DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — When doctors diagnosed Daytona Beach native Roger Thomas with colon cancer 10 years ago, he underwent life-saving surgery at 75 years old.

“I had no symptoms, no idea I had cancer. They found it in a colonoscopy," he said. "The doctors told me that the tumor I had had been there for a long time, but I was doing something that kept it from spreading."

According to Thomas, that was working out and building muscle mass, which doctors told him helped weather the surgery.

But anyone in the retired social worker’s orbit is keenly aware that it’s a combination of impressive physical fitness as well as mental fortitude that keeps Thomas reaching higher.

Right now, at nearly 86 years old, he’s training four times per week at Crunch Fitness to take part in a bodybuilding competition in June.

“He is just as influential in my life helping me as I have been in his,” said training partner Michael Coulter, of TTP Fitness. “His journey started with me when he was 81, 82 years of age. He says that I motivate him every day. He actually motivates me.”

Everywhere Thomas goes in the gym, onlookers follow, craning necks to spy the senior out-lifting fitness friends many years younger.

Thomas moved from Michigan to the more arthritis-friendly climate of Florida.

Now he pounds protein for his next big challenge and is reflecting on all that he’s overcome to get to a place of undeniable strength.

“When I first started, I could only do a 70-pound bench and couldn’t do this at all,” Thomas explained. “I get the opportunity to motivate other people. And other people come around and support me. I like the challenge. I like that it keeps me walking without a cane. I can still run, do all the things I used to do.”