By TONY JUDNICHtony.judnich@scripps.com </ym/Compose?To=tony.judnich@scripps.com>
May 4, 2006
 
SEBASTIAN - Bob Lynch says he has at least one more marathon rowing trip in him.
Eleven years ago, the 58-year-old city resident was diagnosed with an incurable blood cancer called Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, a disease he said is found in six men per 1 million. After 1 1/2 years of undergoing chemotherapy, Lynch chose to forego the treatment so he could challenge himself as a rower.
And - other than when he's rowing and facing the rear of his boat - he hasn't looked back since.
In 1998, Lynch rowed a small boat 150 miles from Key West to Miami. Along the way, he raised more than $30,000 in donations for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Two years later, he rowed for 10 days, going 200 miles from Melbourne to Miami and raising $30,000 for the fight against cancer. And in 2001, he rowed 155 miles of waterways between Stuart and Fort Myers, raising about $35,000 for the same cause.
Now, he says he feels great and plans to row about 200 miles from Melbourne to Jacksonville starting June 5.
"I was given three to five years to live (in 1995)," Lynch said recently.
But he said he hasn't suffered any cancer symptoms for years. And some of the 2,600 members of the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation have known for 25 years that they have this cancer but still are functioning normally, according to the Sarasota-based foundation.
"I think this is what helps me feel good," Lynch said, pointing to a 12-foot boat he uses to practice his rowing. "I suck in a lot of oxygen while rowing."

Lynch said he wasn't sure he would embark on another lengthy rowing trip after concluding his last one. But he recently was inspired by a song by Devotion, a Christian group whose CD he received from his minister at Unity Church of Vero Beach.
The song's words, "Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are," ran in his head for many days. He then told his wife, Sue, another rowing trip was on tap.
"I laughed and said, 'I can't get rid of this song,'" he said. "I'll just keep rowing, as long as I feel good."

TRAINING DAYS
Lynch, a Cape Cod, Mass., native who retired early from the Florida Department of Labor in 1998, stays in shape by rowing on the Indian River Lagoon for about three hours a day.
"I'll be out there at the crack of dawn," he said. "To see the osprey feed, and the dolphins, the tranquility of the water, that makes the whole day."
He expects his upcoming trip to take about 10 days, covering about 20 miles a day. Lynch said he'll probably be rowing about six hours a day.

Cork Friedman, his film- producing friend from Miami who rowed in another boat next to Lynch on the Stuart-to-Fort Myers trip, also will row next to him and record some of the upcoming trip for a film.
Lynch said Sue, 56, will serve as their "land crew," helping to find sponsors along the way, such as marinas and hotels.
"Hopefully we'll find a hotel that has a tiki bar and a hot tub," he said, laughing. "Those are the things you really look for at the end of a day of rowing."

During his trips, Lynch said donations come from "anyone who was touched by cancer," including some of his neighbors at Pelican Point and members of the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation.
Lynch said he'll launch his upcoming trip from the Melbourne Causeway. His mother, Betty Lynch, who died in 2002, had seen him set off from that causeway to start his Melbourne to Miami trip.
"Now that I rowed from Melbourne to Miami, Melbourne north to Jacksonville will take care of the entire East Coast of Florida," he said. "As boring as rowing can be, it's nice to see new territory."

A Gainesville company is building a 15-foot boat Lynch will name "Inner Voice" and use on his upcoming trip. Like his 12-foot boat, he said the new boat will have a seat that slides, giving him a good aerobic workout.
"As long as I have good health, I'd like to row up the east coast of the United States," Lynch said.
While rowing his boat on the Indian River Lagoon, cancer survivor Bob Lynch sometimes passes people he knows on the shore or on bridges. "They'll yell, 'Row Bob, row!'" Lynch said. "It's really great to hear that."

Lynch was diagnosed in 1995 with an incurable blood cancer called Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia. Starting June 5, he plans to row from Melbourne to Jacksonville to raise money for the fight against cancer.

WANT TO HELP?To donate to the nonprofit International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation: Log onto www.IWMF.com <http://www.IWMF.com>, or write to the group at 3932D Swift Road, Sarasota, FL 34231-6541. Bob Lynch can be reached at (772) 388-6417.
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