A rare diagnosis fuels one man's cycling mission

[00:00:00]I think when you're on a bike, you have to live in the moment. You've got to keep your eye on the road. It's It's like driving a car. You You've got to be conscious of your surroundings. But, at the same time, you've got a lot of time in your own head.

[00:00:12]>> For Christopher Eddington, cycling became more than an escape. It gave him space to process and heal.

[00:00:18]>> I had my annual visit to the doctors. And um at the end, she said, like they always do, is there anything else? And normally, being a nurse, an ex-nurse, uh and a guy, I would have said, no no, I'm fine, you know, unless I'm in the ER, I'm okay. Uh but, I told her I I just felt a little bit tired. So, she she sent me for some bloods. When I saw the results, um they were all red all the way down. I sort of knew enough to be dangerous. Um I knew it wasn't good.

[00:00:45]>> Chris has a very rare diagnosis called Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia. It could range from numbness or tingling in hands or feet to the point of large lymphoma type or cancer type tumors in the body or sometimes the blood would become so thick or viscous that it can lead to strokes, heart attack, etc. >> It's not curable, but it's it's treatable. I think I sort of came to terms with with uh the idea of uh you've got an incurable cancer, but it, you know, um you've got a second chance at life.

[00:01:24]>> Christopher found Mayo Clinic. His care team built a plan around what mattered most to him.

[00:01:29]>> He wanted limited duration treatment that could hopefully help his symptoms.

[00:01:33]And so, something that gave him his quality of life, his independence.

[00:01:39]>> Christopher turned to cycling, pushing himself physically and mentally. A year after his diagnosis and buying a bike, he rode from Los Angeles to Boston and raised more than $50,000 for research.

[00:01:50]>> I felt like I needed to do something to prove I wasn't done.

[00:01:54]>> He has his disease under a good control.

[00:01:56]He's not requiring active treatment right now. Both he and I understand that in the future that could change. He can travel, he can do what he wants to do, and he's been able to obviously demonstrate that by excelling in what is his passion.

[00:02:11]>> Now, he's taking that passion even further, riding the full route of the 2026 Tour de France 1 week ahead of the professional race in an event that raises awareness for blood cancers.

[00:02:22]>> Each day I'm going to ride for somebody.

[00:02:25]Um cuz it helps me. You know, if you think you're riding for somebody, it pushes you.

[00:02:29]Um but also each day I can tell somebody's story.

[00:02:32]>> And for Christopher, every mile comes with a reminder.

[00:02:35]>> I'm just very conscious about time. You know, everybody's limited on time and I Um I want to feel like I can get as much out of the time I've got.

[00:02:44]>> For the Mayo Clinic News Network, I'm Alex Sousaitis.