Mark Webber has used his final column for the BBC, for the time being, to unload his thoughts on Lance Armstrong. The 36-year-old Aussie reveals he sought inspiration form Armstrong around 1999–2000 while reflecting on his grandfather’s battle with cancer.
“One of my biggest heroes, and one of the biggest influences on my life, was my grandfather. The last year and a half of his life was torturous. He had the most brutal finish to his life with cancer, and that knocked me around because it knocked my dad around. I was 14,” said Webber.
But rather than simply use the Lance Armstrong story, Webber looked deeper. In 2001 he made contact with the staff at the Indiana University Medical Centre who helped Armstrong through his recovery.
“Curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see the people who had treated him and ask some questions about how he was, knowing full well I’d probably get as far as the reception and that would be it.
“But two days later I got a phone call from Latrice Haney, the nurse who worked very closely with Lance. She’s the one Armstrong describes as a real angel—it’s one of the things he did get right as she was a lovely, kind-natured person.
“She was super-professional throughout and said he had been very tough; he’d really fought the cancer hard,” wrote Webber.
After Mark gained entry into F1 and his profile grew, opportunities to meet Armstrong soon came.
“Then, through friends of friends, I got to spend some time with Lance, did some rides with him and went to his ranch when I was in Texas after the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.
“It was such a big thing for me at the time. I jumped into Dead Man’s Hole with him and some of his mates; it’s a place he describes in the book as making him feel alive after his cancer survival.”
