Our Founder

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is a father, cancer survivor and advocate. In 1996, he was a 25-year-old  facing a struggle for his life against testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. Declaring himself a cancer survivor rather than a victim, he learned as much as he could about the disease and beat it despite overwhelming odds. With his treatment concluding, he created the Lance Armstrong Foundation, also known as LIVESTRONG®, to serve fellow cancer survivors. Today, the LIVESTRONG Foundation supports survivors and their families through patient navigation services, by conducting survivorship research, by advocating for funding and policies that propel the fight against cancer, and by leading awareness campaigns to dispel the stigma and misconceptions about the disease.

In 2004, the now-iconic yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands became an international phenomenon and a grassroots symbol of support for survivors.

In 2005 he devoted himself to his work advocating for cancer survivors. He has lobbied Capitol Hill, testified before Congress, served two terms on the President's Cancer Panel, advocated for smoke-free measures across the U.S., addressed the United Nations and helped raise $450 million for people affected by cancer.

In 2007, Lance helped unite support in Texas for the largest state-level cancer initiative in history. Proposition 15, overwhelmingly approved by voters, mandated the creation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and provided $3 billion for it to fund innovative and ground-breaking science and prevention efforts.

In 2009, after more than a decade of advocacy work in the U.S., Lance switched focus to raise awareness of the cancer burden faced by nations around the globe through the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign. The landmark event of the Campaign was the first-of-its-kind LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit, held in Dublin, Ireland. The unprecedented gathering of 500 world leaders, advocates, researchers, for-profit and non-profit representatives generated 300 new commitments to cancer control, representing an investment of more than $200 million.

2011 saw the opening of the LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Center, marking an expansion of the direct services the Foundation offers to survivors, available online and by phone and now in-person. This community-based center, one of just two facilities of its kind in the U.S., provides free, confidential, one-on-one support to anyone affected by cancer. To date, the Foundation has served more than two million people through its navigation services.

Today, Lance is a proud father of five and an advocate for cancer survivors working to empower them to fight like hell.