My husband has been wearing a yellow ‘LIVESTRONG’ bracelet for years.  What does it stand for you ask?

Since the inception of the yellow LIVESTRONG wristband in 2004, awareness bracelets have become ubiquitous.There are silicone and rubber bracelets for every type of cancer, various diseases and ailments, and even political and social causes. They come in different colors and have slogans on them that correspond to the cause they represent. Other bracelets for cancer that have appeared are beaded bracelets.  Read more about the LIVESTRONG wristband here.

Here’s a little background on the doping situation.  In August, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that it had disqualified Lance Armstrong for his use of performance-enhancing drugs. His Tour de France victories were canceled, and he was banned from further competition in all Olympic sports. The agency announced that it would soon release its “reasoned decision,” which it did on October 10.

Before the doping decision, Lance Armstrong said that he would not respond to any decision given by the Anti-Doping Agency as he was putting cycling behind him and moving on with his life promoting the fight against cancer. There is a bit of back story in that itself though, because that is not what appears to have happened.

Yesterday, October 17th, Lance Armstrong stepped down as head of the foundation.  That is a response if there ever was one, in my opinion.

While decisions about Lance’s fate are not firm it is clear that all of this doping drama has and will affect his cycling career and even his past medals that he’s received.

I ask myself, how do we explain this to our son’s and daughter’s who look to Lance Armstrong as a hero? Until Lance accepts defeat and denies innocence, it’s hard to explain anything and therefore I believe that judgement should not be made.. yet.

If more evidence is found and if he does in fact deny innocence, then I will talk to my teenage son about what Lance did that was wrong and how it affected his life and career.

It is being said that

Everything that Lance Armstrong has done means nothing now

and that

Cancer survivors conflicted between inspiration he provided and shame of doping scandal

Back to the LIVESTRONG wristband.  

My husband told me yesterday that despite Lance Armstrong’s recent unofficial defeat against doping and being dropped by Nike, and stepping down as head of the foundation, he will still wear the LIVESTRONG wristband he’s worn for years. The yellow LIVESTRONG wristband my husband wears is to build awareness about Bladder cancer, sarcoma and bone cancer.

I stand by his decision although I would like to think that if Lance Armstrong is found guilty (with evidence) of doping, that my husband would find a different way to help build awareness of cancer than to wear a wristband that might possibly support financially, someone who has lied and taken drugs to defeat others.  If it weren’t for the idea that Lance might be supported in any way by these wristbands, I have NO issue with anyone wearing these wristbands that build cancer awareness.

What do you think about Lance Armstrong’s doping situation?
Have your kids asked about doping?
What have you said?