Wendy Burns is an avid cyclist and has been pushing the pedals hard for many years. “I always wondered what for,” she says. “Now I think this is what I’ve been training for my whole life.”

She discovered her destiny last fall, when she was in the hospital undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Wendy was watching TV and saw Lance Armstrong and the 2004 Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ Team on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” the day they were to depart Los Angeles for their eight-day journey across the country.

“I was so inspired by it, I told my husband that I would be on the Tour of Hope Team with Lance the following year,” Wendy says “I want to share my story and let people know that there is hope out there for us.”

Wendy is a three-time cancer survivor who has participated in two clinical trials.
Her first experience with cancer came in 1997 when she was diagnosed with melanoma. The cancer was removed and fortunately it had not spread. In 1999, she had a squamous cell skin cancer removed and last summer Wendy found a cancerous lump in her breast.

Each time she has faced cancer she’s done so with confidence and conviction that she would survive. She rode her bike during treatment. Wendy describes her approach to cancer using phrases such as, “I’m still here,” “Life goes on,” and “I will kick this!” She talks about the “pioneer women” who went before her and participated in breast cancer research so she would be able to have her tumor removed without losing her entire breast. “There is a lot that has happened because of clinical trials,” she says.

Wendy’s positive approach will be contagious among her fellow riders on the Tour of Hope Team.