Holy shit I have never cried so much over a television segment

[blueta2]

This story reminds me of my best friend who was diagnosed with CML (Leukemai) and was given 3 months to live
This was 10 yrs ago. She refused to die or to take dr's words for it.
So she got on line, found a dr in the US doing clinic trials that were putting leukemia patients in remission, but he could not get her on the trial b/c the trials because there was not enough funding by Novartis.
She got a petition going and sent it to the president of Novartis.
A month later, she got a letter telling her the trials will be funded so more ppl can join.

The dr in the US called my friend to thank her and invited her down to the US to get on the trials.
She was flown down for free and was given free motel from the ACC.

She stays 3 months. She was down to 80 lbs (from 140), lost all her hair and was weaker than a kitten.
She came back in FULL remission.
From this, she became the spokesperson for Novatis. Was featured in the New York Time, People Magazine. Glamour magazine and also does the radio commercials for the drug that saved her, Gleevac.

During the time she was ill, she decided to go back to school to get her high school diploma. She got it, then went on to get her Molecular Biology degree and is now 2 weeks away from her PHD in cancer research. It took her 8 yrs to work towards this.

She is now happy and healthy and helps others with cancer

That is just another story, like this guys, that are all over and as inspirational.

Here is some info on her

http://www.glamour.com/health/cancerdiary/articles/2006/12/cancerdiary03jan

http://www.llslifemosaic.com/lifemosaic/patient_story.jsp?patientid=196

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...93BA35756C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/oncol...2007 Annual Report with Appendix 1 and II.pdf

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

He isn't telling people to feel better better about themselves as much as he is telling people to make the most of their lives.

Yeah, to me it's kinda the same thing. If people aren't making the most of their lives then chances are they could be feeling better about themselves, and many times it shows. This guy is interesting though, makes some excellent points. Self-empowering.

 

[pdaddyII]

The love and devotion he shows for his wife and kids is what really got to me. There is a part at the end where he's giving his last commencement speech at graduation and he gets teared up talking about his wife, then runs to her and kisses her on stage before carrying her out to a standing ovation...wow

 

[blueta2]

The love and devotion he shows for his wife and kids is what really got to me. There is a part at the end where he's giving his last commencment speach at graduation and he gets teared up talking about his wife, then runs to her and kisses her on stage before carrying her out to a standing ovation...wow

It's nice to know your touched by this. I like that

 

[pdaddyII]

It's nice to know your touched by this. I like that

 

[EnderJE]

The sad part is that he's better off them most because of his attitude on life.

 

[Megalomaniac]

I watched the youtube piece and felt it was a better lecture than the piece on Oprah. Maybe it was the timeframe he was allowed or maybe it is the fact that it is later and this is a revised lecture from that one? I'm not sure but just felt he showed some bitterness in the first one when his whole speech was claiming to not live life that way.

Thanks, good use of an hour for me. I really enjoyed the part where he let us know that though he is presenting it to us through this medium, but the real reason for his time is so that his kids have a piece of their father to always look back to and better themselves by. That is purely genius and deserves ultimate respect.

 

[Smurfy]

wtf?!

 

[pdaddyII]

I watched the youtube piece and felt it was a better lecture than the piece on Oprah. Maybe it was the timeframe he was allowed or maybe it is the fact that it is later and this is a revised lecture from that one? I'm not sure but just felt he showed some bitterness in the first one when his whole speech was claiming to not live life that way.

Thanks, good use of an hour for me. I really enjoyed the part where he let us know that though he is presenting it to us through this medium, but the real reason for his time is so that his kids have a piece of their father to always look back to and better themselves by. That is purely genius and deserves ultimate respect.

Yup, that really struck me as quite heroic as well. i think the main difference between him and other stories of survival with a death sentence is that this is how he's been living his life all along. Many choose to change their outlook on life once they see how vulnerable they are, whereas his prognosis only validated his lifestyle.

 

[pdaddyII]

wtf?!