PHOTO GALLERY: Scott Hamilton Medals with Crowd

Hundreds gathered at the T.D. Convention Center in Greenville to hear an Olympic Gold medalist tell his life story and to give his testimony.

Looking around the ballroom, there wasn't a single person whose eyes were not focused on Scott Hamilton.

The world-renowned skater has many titles in life: Network TV skating commentator, actor, performer, producer, Emmy Award nominee, best-selling author, role model, humanitarian, philanthropist, son, brother, husband, father, Cancer and brain tumor survivor, and Christian.

Hamilton also could add storyteller to that growing list, as he gave people at a fundraiser for Taylors Free Medical Clinic a glimpse into his life's ups and downs.

He drew applause, laughter and even a few tears from crowd members as he talked.

Hamilton's motto in life is, "The only disability in life is a bad attitude."

It became his mantra as he went through chemotherapy and surgery, following being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

Cancer had been what had taken his mother from him too soon. But in her death, a new determination had been born in Hamilton.

"I just didn’t ever want to be less than she thought I could be," Hamilton told the crowd.

He found a way to channel his grief through his skating. During the years following her death, he won his first international competition, made the Olympic team. He also won a national championship, followed by his first world skating championship and then in 1984 he would win a gold medal.

"Her spirit was with me," Hamilton said.

He turned professional after the Olympics and enjoyed a two-year run with the Ice Capades. At the end of the show, Hamilton was told the show had been bought and the new owner didn't want him. He wasn't ready to give up that easily, so he found backers and started "Stars on Ice," which is now celebrating its 23rd year.

It was during one of the season tours that Hamilton started to realize there was something very wrong with him. After a battery of tests, it was found that Hamilton had testicular cancer. Not wanting to disappoint his colleagues, Hamilton returned to the show that night and performed what he thought might be for the last time.

While it would be easy for one to be depressed in such a predicament, Hamilton chose laughter as the best medicine.

"I didn't want to be around people who were going to walk around with their bottom lip poked out for me," Hamilton said.

He wanted to laugh, he needed to laugh and he needed his friends to help him.

"They treated me like an 8-year-old child and it was awesome," Hamilton said of his experience in the hospital. "They decorated my IV bags... I had Sponge Bob band-aids."

It is his laughter and his smile that have brought him through the worst of times. It is his determination that made him fight even on the darkest of days. But he said it because of God that he is a survivor.