A "dumb idea" - that's what Lance Armstrong called the now-famous LIVESTRONG yellow bracelets when Nike came to him with the concept in 2003.
Eighty-four million dollars later, Armstrong admits he might have been wrong.
The seven-time Tour de France winner, cancer survivor, and LIVESTRONG founder said as much at Alumni Arena on Saturday, as part of the 25th-annual Distinguished Speakers Series. Speaking to a near-sold out crowd, Armstrong talked about what he'd overcome and accomplished in his lifetime by sharing many mostly humorous personal stories.
Armstrong, who was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer in 1996, kept the crowd's attention for nearly an hour. The stories ranged from his diagnosis and subsequent treatment to what he's done after recovery.
Almost the entire speech was kept light-hearted, a surprising task for subject matter as sensitive as overcoming cancer.
Armstrong joked about making sure the doctor ate a good breakfast before removing lesions from his brain.
Based on the crowd's reaction, he pulled it off quite well; his quick wit when dealing with crowd's questions on the fly drew laughter. At one point, a 12-year-old girl took to the microphone to ask Armstrong about what it was like when he conceived his first child post-cancer - something doctors told him was impossible.
He whipped off a quick response detailing the phone conversation with his wife, and skepticism that he wasn't sure how his wife got pregnant because he was told he couldn't do it.
Still, in the midst of the joking, Armstrong conveyed a serious message - that cancer was "the best thing that ever happened to him."
He says it changed his entire approach to living. When Armstrong was about to leave the doctor's office after his initial treatments, Dr. Craig Nichols gave him advice that would stick with him for his entire life.
"Imagine there are two exits to this hospital," Armstrong recalls Nichols telling him. "One is very private, and no one will know you were here. If this is embarrassing for you, go out that door. The other one is very public and has a bunch of people outside it. Everyone will know you were here, and what you had."
Armstrong says it took him about two seconds to decide he wanted to exit through the "public door."
From that point forward, Armstrong has helped raise well over $100 million for cancer research and awareness, and he credits all that work to having to overcome the disease.
He now lives by the words of Muhammad Ali.
"Service for others is the rent we pay for living on this earth."
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