Lance Armstrong’s nurse talks about treating the athlete and her patient care philosophy

Cycle of caring
Lance Armstrong’s nurse talks about treating the athlete and her patient care philosophy

By Melissa Gaskill
November 6, 2000
Photo courtesy of Latrice Haney

Latrice Haney, RN, who treated two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, encourages her patients to focus on the good things, to have other avenues and outlets.


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When two-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong showed up at Indiana University Medical Center in 1996 for treatment of testicular cancer, oncology nurse Latrice Haney, RN, didn’t know who the cyclist was, but she knew he was fighting for his life.

When that battle was over, Armstrong wrote a book, It’s Not About the Bike, in which he called Haney an angel.

Their admiration is mutual. "Lance was never one to say ‘Why me?’ " Haney said. "His focus was ‘What do we do?’ Some patients don’t want to know everything. He needed to know, he wanted to understand. He asked a lot of questions."

Haney laughed at the memory. "A lot of questions. And if he forgot the answer or didn’t get it the first time, he asked again." According to Armstrong, Haney’s explanations were always calm and succinct.

At the time, Haney coordinated patient therapy in hematology/oncology. She now works with patients in clinical chemotherapy trials. She helps determine if a person is a trial candidate, and discusses the pros and cons with patients.

Haney orchestrates each person’s care with ancillary disciplines. She makes sure patients know what drugs they receive and how their therapy will work, schedules therapy, and assesses the need for other resources such as nutritionists or support groups. She ensures that lab work and tests are done on schedule.

With another nurse, Haney coordinates outpatient clinic days, when 25 to 30 patients come in. She triages the calls that keep the department’s phone constantly ringing, and handles symptom management, a major part of her work with Armstrong.

It isn’t surprising that the cyclist called her "harassed and overscheduled."

For Haney, that Armstrong wrote about the effect a nurse had on his care says a lot for the profession.

"So often we hear about the great physicians and never about the great nurses who work constantly behind the scenes tying it all together for patients," she said. "It’s great to be acknowledged and recognized. It causes me to pause and look back over some obstacles that I encountered and know that it is worth every struggle."

Haney received her BSN in 1988 at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne. "I didn’t originally choose oncology," she said. "I believe that oncology chose me."

Haney remains in contact with Armstrong. Watching him win the Tour de France bicycle race was "awesome," she said. "After he won the second Tour, I told Lance that God had truly given him a new breath of life and it is wonderful to share in it."

Like most nurses, Haney becomes attached to all her patients, not just the famous ones. "Everyone has an expertise, and when someone is in need of the one you have, you’re obligated to share it. Patients sometimes ask me how I work in oncology. I tell them it’s not how I do it, it’s how do they do it? I get a break. Where is their break?"

She encourages patients to focus on the good things, to have other avenues and outlets. Sometimes she takes her daughters, ages 8 and 4, to the clinic. "Patients like that," she said. "They like to know about me and my life, not just their disease."

Haney makes sure her children know about her work, but she doesn’t push them in one direction or another. She decided to become a nurse at age 17. Hospitalized for a fever, Haney received excellent care from a nurse and decided she’d like to do that for other people.

For Lance Armstrong and countless others, she has.