"If you've started treatment and you miss a week or two weeks, it's potentially fatal.

"For me and the foundation, we just looked at that and asked not just what can we do, but how does it fit into our mission?"

Armstrong will funnel the donation through his namesake cancer foundation and it will be used primarily to assist cancer patients caught up in the aftermath of the killer hurricane and massive flooding in the southern United States that followed.

Armstrong said the donation could be increased in the future. He expects the money to be used to move cancer patients between hospitals or cancer facilities for treatment.

The foundation was set up after Armstrong survived a bout with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs.