My 5 PM Wake-Up Call

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” No, it was actually the worst of times.

It was dreary evening on Monday, January 24, 2010 around 5 PM when I first received the news. I received My 5 PM wakeup call.

I was leaving the barbershop, my wife had tried calling me several times while I was getting a haircut, but I couldn’t answer and I just assumed she wanted to know when I was going to be home for dinner.

She called again as I was leaving and as I answered, she shared with me the news that the doctor had just called and told her, “It’s cancer,” she said.

“What?” I asked, more than in disbelief, rather than I didn’t hear her.

“It’s cancer,” she repeated.

My heart and mind started racing. No one that I personally knew at the time, had ever survived cancer.

In fact, I’m not even sure that I even knew anyone personally that had been diagnosed with cancer, let alone someone that survived or escaped its supposed “death sentence.”

This was one of those life changing moments that you will remember where you were for the remainder of your life (like when 9-1-1 occurred, or when the Challenger exploded or when Ronald Reagan or JFK were shot - if you’re old enough to remember.

Lisa had gone in to the doctor's office the previous week for to check on an enlarged area on her breast that she discovered the week before. Although they assumed it was nothing they decided to do a precautionary biopsy.

I’ve always had the philosophy that if I don’t know what it is, it can’t possibly hurt me, kind of like if I close my eyes nobody can see me, but as juvenile as that sounds, up until that point in my life it had served me pretty well.

In fact, in my whole life up until that point, I didn’t know anyone under the age of 60 personally that had cancer, and certainly not anyone in as good a shape as my wife, she was actually in the process of training for a marathon.

Back in college, Lisa was my Big Why from our first date. On our first date, I was already asking for a second date, on our second date, I was already asking for a third and not long after that I was thinking marriage.

I was 24 years old, and although I had never previously been married, I knew what I wanted in a wife and she was all that and much more.

She quickly ran away from me, but my persistence paid off and we were married several years later. Now my world was being turned upside down.

I’ve never been too much of a person to worry or to focus on things I had no control over, but this had a huge impact on me.

Her tumor was removed on February 28, 2010 and she then began radiation treatments.

A couple of years later, after her checkup, her doctor at MD Anderson told her that she was his healthiest patient.

The news continued to get better as after her five year check-up the chances of the cancer recurring became significantly less likely.

Overall, I consider myself a pretty optimistic, upbeat and positive person. This was an extremely dark moment in an otherwise cheerful and blessed life.

I wanted to use the event for something positive, but I didn’t know how or what.

During this time, I was watching a movie called The Bucket List, with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman when I noticed that both the main characters in the movie were diagnosed with sarcoma cancer, a very rare type of cancer, but incidentally enough, the same type of cancer that Lisa was diagnosed with. I hit the rewind button about 4 times just to make sure.

My takeaway was this - I didn’t know how how much longer either of us had to live either, so I could sit and worry and feel sorry for us or I could use it to fuel my inner fire.

I decided on the second.

Eat dessert first, became my mantra.

It became my personal mission to cram as many lifetimes that I could into the remaining time that I had left.

It was time to get off the bleachers and get into the game.

Often, I hear people say, I don’t have enough time… Well, we all have exactly the same 1440 minutes in a day. How I chose to spend those minutes, is up to me.

Over the next few months, my oldest daughter, Julia, and I got scuba certified and It was an exciting time for both of us to dive in Key Largo, FL.

A few months later, I went skydiving for the first time.

Lisa ran her first half-marathon.

At the time of Lisa’s diagnosis, we had never taken a cruise, we’ve been on 6 since then, we’ve even taken the kids on a few of them.

We’ve taken the family swimming with dolphins, and stingrays. We’ve parasailed in Key West, and zip-lined through the jungles of Roatan.

I’ve completed a couple of triathlons, sailed on a yacht that competed in America’s Cup, paddle boarded in the Pacific Ocean and even rode on a jet-lev board.

And just a few weeks ago, we took our first surfing lesson in Costa Rica and both of us got up and rode - even if only for a few brief seconds.

I’ve done more exciting things in the last 6 years of my life, than I have in the 40 before that combined. I share this with you not to brag, but life is short - play hard!

Why is it that some people play video games all day and won’t leave their house unless it is on fire, while others will climb to the top of the mountains and dive to the depths of the ocean - soar through the skies and sail across the seas?

I don’t know about you, but personally - I want to be the second guy I just described.

I want to inspire people - to motivate people to do things that they were afraid to try or that they continued putting off until it really would be too late.

I once heard a great phrase that I thought was so good that I even bought the domain name.

Diet starts today!

Not tomorrow… today! Wow! That’s powerful!

Don’t wait - for your 5 PM wakeup call - to start living. No matter where you’ve been or where you are now…

Life… starts… today!

Not tomorrow… today!

#BigWhy #coaching #cancer #5pm