Mike: Everybody and anybody can make excuses as to why they can't, or don't want to work
out.
I'm a father and a husband.
I have three young children.
I've been through a health crisis over the last 15 months with stage four cancer, and
I've been able to strengthen my body, keep myself in good condition, and achieve lean
muscle.
I've decreased body fat, even fighting stage four cancer.
What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Now, obviously it's not the normal ATHLEANX YouTube video.
This is going to be far from the normal ATHLEANX YouTube video.
But if you'll allow me, I want to tell you this story of the gentleman you just saw right
there, Mike Bauman.
Mike is not the usual person either.
That's for sure.
Mike is a fighter.
He's a warrior.
As he mentioned, stage four cancer.
The very first time that I was introduced to Mike Bauman was one of the members on my
team shared a Facebook post he had been making on our Facebook page.
Guys from time to time will try to get my attention on Facebook in strange ways.
Not often is it always effective, but Mike instantly grabbed, not only the attention
of my whole team, but me.
He wasn't just a person with stage four cancer.
He certainly wasn't dying form stage four cancer.
Mike was living with stage four cancer in every sense of the word.
His outlook and attitude on life was more optimistic than people that deal with far
less than he was dealing with.
He was one of the most optimistic people I've ever seen in my life.
He was a battler and a warrior, as I said.
Mike was posting pictures of him post ATHLEANX workout.
Again, not all that uncommon, but post chemotherapy as well.
You see, he was posting pictures after his ninth session of chemotherapy, and his tenth
session of chemotherapy, his eleventh session of chemotherapy, proving how he was resisting
the breakdown of his body because of his training, and still living with cancer 19 months after
he was told he only had six months to live.
I immediately – we had an upcoming event, an ATHLEANX.
I wanted Mike to be there for no other reason than to shake his hand.
See, I had family members pass away.
My mother passed away at an early age from cancer.
My grandfather – who played a great deal in raising me – passed away from cancer.
I am instantly drawn to people who fight that same fight because I watched those two people
fight it very hard, to the end.
The way Mike was attacking it was so inspiring to me that I needed to meet him.
So I invited him and his wife, Kelly, to come to the ATHLEANX games.
Now, part of the event in the games is our competition.
We have some pretty high level competition going on.
Not for once did I think Mike was going to be coming to compete.
Not with stage four cancer.
I know what it can do to a body.
I didn't think he was going to come to compete, I just wanted him to be there.
Of course, now that I know Mike Bauman better, oh, he came to compete.
He not only came to compete, but he rescheduled his chemotherapy appointment and postponed
that – because that's not so important – as it was to show up and compete.
And he did.
He did it with a stent in his chest here that, of course, makes it difficult.
You can't hold onto pull up bars and do pushups with this port sticking out of your chest
to deliver your chemotherapy drugs.
Normal people can't do that, but Mike wasn't interested in being normal.
He wasn't interested at all.
I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a second.
So what had originally turned into this weekend to meet Mike I was supposed to be the keynote
speaker for this event on Sunday.
I was supposed to give a motivational speech.
Within a minute of having him in that room I was no longer, by far, the most inspirational
person in that room.
Not by a long shot.
I know a lot of you guys watch me for the inspiration, you watch this channel to be
inspired to do new things and try new things.
I wasn't as inspirational as Mike Bauman, nor will I ever be, I don’t think.
The courage he displayed in doing what he did to be there and stand up and accept my
invitation to take over for me and deliver the keynote speech, and just talk from the
heart; that is the essence of Mike Bauman.
He gladly accepted that and said "Yeah, if I could let anybody be inspired by my story
and my fight, then give me the microphone.
Let me talk."
I want you to hear just a little bit of what Mike had to say in that speech.
Mike: Use your story to drive you and motivate you.
Whatever it is, you've got an obstacle, or challenge you've got going on in your life,
it's not a death sentence, right?
There's a lot of people with problems.
You look around, there's probably people in here that have things going on in their lives.
Whether it's relationship, health, injuries; use your story.
Needless to say, by the time Mike was done speaking he had changed – not just the outlook
of everybody in that room, but the lives of everybody in that room.
People will forever think differently about their excuses to not train.
"Oh, I'm too tired.
Oh, I've got too much work to do."
They're forever think differently about the opportunity they have to share another day
with their family.
So say "I love you" to a spouse, or a child.
They'll forever think differently about challenges and things that stand in front of them as
these insurmountable mountains, like that video we made the other day.
