Lung Cancer Survivor May Take on Tiger Woods’ Golf Challenge
by Adam Clark (LIVESTRONG Staff)1 Comment
For those who may have tired of the voting in the primaries, here is a vote you may want to weigh in on.
After the 2007 US Open, Tiger Woods told reporters that there was no way a 10-handicapper could break 100 on the course. Seeing an opportunity, the USGA moved forward to hold a contest to select finalists to test Tiger’s Challenge in a celebrity tournament prior to the 2008 US Open. And now, of the more than 56,000 entries the challenge is down to 5 semi-finalists. And of them is John Atkinson, a 39-year old, never-smoker, survivor of stage IV lung cancer.
Unlike golf, cancer has no boundries and like many other lung cancer survivors, John was stricken even though he never smoked. John was diagnosed with a disease that seemed unbeatable. But in this case, John was determined to not let cancer win this match. And now, a year after battling the disease, he is cancer-free and determined to continue in his fight as an advocate for the Lung Cancer Alliance in the battle against cancer. He entered Tiger’s challenge as a testament that even though the odds were against him, the disease did not win and now he’s ready to prove the world’s greatest golfer wrong.
John is now one of 5 semi-finalists who will be chosen to prove Tiger wrong. But he will need votes from the American public to win. For those of you who would like to help John in becoming the finalist, anyone during the month of April can go to Golf Digest US Open Contest and vote for him.
John has already won the toughest battle of his life and as he continues to advocate in the fight against cancer, I am glad he is an inspiration showing the rest of the world that even though cancer can hit any of us, it does not have to win.
Best of luck and LIVESTRONG John.
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