Cancer creates new lease on life.

Holly Mutz Wilson County News Floresville Texas 30.NOV.05

It was a matter of making lemons into lemonade for Wilson County resident Donald Wyant.

In 2002, Wyant was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkins lymphoma cancer after discovering a lump in his neck.

“I was stunned, shocked, numb,” Wyant said. “It was just like getting punched in the face.”

Due to the cancer, Wyant underwent nine months of chemotherapy, which lasted six to seven hours for two days every month.

At the beginning of his chemotherapy treatments, he got very sick and went into the hospital. A friend bought him Lance Armstrong’s book, and after reading it, Wyant developed a new attitude.

“I figured whatever Lance could do, I could do much more,” Wyant said.

He went into remission early in 2003.

And for many, that would be the end of the story. Wyant overcame cancer and developed a new lease on life. However, that was just the beginning for him.

He joined a support group, and they invited him to be a mentor for the National Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training.” This meant he would go to the rides and cheer on the bicyclists, and people would ride in his honor.

But when he went to a ride, he realized that he wanted to be out there riding.

At age 62, Wyant hadn’t been on a bicycle for about 40 years. Nevertheless, he joined the Team in Training, which trained three times a week for four months for the national 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe in June of that year.

For Wyant, the ride was much more than the ride itself. He and his wife raised roughly $4,000 through bake sales, garage sales, and donations from friends to the National Lymphoma Society. It also started a fitness regimen in his life.

Wyant trains on his bicycle three to four days a week, as well as doing weight lifting a few days a week.

But for Wyant, his cancer served as a life-altering event in more than just a physical level. While his physical fitness improved dramatically, so did his spiritual and emotional “fitness.”

“I was leading a so-so life,” Wyant said. “I was searching.”

Wyant took that “so-so life” and changed it. His doctor, Rohit Kapoor, asked Wyant to speak to some of his patients, and he realized after that speech that speaking in front of an audience, a love he had always had, now served a great purpose.

“I speak from the heart,” Wyant said. “I had people crying during that speech.”

Wyant talks of resentments, love, and hope within his speeches, which are very spiritual, according to him.

“I don’t think I was punished by getting cancer,” Wyant said. “I always wanted to speak, but I had no credibility. Cancer gave me credibility.”

This credibility has allowed Wyant to speak at many places, including the Floresville and Gonzales Lions Clubs, the lymphoma society, the detention center in Jourdanton, the Jourdanton Chamber of Commerce, and the Hondo Rotary Club, to name a few.

His speeches describe the power of five different points: the attitude of gratitude, love and appreciation, choices and goals, using and sustaining humor, and never giving up.

To have Wyant speak at a function, contact him at 830-216-9002.

“We all have talents and we need to use them,” Wyant said. “You have to focus on what you want and look at adversity as an opportunity.”