Gold Medalist's Cancer Battle

Posted January 5, 2008, 9:55 am in Winter Sports by Growing Bolder



Former Olympic gold medalist figure skater Dorothy Hamill says she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, but has a favorable prognosis. 51-year-old Hamill is at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. In a statement released on Friday, Hamill says she will have to miss part of the "Broadway on Ice" tour, but hopes to be back on the ice by the middle of January.

Hamill tells The Baltimore Sun that she's okay, but woozy, and calls the diagnosis "a hit in the head." A close friend says Hamill decided to talk about her treatment because she wanted to be honest about why she's missing part of the tour.

Hamill won hearts across America when she won the gold medal in the 1976 Olympics at the age of 19. Women ran to their hairdressers to try and get her trademark haircut. Fans of the sport loved her smile and bubbly personality. After winning the world title in 1976, Hamill retired and joined the Ice Capades.

Recently, Hamill released an autobiograhy, called "A Skating Life: My Story," in which she talks about her two divorces, bankruptcy, mental health battles and physical ailments.










GrowingBolder.com has one of the world's most comprehensive collection of cancer survivor stories. Here are some of the people who have battled back from devastating health problems, and are now inspiring others.

Barbara Hillary is a 75-year-old cancer survivor who recently became the first black woman to reach the North Pole.

He was 57 before he ran his first marathon, and he was running strong until a double whammy threatened to end his running career. Now, at 62, Bob Becker is back.

Doctors gave Sean Swarner two death sentences, but now he's on top of the world. The two-time cancer survivor only has one functioning lung, and 15 years after doctors gave him two weeks to live, he climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest.

When news anchor Wendy Chioji was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, her struggle was closely followed by thousands. Six years later, Wendy is a relentless fundraiser, inspirational spokesperson and fearless competitor.

Tony Handler isn't supposed to be here. Twenty-five years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and given two years to live. That same year, he completed his first triathlon.

Surviving cancer gives many people a new passion for life, but not many people would use it as an impetus to compete in a grueling, 750-mile bicycle race through the hills of France. But that's exactly what Marc Jarkow of the Villages, Fla., decided to do this past spring.

Karen Einsidler was leading what looked like a storybook life when she was diagnosed with cancer. The mother of triplets was an attorney and active in the master athletes world when she underwent a double mastectomy.

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