Triathlete with Hodgkin's Doesn't Give Up Race

This is one race for Marc Boyd that he is trying to win one step at a time.

"You are racing yourself as much as you are racing others," reports Cancer Compass, talking about Boyd's fight for life after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "Marc is no stranger to hospitals."

Boyd is a well-known triathlete in Macon, GA who is running the most important marathon of his life, says Cancer Compass.

"It started on Dec. 30, 2005 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a disease that strikes only one in 25,000 people each year and account for less than one percent of all cancer diagnoses," states the publication. "It has taken him down long hospital halls."

On Feb. 23rd this year Boyd underwent treatment 700 miles away at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.

"He is used to being the caregiver, not the care receiver," his mother Melanie Burnette told Cancer News.

Boyd celebrated his 41st birthday last June and met Mort Haddix at the Wellness Center eight years ago and they became fast friends.

"On our long runs we talked about everything under the sun," said Haddix. "I admire his determination. He's one of the most selfless people I know."

"He participated in the Macon Triathlon at Lake Tobesofkee on Memorial Day, just a few weeks after completing his chemo treatments," reported Cancer News. "Swimming a half mile, then riding a bicycle 20 miles and running 3.1 miles is grueling to even think about."

If you would like to leave Boyd a word of encouragement, you can visit caringbridge.com and enter the key word "marcboyd" under the "Visit" site.

In the meantime, Boyd said he vows to stay in the race.

In other cancer news, pancreatic cancer will afflict and estimated 37,170 Americans this year and 33,370 people will die according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN).

In unrelated cancer news, it was recently reported that emergency trials would expedite cancer research and that toxins were found to attack cancer and not healthy cells in mice.

"We (my wife and I) are glad to see research has moved this far in stopping such a vicious disease as cancer," said William Maynard of Allen, TX.