Armstrong aids cancer fight in SA

Cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong's legacy will forever remain in
Adelaide with his name being linked to a new cancer research centre.
The $27 million Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, to open in August, will
house a specialist research centre to honour Armstrong's Livestrong cancer
foundation.
Armstrong, a survivor of advanced testicular cancer, told the crowd at the Flinders
Medical Centre on Monday of his own shock when diagnosed with cancer and his fight
to beat it.
"I was completely lost and so I sat in a doctor's office and was told those three
words, 'you have cancer'," he said.
"I think the time has come whether it's in the United States or South Australia ...
wherever it is, that we readdress this burden and we readdress what it means to cure
somebody and we readdress the stigma associated with it.
"This is going to be the place that people are cured."
But for those who can't be cured, Armstrong also gives sage advice.
"We also have to address how people end their lives," he told reporters after the
official ceremony had finished.
"They need to be pain free, they need to be at peace, they need to be surrounded by
friends and family."
Because of the debilitating effects of treatments such as chemotherapy, Armstrong
said when all avenues have been exhausted, sometimes it might be better to stop
treatment so the person can have the strength to live their last days to their
fullest.
"(To) do something that they've always wanted to do, that's the way we all want to
go out," he said.
"I think regardless of the situation we have to remain hopeful and optimistic."
During the official speeches, Premier Mike Rann praised Armstrong's commitment to
the cause and said the centre is another step in the cancer fight and the first of
its kind in the state.
"The centre will be looking specifically at cancers in breasts, ovaries and bowels,"
Mr Rann said.
"We have yet another team investigating how the body responds to low doses of
radiation to improve natural cancer prevention mechanisms in the body."
The Armstrong-inspired research wing will be called the Livestrong Cancer Research
Centre and will work to develop early diagnostics and new cancer prevention
technologies and strategies.