Magnus Manson has lived two lives since his early 20s. Between hospital wards and World Cup tape, the West Coast downhiller kept choosing the same constant: a bike. He pedalled to appointments, filmed for his team when doctors told him to back off, and tried to race whenever his body allowed.
“Yeah, it’s been wild, it’s kind of just like a big, big step for sure,” he says of the recent news that he’s in remission. ” I still feel like there’s lots of health stuff I gotta work on, but it’s nice to kind of get a piece of the puzzle kind worked out for now.”
This fall, at 27, he finally heard it. In remission.
“Hard to truly believe it but today my doctor told me I was in remission,” he posted. “But I’m here, so fucking happy, and still energized to keep healing my body and soul.”
Choosing a curative shot
When standard treatments stretched into years, Manson and his care team looked for something that could change the trajectory.
“Before this trial, I was on a drug which I would have to take for the rest of my life. It causes a ton of side effects. This is a curative or potentially curative kind of treatment,” he says.
That meant travel and uncertainty.
“It’s not something that was available in Canada, so we go to the states and because it’s not available, there’s no coverage.”
He spent weeks in North Carolina for a CAR-T clinical trial, stacked with testing and waiting. Six months later he walked into a follow-up still bracing for bad news.
“The doctor walked into the room and the first thing he said it was you’re all good now. And I was like, what?” Manson says.
Relief hit hard. The ever-present mental weight eased.
“Cancer kind of carries the mortality piece in health,” he adds. “Not having that as an everyday reminder or an everyday thought is something that makes life a lot easier.”
Keeping the pedals turning
Across the four-year grind, Manson kept riding because it gave him agency.
“I would ride to the cancer center and do my chemos or immunotherapies or whatever,” he says. “It felt like riding my bike there was kind of me taking control of the situation because I didn’t want to be at the treatment, but at the same time, I got to choose the thing I loved.”
He tried to stay between the tape, too. Some starts went sideways. Some never happened. A heavy crash in Bromont last year fractured ribs, collarbone and a vertebra, but he avoided surgery and was back on a bike weeks…
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