Post A #3

Vocab
Caustic (104)- capable of burning or destroying living tissue

Balked (124)- stopped or refused to go on

Appeals
"But the pathologist looked up from the microscope, surprised, and said, 'It's necrotic tissue'" (116)." The pathologist is talking about the 12 tumors they have just removed from Lance's brain. This sentence is a logical appeal, telling the reader that at this point, Lance's body has started to kill and reject the cancer cells that inhabit him.

"It was a woman in her 50s on a heavy moutain bike, and she went right by me. [...] She cruised, without even breathing hard, while I puffed and chugged on my high-performance bike, and she went right by me" (143). This sentence is an emotional appeal, allowing the reader to experiences Lance's feelings as this 50 some-year-old woman passes him by. He was (or should have been) at the peak of his bicycle riding years, and thinks his bicycle speed is improving. All of the sudden, this middle-aged woman rockets by him, and he thinks for the first time in his life, "I am in bad physical shape."

"You're a responder" (141). Dr. Craig Nichols tells Lance this, after his HCG levels continue to drop, which is a good thing if you are recovering from cancer. Responder is definitely the loaded word in this sentence. I know that the word responder is not meant to sound negative, but it does. Responder could mean bad or good, and in this case it means good. With all due respect, I don't think responder was the best word for this context.

Quote
"[...] if the illness returned it would probably happen in the next 12 months. But for this moment, at least for this brief and priceless moment, there wasn't a pysical trace of cancer left in my body" (155). When I read this passage, I could almost experience his joy and happiness. The whole cancer ordeal had taken 2 long years, and that moment was the first time in those two years that the cancer had completely disappeared.

Theme
Take every opportunity that is presented to you to help others as well as yourself. After Lance had healed from the cancer, he and his doctors thought and knew that he should use his experience to talk to other cancer patients. They wanted him to tell other patients his story, and tell them to hang in there just like he did. In addition to doing that, Lance also did some research about starting a cancer aid fund, (and later made Live Strong).