Mike Allan met a "living legend" last week in Prince George.
The 55-year-old received a call Thursday from a friend, informing him that legendary melanoma (skin cancer) survivor was hospitalized at Prince George's University Hospital of Northern B.C. and would he like to come chat with the German tourist.
"There are very few of us around," said Allan. "Melanoma is a very deadly disease and people do not typically live very long once they get it, between him and I we've managed to survive."
The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 6,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2013 and 1,050 will die from the cancer.
Randolph Westphal started his sixth world bike tour in Vancouver on May 3 and has visited communities in Alberta and B.C. stopping in to see cancer patients to share his story to try to bring them hope.
After spending the night in Hixon, Westphal hit Highway 97 at 5 a.m. Thursday morning, but after about 25 kilometres the dizziness he had experienced the previous day returned. He slipped off his motorized-pedal bicycle and was laying down in the ditch when a semi-truck whizzed past him, collapsing his bike on top of him.
"I had no power to lift the bike, all I could do is just wave my hands," said Westphal.
It took about two hours before three "nice girls" stopped to check on him, Westphal said they called 9-1-1 and sat with him until the ambulance arrived to bring him to the hospital in Prince George where he met Allan and swapped stories about their melanoma treatments.
Westphal was 29 working as a computer scientist in Germany in 1987 when he was first diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Stage 4 means the cancer cells have broken through the lymph nodes and have started attacking internal organs.
Given six months to live, Westphal has defied the statistical odds of melanoma, undergoing 28 cancer surgeries, four life-threatening. Westphal was dubbed a "living legend" for his ability to fight and win his cancer battle for 26 years.
In addition, during a bike trip through Argentina in 1996 Westphal was the victim of a hit-and-run collision, which left him hospitalized for five years and killed one of the dogs that accompany him on his trips.
At first doctors wanted to amputate his right leg, but, Westphal said a call to his German doctors halted the plan and instead he underwent numerous surgeries which shaved four inches off the limb. The dizziness he experienced last week in Hixon was due to an infection in the injured leg and had swelled up. He'll be in Prince George for about a week receiving IV treatments to battle the infection. The long stopover is a problem for a world traveller with two dogs who tries to live on a budget of $15 per day. He was worried where he and his two dogs would stay while in Prince George and how he'd retrieve his furry friends from the pound on a long weekend once he was released for outpatient treatment from the hospital.
Despite all the traumas that have befallen him, Westphal maintains an upbeat attitude. The self-described winter lover visited Prince George in 2005 during the winter season, along with his constant companions Nanook and her son Chinook, his Alaskan malamutes.
"I was never a biker before embarking on the world trips," said Westphal. "I don't like to go alone so I bring my dogs."
He had planned to visit the hospital when he arrived in Prince George as a part of his mission to raise awareness for melanoma and converse with the cancer patients - he just didn't plan to arrive by ambulance. Westphal was frustrated he was so close to the cancer patients, yet couldn't reach out to them Friday.
Westphal is in the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest bike trip (73,000 km) with dogs. In six world tours, Westphal has biked more than 250,000 km, including 40,000 on his latest trip.
"I accept my cancer as part of my body and when you accept it you can change it," said Westphal.
Allan said the German is an inspiration to him.
"He's definitely one that gives great motivation to go forward," said Allan. "There are few people that I know of that have made it any length of time. Most people that go through melanoma treatment, there's so many chemicals involved, aren't the same when they come out the other side. Randolph here is very strong and very foregoing. He keeps looking forward and that give me a lot of drive."
After years of his doctors telling him his moles weren't a problem and to just ignore them, Allan said he was diagnosed with melanoma in 2007. He underwent surgery and treatments until 2009 when doctors in B.C. told him there was nothing more they could do for him.
"I didn't believe that should be the end; I still felt really good and so I started looking into what my options were and I found out about clinical trials, where you give your body to science and they try new things, new treatments on you, watch you and monitor you very, very closely because this is the future," said Allan.
The clinical trials Allan participates in have him travelling to Edmonton every three weeks for tests at the Cross Cancer Institute at the University of Alberta Hospital. The drug (Yervoy) in the first trial he was a part of was approved and is now marketed, while the drug in the second trial recently received approval from the federal government, but still needs to pass through provincial regulatory bodies before it can be officially approved for use.
"It [melanoma] ruins your life," said Allan. "Essentially my life isn't my own anymore, I've given my body to science. Randolph gets the word out to get the research going and they test the drugs on me."
There were 400 participants in the clinical trial for the second drug at the start - Allan is the only one left.
"I feel pretty privileged," said Allan.
For both Allan and Westphal the most important lesson is to keep a positive attitude and look forward to tomorrow. Westphal plans to head west on Highway 16 to Prince Rupert once his infection is cleared up and then decide whether his story should have him heading north or south.
To learn more about Randolph Westphal or to make a donation to support his melanoma awareness world tour see his website at www.randolph-westphal.de.
