The former White House Chief of Staff for Jimmy Carter will share what he calls”the toughest campaign of my life”when he visits West Virginia University on June 22. Hamilton Jordan will speak at noon to faculty, staff, patients and supporters of the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at the annual Jean and Laurence DeLynn Lecture at the Erickson Alumni Center. The lectureship, which supports informative presentations on cancer research, treatment, education and prevention, was established in 1992 with a gift of $100,000.

Jordan’s will discuss his personal trials and triumphs over cancer. In his latest book, No Such Thing as a Bad Day, Jordan said the date that he learned that he had aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is ingrained in his memory.”Someone had suddenly pulled a plug and all the energy and feeling was flowing from my body,”he wrote.

He will be available to sign copies of the book at 1:30 p.m. at the Erikson Center.

Jordan’s quest to understand his disease and to find any possible cure led him to the National Cancer Institute. He was given a 50 percent chance of being cured. After a three-year fight, Jordan beat the disease.

However, his battle did not end there. Jordan developed two more cancers, and walked away the victor both times. His story is one of inspiration and hope for cancer patients and their families.

Jordan, his wife, Dorothy and their three children reside in Atlanta, Georgia. A few years before his first bout with cancer, they opened Camp Sunshine for children with cancer. The Jordans plan to open another camp for children with diabetes.