team, because you'll really get to know them in the next few weeks.

Nat Cobb is 52 and from New Mexico. He is the state time-trial champion for his age group (just know that he's very, very fast!). He works to make cancer screenings available for American Indians all over the U.S.

Bart Knaggs is 37 and from Austin. He's one of Lance Armstrong's best friends, and a former Cat. 1 racer (also, very fast). Bart helped his father and Lance fight through cancer. And now, he's supporting his brother, who has leukemia, recently donating stem cells for a stem-cell transplant.

Eric Miller is 37 and a helicopter paramedic from Pueblo, Colo. His son had a malignant brain tumor when he was five. He lived, but is now blind. Eric set up a foundation so kids who lost their sight to cancer can ride tandem bikes.

Beth Strauss is 41 and an oncology nurse and lives in L.A. She's a cancer survivor whose partner died of breast cancer.

And finally, Patrick Reilly is 47 and from New Jersey. He's a clinical researcher at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He manages clinical trials, and has worked in cancer research for 20 years. His sister, who has non-Hodgkins' lymphoma, is taking drugs that weren't available eight years ago.

Want to know why she has them now? Because people she will never know participated in clinical trials. Here comes the soapbox part. Without clinical trials, we will never find a cure for cancer. Every advance in cancer treatment made in recent years is the result of a clinical trial.

There are more than 400 drugs waiting for trial in the labs, but only 5 percent of cancer patients participate. (Dr. Dave says it's closer to 3 percent.) Why? Fear. But I can tell you from firsthand experience, there's nothing to fear. I really think I got better treatment because I was part of a clinical trial. I had my own clinical trial nurse, Melinda, who monitored me every week, came to my doctor's appointments, and was always available for questions.

People may think they'll be given either the state-of-the-art drug or a placebo, but that does not happen in this country. You get the current standard of care, or the new drug/protocol/dosage. When I was going through treatment, Dr. Dave used to tell me how barbaric chemo really is, but said in the future, cancer treatment won't be like this. It'll be less violent, less invasive, less nauseating (and maybe, we'll keep our hair!).

It's funny how little instances of validation come your way when you are doing the right thing. I told you a couple of weeks ago about the lady on the plane. This week, I talked to a woman, a friend of a friend, who's about to start chemo for breast cancer. She had the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial, but chose not to.

I got to tell her everything about clinical trials that I've just told you. I think it's too late for her to get in on a trial now, but maybe it's not. And maybe she'll get a chance to tell someone else about what a big difference they can make as we all push to find a cure.

Think of me this weekend riding at all hours of the day and night. And it's cold there, too! If you haven't done it yet, check out www.tourofhope.org and sign the Cancer Promise. That's something everyone can do.

Wendy
Sept. 5, 2003

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