Geoff Livingston conquered the Continental Divide. Then he conquered cancer.
The 32-year-old Port Moody resident is convinced the latter wouldn’t have happened without the fitness and mental fortitude he developed achieving the former — a 4,350-kilometre trek from Banff to Mexico of the mostly mountainous rift that separates the eastern and western halves of the Americas — that he and a friend rode on their mountain bikes in 38 days last summer.
This month, Livingston is continuing to work his way back to health and fitness by participating in the Workout to Conquer Cancer, a 31-day commitment to work out every day in May to raise money for the BC Cancer Foundation.
Livingston said he took on the big cycling challenge last year with his friend, Cam MacDougall, as a way to overcome his own struggles with weight and healthy eating. To prepare for a journey that would have them ride an average of 127 km and climb about 1,800 m every day but for two scheduled rest days, he refined his diet, hiked and pedalled his mountain bike along local trails as well as doing 100 km training rides on his road bike.
Livingston said he was in the best shape of his life.
Still, he said, early on he fought doubts he could complete the challenge.
The duo, along with a support vehicle driven by a volunteer who transported their camping gear, embarked from Banff last Aug. 16 in a shroud of acrid smoke from wildfires that were raging in parts of B.C. and Alberta last summer. After pedalling for four days through the cloud, Livingston developed a persistent cough.
But his legs and cardio fitness were getting stronger with every ascent of dusty washboard logging roads, every ride along of ridges on single-track, every transition along pavement, so he thought nothing of it.
By the end of their trip — they finished Sept. 24 in early twilight at the Antelope Hills border crossing between New Mexico and Mexico — Livingston said his cough was so bad it felt like he’d dislodged a rib. He also had a shooting pain in his lower left abdomen.
But that didn’t diminish the relief and sense of accomplishment he and MacDougall felt as they celebrated with loved ones who’d flown down by blasting fireworks into the night sky.
Upon returning home to Port Moody, Livingston went to his doctor to get his cough checked out. He was sent to Eagle Ridge Hospital for an ultrasound and, a few days later, he got a call that the scan showed something much more serious than the strained abdominal muscle he’d suspected: There were signs of a tumour on his right kidney.
A subsequent CT scan at Vancouver General Hospital confirmed the growth, which was asymptomatic and had likely been growing inside his kidney for four or five years.
Livingston said he was floored.
“I was the most positive and happiest I’ve ever been, and, suddenly, this could end.”
But the ride he’d just completed taught him to take on any challenge day by day, so that’s what he did.
Livingston met with a couple of doctors to formulate a plan of attack. One wanted to remove the entire cancerous kidney, another proposed just excising the tumour.
Last Dec. 13, Livingston had the tumour, along with half his kidney, cut out. He didn’t require radiation or chemotherapy. The cancer was gone.
As Livingston continues his recovery, limiting his cycling to easy rides on the road until he can rebuild his core strength to withstand tumbles on the trails, he has been able to reflect on the triumph and tumult of the past year. And he wouldn’t change a thing.
“I feel fortunate I had cancer,” Livingston said. “It really made me appreciate everything. Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
• To learn more about Workout to Conquer Cancer, or to donate to Livingston’s effort that he’s doing with his video production company, Noravera, go to www.workouttoconquercancer.ca.
