Move Over, Lance Armstrong

Move over, Lance Armstrong… the Condits are behind you. Doug Condit, that is, and his older brother, Chris. They and 40 other University of Texas students completed a 4,500-mile bike trek from Austin, Texas USA to Anchorage, Alaska USA—all to raise money for cancer. And raise money they did. In fact, their team raised nearly $200,000 for cancer research.

Both lives have been touched by cancer. Chris was diagnosed at age 11 with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Doug watched as Chris battled the disease with radiation therapy and chemotherapy. He remembers the long car rides from Lake Charles, Louisianna USA to New Orleans, Louisianna USA so Chris could get his treatments. But Doug had his own battles to fight.

Doug was a blue baby at birth. His aortic valve was deformed and when Doug was just eight days old, he underwent the first of four open-heart valve surgeries. Then, at age 10, Doug had a Ross procedure performed. During this procedure, surgeons removed Doug’s native pulmonic valve and placed it in the aortic position and used a donor valve in the pulmonic position. The procedure was relatively new back then and sufficed for a time, however, Doug’s aortic valve failed to function two years after the Ross procedure was performed. At age 12, Doug underwent a third valve procedure, and surgeons replaced the valve in the aortic position with a St. Jude Medical® mechanical heart valve.

Everything was fine as Doug moved through middle school and high school. Then, in 2003, at age 19, Doug had his fourth valve surgery. He received a tissue valve as a replacement for the valve that was failing in the pulmonic position. Chris was there for Doug. In fact, Doug admitted, “Chris stayed with me those scary days before and the uncomfortable days after my valve was replaced.”

“All my life, I’ve felt like I was ‘less’ physically than other people,” Doug confessed. “When my brother approached me about biking 4,500 miles for cancer, I told him I didn’t think I could do it.”

It may have been bad timing, though, because Chris approached Doug about the bike trek during the time Doug was recovering from his latest valve procedure. But Doug took on Chris’ challenge and began biking several months before the trek was to occur. He’d bike a little bit more each day, taking on the biggest hills in Austin, Texas USA. Soon, Doug progressed to biking 15 miles at a time and then to 25 miles a day, four days a week. As he increased the miles, he began riding with other team members because he knew he could keep up with them.

The idea for the trek came to Chris, an electrical engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin while he was visiting family in the San Francisco, California USA area. (Doug, an aspiring Film Studies student, has applied to the University and is awaiting word on his application.) During his visit to the San Franciso Bay area, Chris came across some college students who had just trekked across country, from Baltimore, Maryland USA, raising money for cancer on behalf of Johns Hopkins University. Chris returned to Austin and began making plans and gaining support for his own fundraiser, calling his team Texas 4000.

On June 1, 2004, 42 University of Texas students took off from Austin in two groups and began their journey for cancer awareness. One group took the Rockies route; the other group, the one Doug and Chris rode with, took the Sierra route that went up the Pacific coast. Each day, everyone biked an average of 75 miles.

“The first few weeks were the toughest,” Doug confided. “It was difficult biking so much in one day and then getting up at 6 a.m. to do it all over again.” Everyone took a day off each week to regroup.

Along the way, people greeted them with open arms and with meals and places to stay. “It was so incredible how people gave to us and were so eager to help,” Doug explained. “Everywhere we rode, people shared stories of cancer and helped make our dream become a reality. It was so cool that people were so happy for us!”

Doug had his blood monitored along the way, in the bigger cities. The test results were faxed to his doctor, who, in turn, called Doug en route to discuss. The warfarin did have to be adjusted, slightly, because of the intense level of physical activity Doug maintained during the trek. All in all, there were no glitches that resulted from the trip.

Both groups met on July 30th in Canada and rode into Anchorage, Alaska USA together. On August 9, 2004, 70 days after they began their trek, Chris led everyone across the finish line. “It was very emotional,” Doug revealed. “I was so proud of my brother for pulling this all together. I can’t imagine not having done this with him.”

Chris’ acknowledgements on the Texas 4000 Web site say it all: “I thank my brother Doug for being a true inspiration. He came back from a massive open heart surgery last Christmas to become one of the fastest and arguably strongest climbers on the team. You rock, Doug!”

The Texas 4000 team biked to raise money for cancer, share hope and stories, and raise awareness for the disease. For Doug, the trip was twofold: it was about cancer, yes, but it was also about believing in himself. In fact, the trip was a turning point—physically and mentally—in Doug’s life. And he said it best, “For me, I feel like I could do just about anything now.”

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