Living to fight cancer
Tulsan Steve Bourke says he wants to punch cancer in the nose every chance he gets.
First, he beat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. Now, as a member of the Live- strong Army, Bourke is a vocal advocate to raise money and awareness of the disease.
He aims his message at young people: Cancer should be talked about openly — no whispers.
“Cancer never leaves your life,” Bourke said. “It may leave your body, but it never leaves you.”
It was on his 43rd birthday in 2002 that Bourke learned that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It is a cancer that starts in the lymphatic system, the network that fights disease and infection throughout the body. He immediately was put on chemotherapy.
“As I lay around with a bald head and very fatigued, I picked up a book called ‘It’s Not About the Bike’ by Lance Armstrong. It was so helpful and inspiring,” he said.
Bourke has been cancer-free since 2003.
But rather than just dismiss his battle with cancer as a bad chapter in his life, he decided to keep fighting.
“It was absolutely in my nature to want to put
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this behind me and not discuss it,” he said. “But I wanted to make it more meaningful than just a bad thing that happened to Steve Bourke.”
Bourke joined the Lance Armstrong-led movement, the Livestrong Army, and began to raise money for a cancer cure and speak to young people about the disease. And he took up cycling, something he hadn’t done since riding his childhood bike with a banana seat and butterfly handlebars.
“As an adult, I wasn’t a cyclist. I realized I needed to put fitness in my life. It was another way of fighting back,” he said.
Bourke’s fitness goal this year is to complete a 100-mile ride in less than five hours — a “sub-five-hour century” — and to raise money through cycling for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
“This is just another way of punching cancer in the nose,” he said.
As part of the planning committee for a unique bicycle festival called Tulsa Tough Ride and Race, Bourke is an avid spokesman for the event that helps raise funds to fight cancer.
“There’s really a sense of obligation to giving something back to the cancer community,” he said. “Part of it is having my experience have more meaning.”
Because of his two daughters, Bourke felt compelled to help create a dialogue about cancer for youths.
“My daughters were 13 and 17 when I was diagnosed,” he said. “I know that it was difficult for them. And I wondered if they could talk to their friends about it.
“There are 10 million people living with and beyond cancer. It has touched most people’s lives in some way,” he said. “If it’s that prevalent, we should be able to talk about it.”
At a recent Tahlequah High School-sponsored carnival at which teenagers raised $10,000 for cancer research, Bourke spoke about the Livestrong campaign and what it means to him.
“What does it mean to live strong? It means you recognize everybody is going to have adversity in their life. Life is beautiful, but it’s not always easy,” he said. “It means making a decision you’re going to have a good attitude, get an education, roll up your sleeves and fight back.”
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