One of the most amazing things my wife ever has purchased weighs less than an ounce and cost $1.My yellow LiveStrong bracelet is almost six years old. I wear it every day to remind me of the fight against cancer.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong sells the silicone wristbands for a buck. My wife bought several when her son, Chad, was diagnosed with cancer.
I put the bracelet on my left wrist in December, 2003, and never have taken it off. Chad’s cancer is in remission, but there is no reason to remove the LiveStrong bracelet. There always seems to be someone we know who has been diagnosed with this dreaded disease.
Al Overstreet, one of my good friends, had his prostate removed a little over a year ago. My daughter had her thyroid taken out last summer.
Joe Cusumano, another longtime friend, is battling the illness.
Cancer seems to be a disease that we can’t beat, no matter how much money is raised for research.
Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, was diagnosed with cancer in 1998. He survived and began raising money with the sale of his LiveStrong bracelets. Through his efforts, millions have been contributed for cancer research.
The bracelet is nearly the same color as the yellow jersey worn by the daily leader of the Tour de France. It is less than half an inch wide but amazingly durable. What else can you purchase for $1 that can be worn every day and will last for years?
The LiveStrong bracelet stretches to fit over your hand, but mine never has lost its shape. It hasn’t been affected by the cold of winter or the heat of summer. I have played sports, sweated in the sauna at the Monroe Family YMCA, gotten it dirty while digging in the garden, spilled oil on it while working on my car and covered it in tomato juice while we were canning. Yet it hasn’t faded or stretched. It looks the same as it did the day my wife bought it in 2003.
It just goes to show that companies could make things last longer if they wanted to. Instead, they manufacture items to wear out so new ones will be purchased.
LiveStrong bracelets became a pop culture fad. A few years ago, you saw them everywhere. Then, like What Would Jesus Do? bracelets, they began to disappear.
You still see Livestrong bracelets often, but not nearly as much as you used to.
I decided to keep wearing my bracelet as long as someone I knew had cancer. That may be the rest of my life.
I wear my LiveStrong bracelet next to a purple one for Team Bluffton. It was sold after the Bluffton University baseball team’s bus accident in 2007, and I wear it in support of my nephew, Tim Berta.
He was on the bus that plunged off an overpass near Atlanta, killing seven people. Of those who survived, Tim’s injuries were the most severe.
He learned to walk and talk again. Now, almost 2½ years after the accident, he continues to make amazing progress. Every time we see him, we notice an improvement.
My wife calls him "The Miracle Man.’’
If only more people afflicted with cancer could experience the miracles that we have seen in Tim.
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