October 19, 2007
A Life Olympics
Genesis presents skating icon Peggy Fleming and her breast cancer story
DAVENPORT, IOWA - The year is 1968. Nineteen-year-old Peggy Fleming captivates the figure-skating world with her grace and beauty. Her free-skating program, televised live and in color for the first time ever, wins the only Olympic gold medal the United States will bring home from the Winter Games.
She is America’s golden girl.
The year is 1998. Almost 30 years to the day of receiving a gold medal in Grenoble, France, the 49-year-old skating icon faces an equally challenging journey: breast cancer. She will fight the disease with the same determination and discipline that made her a skating champion.
She is a survivor.
Today, about a decade after hanging up her skates and overcoming breast cancer, Fleming telephones from her Los Gatos, Calif., home to talk about her upcoming Oct. 23 visit to the Quad Cities. “An Evening with Peggy Fleming” is one of several events hosted by Genesis to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month and celebrate the arrival of digital mammography to the Quad Cities.
The 59-year-old Fleming is warm, grounded and engaging, just like she has seemed for the past 27 years as a television commentator for ABC Sports. As she talks about sewing her own skating costumes; doing chores as a kid; and, laughing with her fellow radiation patients, it’s easy to see that her life as a national treasure hasn’t gone to her head.
She still glides through life with exuberance, whether she’s doing on-air skating analyses; endorsing health products; going on numerous speaking engagements; or, harvesting grapes with her husband, retired dermatologist Greg Jenkins, on their northern California estate and winery.
She’s a proud mother of two sons. She’s a proud grandmother of three grandsons. She’s a skating legend, named in 1999 as one of seven “Athletes Who Changed the Game” by Sports Illustrated.
But her life of athleticism is made all the more poignant by a time when she wasn’t at her physical peak: Her role as breast cancer survivor and awareness advocate added a new dimension to her life.
“Whenever I’m at an event where they ask breast cancer survivors to stand up, it takes my breath away every time,” she says. “I look into the faces of all of these survivors, and there’s always a welling up of pride -- like we’ve been through a war together and survived. It’s a special bond. It’s a scary thing to go through.”
Facing disease
Fleming was in front of a mirror in a hotel bathroom, doing stretches, when she noticed the lump. It was 1998, and she was getting ready for the National Championships, where the entire 1968 Olympic team would reunite for a 30th anniversary. She would be a commentator, as well.
“I thought, ‘It’s probably a pulled muscle.’ I’d just had my mammogram and a checkup five months earlier,” she recalls. “I kept on working and went to Italy to do the European Championships, but the lump was still there. When I got home, I saw the doctor, more out of curiosity and for my own peace of mind. I thought it would be a quick day. I was wrong.”
Her case, she says, illustrates the crucial importance of yearly mammograms, monthly self-exams, and annual doctor’s exams. “You put all three of those together, and they are the powerful tools for early detection,” she stresses.
She would have a lumpectomy, followed by six weeks of radiation. She recalls how eerie it felt to be sitting on her couch and hear media reports about her diagnosis. All sounded far too grim.
“You sit at home watching the news, and you’re in it. They’re having this tone of voice like ‘Oh my gosh, she’s going to die.’ I’m thinking, ‘Wait a minute. I’m going to be fine.’
“I wanted to make sure that people heard the true story from me of what my diagnosis, my treatment, and most importantly, what my attitude was going to be. Having a diagnosis of breast cancer is pretty big. I had never had anything go wrong in my health. I was blown away.
“As an athlete, everything we do is centered around eating healthy and staying fit. For me to get the diagnosis was an extreme shock. I cried like everyone else, but then I rolled up my sleeves and said ‘OK, what do we need to do? Let’s get this treatment done, so I can get on with my life.’ “
She had overcome adversity before, including at age 11 when a 1961 plane crash killed the entire U.S. World Team and her coach. She faced breast cancer with the same skills that had carried her to five U.S. titles, three World titles and the Olympic Gold Medal. “Breast cancer was another Olympics, a life Olympics,” she says simply.
“You don’t become an Olympic champion overnight, and you don’t recover from cancer overnight. You have to be patient; do all of the steps; and take one phase at a time.”
The triumph
Since then she has shared her hopes and fears and, ultimately, her own triumph over breast cancer. Not only does she speak about breast cancer, she raises funds for cancer research. She and her husband planted a vineyard in 1999 and now produce a rose-colored wine called “Victories Rose.” Two dollars of every bottle sold goes for breast cancer research.
“Of all the victories we have in our lives, we have to appreciate them,” she says. “I hope we will have a victory someday in finding a cure for breast cancer and all cancers. I think that day is coming.”
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