My life began
when I was 11 months of age.
I was taken to the hospital
with my mum.
The following morning,
I was diagnosed with an incurable cancer
of the central nervous system
called Neuroblastoma Stage 4.
Doctor said no chance of survival,
take your boy home
and allow him to live the
next few months with his family,
‘cause there's nothing that we can do.
My mum asked one question:
“I don't want to know what the chances
are of my son dying is.
I just want to know what the chances are
of my son surviving is.”
The doctors gave me a 96% death rate.
They said go home.
But my mum looked at my glass
being 4% full,
and not 96% empty.
I started chemo on my 1st birthday.
My chemotherapy cycle was 9 days on,
3 days off,
9 days on,
3 days off,
not for weeks,
not for months,
but for years.
I was on that same cycle until my 4th birthday
when a doctor came in and said,
“Carrie, we're sorry the treatment’s
no longer doing the job.
We need to go into surgery.”
I went into surgery,
6 hours later, the doctors came out and said,
“we didn't get it all.
There's now nothing we can do.”
But the next day a doctor came in from America.
He said we're trying a drug it's called ‘DTIC’ –
Never been trialed on humans before,
only on animals.
We're going to trial it on 25 kids.
And I truly believe that outside of love,
hope is the most powerful word
in the English dictionary.
This instilled hope into our lives.
We started this drug 9:00 a.m.
Tuesday morning.
Within 24 hours,
we were all transferred
from the oncology ward
to the burns unit.
The after-effects of this drug was so bad
that we were completely covered
from head to toe in blisters.
What they would do is
they would lay us in baths full of ice,
trying to prevent our brains from frying.
Within 1 month,
20 out of the 25 kids
had passed away.
Within 90 days,
24 out of the 25 kids were dead.
My mom, she would sit there
and she would watch a doctor,
come in and zip up a body bag,
and wheel them out
because of the same drug
that she chose to put me on.
I say to people all around the world
that I'm one of the lucky ones.
But I never say one the lucky ones
because I'm still alive.
I say I’m one of the lucky ones
because I wasn't my mom.
My mom had it tough.
She had to make a choice to inject a drug
into a child that has killed everybody
that had ever taken it.
I was on that drug until my 7th birthday,
until 1 day I was finally allowed to go home.
The doctor said to my mom,
“your son, he will never go to school,
he will never play sport,
he'll be a housebound baby,
and if he reaches his teenage years
it'll be a miracle.”
I got really sick,
I got taken to the hospital.
I had bacterial meningitis,
had fluid on the brain,
and then I had a stroke
down the right-hand side of my body.
And I would pray every night
that I wouldn't wake up in the morning.
I just wanted God to take me.
But I kept waking up every morning,
and I realized all I need to do
is give back to the world.
It's not about what you take,
it's about what you give.
I thought the saying was
“the more you give,
the more you shall receive”.
But that saying is wrong.
The saying should be,
“the more you give,
expecting nothing in return,
the more you shall receive”.
When I was 7,
I heard through the curtains,
the doctor say to my mum,
“he will never go to sport,
“he will never play baseball.
He will never ever go to school,
and if he reaches his teenage years,
it'll be a miracle.
And my mum, she walked out,
and I said to her as if I didn't hear,
“what did the doctor say?”
And she said, “everything's gonna be okay, son”.
When I was 12, I had a heart attack,
and the doctor said to my mum,
“he will never play sport again.”
She walked out,
and I said, “what did he say?”
And she said,
“everything's gonna be okay, son.”
And earlier this year,
I finally got a chance to return the favour.
Unfortunately earlier this year,
the doctors found 4 tumours in my throat.
I've never seen my wife cry so much
in all my life.
the doctor said to me, “Michael,
we're sorry but
tomorrow is not guaranteed,
you need to slow down”.
But that's one thing we all have in common:
because no one's guaranteed.
I think that life is not about the amount of days
that you live on this earth,
but it's about what you fit into those days
that allows you to live a remarkable life.
And I remember driving home,
and she called me,
my mum, and she said,
“Mike, what the doctors say?”
And I said to her, “Mom,
“everything's gonna be okay.”
Every one of us,
every single day,
is blessed with the air that we breathe,
the opportunities that we have.
And I challenge you, every single day,
to get out of bed,
and do something that your
future self will be proud of.