ATLANTA -- U.S. Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau is recovering quickly from cancer surgery and already planning his return to the pool. Still, he knows he'll never be able to escape the disease that turned his life upside down just before the Beijing Games.
That's just fine with him.
"I'll always be an Olympian, and I'll always be a cancer survivor," Shanteau told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "I'll be those two things for the rest of my life. I'm very happy and willing to assume that role."
In his first interview since last week's surgery to remove a cancerous testicle, Shanteau said he made it through with minimal complications. He's confident surgeons got all of the disease, though he won't know for sure until he goes back for a follow-up exam in a couple of weeks.
If blood tests show traces of cancer might still remain, he would likely have to undergo additional treatment such as chemotherapy.
"The hard part is over with, hopefully," said Shanteau, who spent only one night at Emory University Hospital and is now recovering at his parents' home in suburban Atlanta. "It's nice to be on the downhill part instead of climbing that mountain."
While doctors normally recommend at least four weeks before a patient resumes even minimal physical activity, Shanteau said he's "going to be way, way ahead of that." He hopes to get back in the water in about two weeks.
"Everything went really well, very smoothly," Shanteau said. "I'm not back to full strength yet, but I'm pretty close to being completely normal."
In the meantime, he's looking at ways to use his experience to benefit others.
Shanteau is setting up a new website that will document his story, provide links to cancer-fighting organizations and allow other victims of the disease to blog about their experiences. He's also in talks with Lance Armstrong's Livestrong charity -- the seven-time Tour de France winner is a testicular cancer survivor -- about working together at the grass-roots level. He's eager to take part in speaking engagements, education programs and fundraising efforts.
"If it doesn't kill you, it only makes you stronger," Shanteau said. "I'm trying to pull whatever good I can out of this situation instead of concentrating on the bad."
The 24-year-old swimmer was diagnosed with testicular cancer in June, shortly before the U.S. Olympic trials.
Shanteau was cleared to compete at the meet -- and surprisingly made his first Olympic team by beating out former world record-holder Brendan Hansen in the 200-meter breaststroke. That left a difficult choice: Have surgery and give up on competing in Beijing, or put off treatment until after the Olympics and risk the cancer spreading in the month before the games.
