I have the deepest admiration for terminal breast cancer survivor Jane Tomlinson. In fact, you could rightly say I am in awe of her. This summer, I followed her epic journey across the US, as she left from San Francisco to ride across this country on a bicycle. Cycling 4,200 miles for cancer charity, she intended to end her ride at Battery Park in New York City, and she has arrived.

Why does Jane inspire me? It is her spirit. In times of any challenge or crisis, we all need heroes. People who inspire by sheer determination and resilience of will. Someone to look to as a reminder to keep going as long as we can. Jane is one of my heroes.

Preston Barden, the father of nine and grandfather of eight, told his family he will be back home at Christmas.

On June 20th, Barden began his walking odyssey to break the Guinness World Book Record for the fastest time crossing the US on foot for a round trip total of 5,900 miles. While he is doing this, he is asking for donations to benefit the National Children's Cancer Society -- and he hopes to raise $30 million dollars with his effort.

Barden, who began in New York City, said, "If I do the round trip I will be the first person to do the round trip, and then it will also be America's longest walk-a-thon."

Barden, a welder by trade and a martial arts instructor with four black belts, totes a 55-pound backpack with tokens of inspiration from those who have died of cancer. You can watch WGEM's video of the television interview they did with Barden here. For information on how to donate to the National Children's Cancer Society call Barden at 1-888-411-KIDS. For more information about Barden visit World Walkers.

The University of Miami's first basketball All-American and member of the school's Athletic Hall of Fame died Friday of esophageal and colon cancer. Dick Hickox, a 5-6 guard who led the 1959-60 Hurricanes to a 23-3 record and a No. 8 ranking -- still the school's highest -- was 68 years old.

Hickox never meant to play basketball at UM. He went to Coral Gables with a friend who was homesick and who threatened to leave unless coach Bruce Hale brought in Hickox and a another friend. Hale agreed -- and had no idea what he was getting. Hickox averaged 22.1 points that season and went on to make history. He was named second All-American, alongside Providence guard Lenny Wilkens. Hickox drew crowds of 5,000 and celebrities -- like actors Burt Reynolds, George Hamilton, and then-Cassius Clay -- often cheered him on from under the basket.

Hickox spent his adult years working in the Dade County Public School system and was the business manager of the South Miami High athletic department. In March, he attended the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Greensboro, N.C., and received a Legends Award. It was the best basketball weekend of his life, one friend said.

Hickox is survived by his wife, his son, and his daughter.

BBC News is reporting that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has caused a massive oil spill off Lebanon's coastline that could take ten years to clean up and poses a threat of increased cancer risks for people living in the region. The spill was caused by the Israeli bombing of the Jiyyeh power station.

Yacoub Sarraf, Lebanon's environment minister, stated that they cannot begin to tackle the problem until the conflict ends. "We cannot get equipment, companies, labor or know-how to handle the problem," he said until the safety of technical teams can be guaranteed.

Marine experts from Inforac, an organization with links to the United Nations Environment Program (Unep), said the spill of fuel oil was a "high-risk toxic cocktail made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system." The experts warned that the first people at risk from the toxic spray at the time of the bombing were the two million inhabitants of Beirut.

Experts are comparing the oil spill to the Erika tanker oil spill off the coast of France and speculated that the Lebanon oil spill could end up being as devastating as the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Phil Goddard is blogging Coast to Coast as he walks over 4,000 miles across America in memory of his wife Jayne, who died of cancer in January 2006. He is raising money for the Association for International Cancer Research as he walks. He started in New York on June 25 and has met with sweltering triple-digit heat, shin pain and as he describes them -- people of extraordinary hospitality.

In a solo foot journey that will take him up to nine months to complete, Goddard has made it as far as Pennsylvania. There are no vehicles following him and no official support awaiting him on the road ahead. Goddard goes it alone.

According to his sister Jacqui Goddard, "This grueling odyssey is his idea of a healing experience, an off-beat form of bereavement therapy by which he can make life without Jayne meaningful, rather than filling his days with the pain of her loss. It will also raise more than £10,000 in sponsorship for the Association for International Cancer Research."

