leukaemia was killing him, and his doctors were predicting that he had only 36 months to live.

Thanks to the pioneering bone-marrow research of American physician E. Donnall Thomas and a marrow transplant from Patenaude's sister, Dianne, the sailor recovered. During nearly two years of taking experimental drugs leading to his recovery, Patenaude papered an otherwise sterile hospital room with magazine pictures of sailboats. "At night, I would sleep dreaming of sailboats,'' he remembers.

"When I completed medical school, the first thing I did after paying my school loan was to buy a sailboat. This is it,'' he says, sweeping a hand toward Patriote , a 39-foot Jeanneau sloop flying the maple-leaf colours of Canada.

Patenaude beat the 25 percent chance that he would recover from cancer.

Afterwards, he founded the Canadian Bone Marrow Registry. He also wrote the book, Surviving Leukaemia, A Practical Guide, recently published in English.

With proceeds from its sale going toward research, Patenaude's first-person account has been praised as essential reading for anyone whose life is touched by cancer.

Almost brushing those achievements aside, Patenaude seems prouder of having just run his best 10-kilometre road race -- under 45 minutes -- at age 40.

"To be in good health is something so fragile,'' he says, rejoicing in his own condition and explaining his philosophy about work and the importance of play. "The problem is that people work too much, thinking they will have time at retirement. I don't want to stop working when I'm 60 or 65. I'd prefer to take (the time) to enjoy life now,'' he says.

"If you put all your energy into work and don't relax and enjoy life, you burn yourself out. Doctors work too much; I decided to have equilibrium in my life. I will never give up my vacations to make more money.'' Among his longer passages aboard Patriote , Patenaude has sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Boston and from Quebec to Gaspee. He first sailed to Bermuda in last year's Newport Bermuda Race with his friend, Laurent Boisvert who will accompany him on the double-handed leg of the Bermuda One-Two returning to Newport. With little wind last year, they completed the passage in seven days.

"I'm doing this race for the people of Quebec,'' he says, "to let them know there are a lot of things you can do after a bone-marrow transplant.'' Making final boat preparations at the Newport Yacht Club, Patenaude said that, short of major surgery, he is equipped to deal with just about any medical emergency that may arise in the 635-mile passage. "I'm the ER doctor for the fleet,'' he says.

Twenty-nine skippers were scheduled to embark on the event's single-handed leg, which started around noon yesterday on the waters off Goat Island.