No Mountain High Enough by Linda Armstrong Kelly

No mountain high enough is autobiography written by Lance Armstrong’s mom, Linda Armstrong, which walks us through the struggles they had to overcome to make their dreams come true. The book starts out during the time when Linda was a teenager, and talks about her alcoholic father’s abusiveness and the financial struggles the family had. Linda got a boyfriend when she was 16, fell “in love”, and a year later ended up being kicked out of her house when she learned she was pregnant. She and her boyfriend moved into a cheap apartment and had their baby, Lance. They were very broke and the boyfriend started abusing Linda. With the help of her dad, Linda got up the strength to leave her husband for good. She was so young, so raising a baby on her own was an immense struggle. Linda bounced around from one minimum-wage job to another, and struggled to find the time and money to support her son. Linda Armstrong loved her son more than anything, and that love was the only thing that kept the two of the going through their hard struggles and the three divorces the little family went through during Lance’s childhood. Lance got into bike racing, competitive swimming, and triathlons at a young age, and excelled in practically everything he tried. By the time he was in high school Lance and his mom were traveling the country for bike races, and after he became state champion he realized he could maybe get a college scholarship. He focused all his energy on training, and he quickly became nationally ranked. Linda Armstrong eventually worked her way up to one of the top jobs at Ericson cell phones Their life seemed to be finally coming together when Lance unexpectedly won the world championships, however his world quickly came crashing down on him. Lance was diagnosed with grade 4 testicular cancer, which quickly spread to his lungs and his brain. He overcame the cancer, married, had 3 children, and went on to win the Tour de France six consecutive times, an achievement no man had ever done before. After three divorces, his mom finally married happily, and the Armstrong family continued to fulfill every dream they had ever imagined.

Linda Armstrong is a strong and courageous woman who showed huge character strengths throughout the story. She never gave up, even when times seemed unbearable, and she devoted every aspect of her life to give her son everything he deserved. She overcame humungous obstacles. She suffered through abusive relationships and financial struggles. She never could find a stable job or a supportive boyfriend. She gave up her entire life when her son was born and persisted to pour every drop of energy she had into protecting him. Devastation became an understatement for her when she learned of her son’s cancer. As always, she showed her true character by pushing through the problem until it was solved. The struggle to overcome all the obstacles in her life paid off for Linda when her son became an international icon and the most accomplished cyclist in the world.