Columnist Susan Snyder: A strong message in cancer fight

Friday, July 16, 2004 | 8:41 a.m.

Andre Agassi wears one.

So do Ben Stiller and Matt Damon.

And evidently plenty of Las Vegas Valley locals whose names we don't know are sporting rubbery yellow wristbands imprinted with the word, "Livestrong."

Livestrong is the mantra of bicycle racing wonder Lance Armstrong. And the bracelets provided by Nike are being sold at $1 each to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports people living with cancer.

Armstrong, a 32-year-old cancer survivor, is this month pedaling toward what would be an unprecedented sixth Tour victory. The bracelets branded with his motto are setting records too, as sales roll toward a $6 million goal. Fans purchased 77,500 from the foundation's Web site on Tuesday alone, spokeswoman Michelle Milford said.

Las Vegas-area bicycle shops can hardly keep them in stock.

"I've sold out," Deya Hawk, of Peloton Sports bicycle shop, said Wednesday. "I get, conservatively, a dozen calls a day asking if we have them."

When Hawk, who co-owns Peloton with her husband, Phil, put their first box of 50 on the counter at the end of June, it took four days to sell out.

"Then I was selling a box a day," she said. "(Tuesday) I sold 100 of them. And last Friday, I sold 100 in about two hours."

One customer bought 20 for a family reunion, she said. It was his third purchase.

"I don't think I've ever seen anything go so fast," Hawk said. "They're only a buck. So it's like, 'OK. I'll donate $1 and get three more for my friends.' "

Richard Craig, owner of ProCyclery in Las Vegas, has sold 300 and scored another 500 for a Tour de France party July 24. The race ends July 25.

"We're requiring everyone who comes to buy one, even if they already have one, because it's for charity," Craig said.

That's good news for cancer survivors, said Milford, who works at the Armstrong foundation headquarters in Texas. The bracelets went on sale May 17.

"But it kind of exploded this month, which we figured it would," she said. "They're yellow because of the yellow (winner's) jersey, and it's Lance's favorite color. Yellow means hope, courage and perseverance for people living with cancer."

This campaign is about living beyond cancer. Treatments often kill more than cancer cells, Milford said. Most survivors fear recurrence, but young adults also fear a lonely future. They struggle with permanent physical changes and infertility risks.

The foundation seeks to make sure they know they can bank eggs or sperm, as Armstrong did, before treatments begin.

The foundation plans to open survivor centers across the country, including one at the Nevada Cancer Institute in Las Vegas. Armstrong's Tour of Hope cross-country bicycle tour will stop here in early October to announce the plan, Milford said.

Meanwhile residents can show support by wearing a yellow bracelet -- if they can find one. All three Las Vegas Nike stores carry them. Or log onto www.wearyellow.org or www.laf.org.

"Attitude's everything," Milford said of surviving cancer. "Lance has shown us that."