LAKEPORT — Lakeport couple Lonnie Griffin and Janice Mills participated in the Konocti Challenge”s 65-mile ride on Oct. 9; not their first organized bicycle ride, but their first local one.
One aspect of the Challenge that impressed them was the fun atmosphere of the rest stops, especially the M*A*S*H-themed rest stop organized by Operation Tango Mike, which offered riders free massages.
On that day, Griffin needed a lower-back massage more so than he had during any other long distance ride. And probably no other rider that day benefited from a massage in quite the same way.
Griffin, 56, has follicular non-Hodgkin”s lymphoma and rode in the Konocti Challenge a little more than three weeks after beginning a new chemotherapy treatment.
“My cancer affects my lymph nodes, so all of my lymph nodes are growing, so my back muscles were just killing me,” Griffin said about how he felt coming up to the Tango Mike stop.
So when the masseur said “?free massage?” I said ?sure,”” Griffin said.
After Griffin received an intensive back and shoulder massage, he and his girlfriend Mills hopped back on their bikes, pedaled on, and finished the ride with a time of just more than five hours.
“Actually, I felt kind of good that ride,” Griffin said.
Exercise has been an important part of Griffin”s life since he and Mills, 48, started dating in 2007.
Griffin said he was “probably obese,” weighing around 260 pounds, when he was first introduced to Mills. He said he remembered asking himself “what the hell would she want to do with an old, fat guy like me for?”
Soon after they started dating, the two started to walk and bicycle together during the summer of 2007. Griffin also said Mills introduced himself to healthier eating.
“I started losing weight really quick and everybody goes ?wow, you”re losing weight; you”re looking good,”” Griffin said. At the time, his weight got down around 180 pounds, which he attributed entirely to exercising and better dieting.
“Then I found out I was getting tired all the time, and just super tired at work, and I couldn”t keep my eyes open and that”s when I found out,” Griffin said.
Griffin”s cancer was first diagnosed in the early spring of 2008.
Follicular non-Hodgkin”s lymphoma is a cancer that develops in a person”s lymph nodes, according to the NCI Web site. The NCI Web site classifies follicular lymphoma as being typically slow-growing, but travels throughout the body via the lymphatic system.
Griffin said his doctors have told him that his cancer is “treatable” but “not curable.” It”s about finding the “right cocktail mixture” to keep the cancer in remission.
He began a chemotherapy treatment in June 2008, which continued through the end of the year. Mills said she and Griffin continued to ride their bicycles throughout the first chemotherapy treatment.
For them, battling Griffin”s cancer goes beyond medical treatments. In their minds, continuing to exercise is integral to his fight against cancer.
Mills, who lost her husband to bone cancer in September 2006, said she did a lot of research on cancer treatments while her husband battled cancer.
“I started reading how good exercise was for cancer cells and it helps kill them” because the cancer cells “don”t survive well in an oxygenated environment,” Mills said.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) indicates in the non-Hodgkin”s lymphoma section of its Web site that “many people (with such cancers) find they feel better when they stay active.”
“Well, I”m killing cancer cells,” Griffin said about his continued devotion to exercise. “There”s people out there that have cancer and say ?oh woe is me” and won”t do nothing. I want to beat this thing.”
The first round of chemotherapy appeared to work, as Griffin”s cancer went into remission, and he returned to his job as an avionics technician for Lake Aero Styling and Repair (LASAR) in January 2009.
Griffin said he noticed some of the symptoms coming back this past summer, most notably severe tiredness at work.
He said his doctors soon informed him that tests had indicated his cancer had come out of remission and that they suggested he undergo a new form of chemotherapy. That six-month treatment began this September.
Griffin said he and Mills do an hour-long workout together at least five times a week, exercising with weights, elliptical machines and stationary bikes.
Cycling outdoors remains one of the couple”s favorite and most therapeutic hobbies and the two ride together as often as they can.
The two began riding together in the summer of 2007 and have taken rides all over Lake County and throughout northern California. Some of their favorite local spots to tour are Scotts Valley, Bachelor Valley and the Clear Lake State Park.
Taking a 60-mile ride along the ?Avenue of the Giants” was particularly memorable for them.
“You feel so small,” Griffin said about that ride. “You”re on a little bike and you”re just going through these big giant redwoods.”
Mills said she remembered at one point stopping, looking down a cliff and seeing a 40s-era car that had crashed at the bottom, “which you wouldn”t have seen going by in a car.”
For Mills, the slow pace of bicycle rides played an important role in her life before she met Griffin, becoming a new hobby when she needed it most.
Her brother, Gary Peront of Beaverton, Ore., said he suggested Mills take up bicycle riding a few months after her husband died.
“I wanted to kind of introduce her to something so she could channel her energy, which she has a large amount of, and kind of get through the grieving process,” Peront said in a phone interview.
Mills said her brother bought her a bike and once she began riding, she found a “niche” at just the right time.
“It was good healing for me,” Mills said about going on long bike rides after her husband died. “You get out there, out in the nature, and the outdoors and you just pedal however far you want to go and it helps; it helps heal.”
Another important part of moving on from her husband”s death was finding someone to talk to who was going through a similar situation, according to Mills.
That person ended up being Griffin.
Griffin lost his wife to lung disease in December 2006, four months after Mills”s husband died. The two received each other”s phone numbers through a mutual friend, Griffin”s employer at LASAR, Shery Loewen.
“It”s kind of good to meet somebody going through the same thing,” Mills said.
The two began speaking over the phone for hours and hanging out as friends for about four months, which they both said helped them deal with the emotional difficulties of losing a spouse.
After about four months, the two began dating, and as Loewen put it, “you know the end of the story.” That end, to which Loewen referred, is that Griffin and Mills are now a couple that live together, and live to ride together.
And that”s what they did on Oct. 9, two days before Griffin”s second session of his latest chemotherapy treatment.
“You don”t let cancer live your life. You live your life,” Mills said. “You don”t live every day like you have cancer; you live every day like you”re getting better.”
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him directly at 263-5636, ext.37.