Goodard believes that if it had been him who died, his wife Jayne would have found a way to turn it into something positive too. Jayne was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer but it wasn't discovered in time to save her. Jayne, who used her maiden name Comins, was a speech therapist and psychotherapist, and held the professional status as a leading expert on the human voice, writing books and articles, making regular TV and radio appearances and lecturing throughout Britain.

Join Goddard on his walk across America as he blogs Coast to Coast.

When last we posted about Jane Tomlinson's Ride Across America to raise breast cancer awareness and money for cancer research, she was having a difficult time.

In hip and back pain from recently finishing chemotherapy just two weeks before she left San Francisco -- final destination New York -- she began suffering dehydration and extreme fatigue near Cedar City. The diary entry for that day of the ride read, "All we need now is your good thoughts and a massive change of luck."

Tomlinson rallied with renewed energy, continued on, and yesterday she made it to the halfway point of her coast-to-coast ride.

I am following her journey with great enthusiasm because of her courage and strength. Six years ago, when she was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer, she was told she had six months to live. Not only has she outlived all predictions, she is also known as the only cancer patient to complete a full Ironman triathlon and the first person to run a marathon while on chemotherapy. During chemotherapy, I had trouble walking across the room or keeping jello down. Jane is incredible.

In a 45-day bike tour, and over halfway through, six international college students have been cycling across America to raise money for cancer research and blogging the daily journey at Cross Country for Cancer. There are three reasons I have been following the blog posts: one, these young men are spectacular for the undertaking of raising money for cancer research by pedaling coast-to-coast; two, some of the posts and photos with captions are Monty Python-esque hilarious (which I compared them to in the first post I blogged about them); and three, it has been interesting to see this country at pavement level through the eyes of a group not normally residents.

They have blogged gorgeous scenery seen and generous people met. They have also discovered where the Grinch works his summer job. In case you don't know, because I didn't, the Grinch is running the tram somewhere near Cotopaxi, Colorado.

Cancer ... it's kind of a big deal. That is the tagline for the Cross Country for Cancer blog. In a benefit to raise awareness and funds for cancer research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center of Johns Hopkins University and for the American Cancer Society, six international college students are spending 45 days of summer cycling across America. The Cross Country for Cancer cycling team, who began their 4,000 mile journey in San Francisco, California, 13 days ago, plan to finish in Baltimore, Maryland.

Cross Country for Cancer is blogging the daily challenges and adventures of the cycling journey across America where this group of college students -- John Lian of Amherst; Ezra Pierce of Oxford; Jacob Pierce of UC Santa Barbara; Patrick Garfjeld Roberts of Oxford; Max Capener of Oxford; and David Lauterbach of Wheaton -- basically came up with a big idea and without any self-admittedly realistic sense of what is possible, simply agreed to go for it.

No one has ever credited millionaire heiress Paris Hilton with being anything but a pro at papazzari primping. Unless you are a Paris Hilton fan -- and if this story is true -- it might not come as a great shock but it is still despicable. The incident being reported involves innocent children.

Seems Ms. Hilton was playing to the cameras and not to the hearts of the children she promised to help at Paradise Kids. While visiting the Gold Coast, she pledged her support to the children battling cancer by staging a benefit concert, stating that "My grandmother died of cancer and I almost lost my cousin to leukemia. It's just something very important to me. I love kids and I just feel it's the right thing to do. It makes me feel good about myself and it helps other people."

According to Paradise Kids co-founder Reverend Dr. Ian Mavor, after the cameras were gone, so was Hilton. Mayor told the news reporter interviewing him that because she made a public vow to raise $250,000 dollars for the charity, it has hurt the Gold Coast Paradise Kids fundraising efforts. He said no one thinks the charity needs money since Hilton is supposedly helping them. This all happened two years ago. Mayor has tried to contact Hilton, but to no avail. Maybe the check is in the mail. Right.