When Cory Greenberg was lying in a hospital bed battling a destructive disease that he was told made his dream of becoming a professional cyclist all but impossible, he had two choices: Let his world be dictated by a chronic illness or find a way back to the sport he loves.

“I’m not going to let this stop me,” he promised himself.

Greenberg’s story starts out like many other young cycling fanatics. Growing up in Thousand Oaks, California, Greenberg was inspired by the Tour de France as a child, so he bought a mountain bike and began competing in local events.

He then discovered his true calling was on the road. When he crossed the line in the lead at the first race he ever entered, Greenberg realized that he might just have what it takes.

One day, everything changed.

“I was hit with ulcerative colitis,” the 35-year-old explains, a long-term condition resulting in the inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. A disease that causes regular abdominal pain and diarrhoea, for a young cyclist growing up in the world of semi-professional sport and having to use enemas and suppositories at a team camp, the situation was incredibly challenging.

“You’re surrounded by individuals in the team that might not understand that or find that to be funny,” he says. As a result, Greenberg became anxious about the disease and paid it less attention, resulting in hospitalization.

“I wasn’t able to do anything anymore, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep and when I could it was on the bathroom floor because I couldn’t leave the restroom,” he explains. “It’s a part of the condition which is incredibly embarrassing.”

The doctors gave Greenberg two options, either they remove his colon or they try to manage it with medication.

“It was a time in my life where I was laying in that hospital and thought, I’m not going to let this dictate my life,” he says. “Cycling has given me the knowledge of how to tackle a goal, how to get to a finish line.”

Greenberg looked at his situation as if it were a bike race. Managing his nutrition, mental health and preparation to hit a state of remission where the disease would not affect his life on a daily basis before getting back on the bike. He even structured it like a race by building a team around him that would help him to achieve his aim.

“Within six months I was racing the under-23 nationals and I actually finished,” he beams. “I was basically a ghost of my former self but it gave me the motivation to really figure out what was going on in my body and to never give up, to always move forward,” he adds.