Article content Josh Lombardi was out for a walk last fall when, over the phone, he heard the words desmoplastic small round cell tumours for the first time. Known as DSRCT, it’s an extremely rare form of cancer, a soft-tissue in which tumours grow in fat, muscles, tendons, lymph and blood vessels, and nerves. had noticed an increase in urinary frequency, which had led him to his initial consultation with his family doctor last October.
“Vague symptoms,” Lombardi said. “Being more sore after exercise, occasional headaches, nothing one would think is too serious.” On Aug.
24 and 25, Lombardi and his “team” will take part in the , a 200-kilometre cycle from Cloverdale to Hope that since its inception in 2009 has raised almost $125 million for the . His wife Sophie, mother Val, siblings Lyndsay and Joey, Dr. Torsten Nielsen (a B.
C. cancer researcher who specializes in sarcomas), and several friends will ride for Team Josh, along with roughly 2,000 other riders in the Tour de Cure. One in two British Columbians will face cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the B.
C. Cancer Foundation — more than 30,000 people in B.C.
are diagnosed each year, and rates are rising due to an aging population. DSRCT, first noted in 1989, occurs mostly to white males between the ages of 10 and 30. Many patients remain symptom-free when the cancer begins.
As the tumours grow, symptoms can include pain, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal swelling. Lombardi, a 3.