As a doctor and an amateur cyclist, Jeffrey Murray understands the seemingly impossible journey Lance Armstrong has made from cancer patient to Tour de France champion. "We'll never see another story like this in our lifetime," the pediatric oncologist says.

Beyond appreciating the fortitude required for such a trek, Murray also realizes the emotional uncertainty Armstrong has faced as a cancer Survivor. Would he successfully return to his profession? Marry or have a family? Would the disease come back? Such worries are common for cancer patients regardless of age or occupation.

"We all have to come to grips with the disease and its effects," says Armstrong, who created the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1996 while completing treatment for advanced testicular cancer diagnosed earlier that year. "We have a choice as to how we address the rest of our lives."

Armstrong and Murray, who first met as competitors, want to help patients live like survivors, not victims. Murray heads the Life After Cancer Program at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the first survivorship project funded by the LAF. The foundation is assisting a similar effort for adults at the University of Pennsylvania.

"We'd like to be the first place people turn to address surviving cancer," says Armstrong. "We hope to remove some of the fear and panic from those just diagnosed, so they can begin to think like survivors."

Doctors don't know much about what happens to patients emotionally following treatment. Murray's pediatric work will examine how kids perform in school and relate to family and friends, and whether treatment has lasting side effects. "The results and outcomes of the analysis we do will let us customize future treatments," he says.

Armstrong and Bristol-Myers Squibb, one of his sponsors, also created a packet of materials called Cycle of Hope, which helps newly diagnosed patients tackle their initial emotions and questions. And LAF president Howard Chalmers led an August roundtable with survivorship experts to coordinate efforts. "We won't duplicate other services," Chalmers says. "Where appropriate, we'll try to support or expand them."

The foundation already has made great strides in finding its focus andfinancing. Its annual Ride for the Roses event in Austin raised $1.5 million this year. The weekend included a kids' ride (pictured) and a gala at which Armstrong made an emotional toast. He asked a roomful of 1,300 people to stand if cancer had affected their lives; half the audience rose from their seats. "I raised my glass of champagne and don't remember saying anything," he recalls. "I thought to myself, Wow, this foundation is important."