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"Unbelievable," she said during a phone interview, recalling her initial reaction to the diagnosis in 1998. "I couldn't believe this was something that could happen to me."
A whiz on the ice, Fleming is any other person after all.
"Cancer doesn't care who you are or what you've done in life," said Fleming, who will host "Skating for Life Benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure" on Wednesday in Bloomington. "I felt like the rug was pulled out from beneath me. I'm very grateful to have caught my cancer early."
Now, a 10-year breast cancer survivor, Fleming hosts this benefit performance that features country singer Sara Evans and several Olympic, world and national figure skating champions at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Skaters include 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen, four-time world champion Kurt Browning, six-time Canadian national champion Jennifer Robinson and eight-time British national champion Steven Cousins, as well as Rudy Galindo, Emily Hughes, Silvia Fontana and the duo of Rena Inoue and John Baldwin.
A portion of the ticket sales will go toward breast cancer research.
"It's a good combination of music and world-class skating," Fleming said. "It's a celebration of talent and health, and it's beautiful to be healthy."
The performance will be taped to televise nationwide on NBC and the Style Network this month, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Each skater in the show has been affected by breast cancer, either enduring the illness themselves or watching a loved one go through it.
Fleming credits her persistent watch over her health for surviving breast cancer.
"I found my breast cancer myself," she said. "I used my common sense and got my doctor to look at it.
"There are many stories like this that I hear from women" who caught their breast cancer early.
She suggests checking often and becoming aware of your body for both women and men, who also can develop breast cancer, according to the WebMD Web site.
"It's you and what you do everyday and the decisions you make that can help," she said.
Fleming is known for her poise and athleticism on the ice. She was inducted by the U.S. and World Figure Skating Halls of Fame and was the first skater invited to perform at the White House in 1980.
On top of that, she's a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, credited with revolutionizing figure skating into a sport of mass appeal.
She also is an advocate of the National Osteoporosis Foundation and runs the Fleming Jenkins Vineyards and Winery in California with her husband. The winery contributes its wine sales to breast cancer research and awareness.
Surviving breast cancer, which she called "another Olympics, a life Olympics," has left Fleming feeling grateful for living and determined to help save others.
"It's nothing to fool around with," she said. "You need to know what you're dealing with.
"I keep up with my health because I want to live to be a ripe old age -- a healthy, ripe old age."
WHAT: "Skating for Life Benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure," with host Peggy Fleming and music by country artist Sara Evans.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15.
WHERE: U.S. Cellular Coliseum, Bloomington.
TICKETS: $30 to $105 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum Box Office, (309) 454-5500, or TicketMaster outlets.
ON THE WEB: www.dissonskating.com.
aspates@herald-review.com|421-6986
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