Mike's mountain was as high as they come.
It was a Mount Everest, but it didn't stop him from climbing.
So, Mike left the event.
He did promise me something, though.
He did say he was a man of integrity.
He said "Your word matters more than anything."
You keeping your word matters more than anything.
His words were "I'm going to go back now and to AX2, and I'm going to kick its ass."
Of course, I would never doubt Mike.
He texted me shortly thereafter and he's telling me how he kicked this workout's ass, this
workout's ass, and I had no doubt he was.
He just made me feel like perhaps I didn't program these things for the super human.
I was only – I made a mistake in programming them at the level that a regular human being
could attack them with.
But then he started to decline a little bit in his health and certain things started to
happen as the disease advanced.
He texted me and said "Jeff, I'm getting back in the saddle with the workout after two days
off.
Kelly doesn’t think I should with pancreatitis, but I told her 'you can't always be a pussy'.
Sometimes you just have to work through it.
She said 'well, that's not normal' and I replied 'well, I'm not normal'."
That's what he said.
Mike never wanted to be normal.
He shared with me a quote that talked about being careful because you don’t want to
bite off too much more than you can chew.
It said "He'd rather choke on greatness, than nibble on mediocrity."
Choke on greatness, than nibble on mediocrity.
That is the essence of Mike.
That spirit in fight, in courage, in unwillingness to accept what cancer was trying to get him
to accept is what had kept Mike going all the way along.
Sadly, today I make this video because Mike's disease advanced quickly in the less than
90 days or so after that event was over.
Mike lost 51lbs in that period of time.
The cancer had started to win.
Mike started to come to the realization that he may not win his battle with cancer.
In doing so, he decided to make a video.
As heart wrenching as this is, and if you – it's very difficult to watch – but he
wanted to share this.
He said his goodbyes to his kids, and in doing so – and his wife – and in doing so he
had some inspiration words here as well.
Mike: I tried to set an example that I would never quit.
No matter how hard it is.
I know you're going to be challenged throughout the rest of your life.
The biggest thing I want you to remember about me is to never quit.
Regardless of the amount of pressure, or the big job at the end.
As tough as that video is to watch, it's even tougher for me to pass along the news that
Mike Bauman passed away today.
I'm not going to say 'Mike lost his battle to cancer' because he didn't lose.
Mike never lost.
Mike was a winner.
He said he would win, and he did.
Mike changed lives.
He changed perspectives.
He made people think differently about challenges that lie ahead of them and how they attack
them.
Mike leaves behind his beautiful wife, Kelly, his three incredible kids, Chloe, Luke, and
Maxim.
You know I would never forget Mike's chocolate lab Jeb.
He's also left behind a legacy because Mike is somebody that I'm never going to forget
and neither will anybody else that has come in contact with him in any way.
I hope that this video, I've been able to do the justice and the honor to Mike by sharing
his story, and at least a little glimpse of who he is.
I never ask you at all, anybody on this channel, for anything.
I don't ask for donations to keep my channel going.
I don’t ask for anything.
At this point in time, I would like to ask those of you who've had your lives touched
– maybe by someone in your family who lost their battel with cancer – or by Mike himself
in this video; there's a GoFundMe page that was setup for Kelly and the Baumans that I'm
going to head over to and donate myself and lead the charge.
I would invite each and every one of you – even if it's just a dollar – something that you
could contribute to help this family, it would mean the world to me.
Like I said, if I've ever asked for anything at all, this would be it.
I want you guys to do your best to try to help this family in this difficult time for
them.
What I'd also like to do is put my money where my mouth is.
If anybody wants to come and spend a day training here at ATHLEANX, you figure out a way to
match my donation – I don’t care if you do it with a group of people – whatever
it is, we'll make that happen.
I'll leave you with this: while it's a sad day, it's also a day to reflect and honor
what Mike would want you to do.
That is to kiss your children.
Give your children a hug.
Tell them you love them.
Do the same for your wife.
Cherish the day that you have because the next one is not promised to you.
If you've got a workout plan don’t just workout.
Kick its ass like Mike would want you to do.
Give it every, single thing you've got, and be determined to make yourself better by making
others better.
Change people's lives.
Do something for somebody else.
Before I go, I want to just leave you with a few words from Mike's wife, Kelly.
I'll be back again to our regular workouts and videos here in the days ahead.
I just felt like this is a video that I not only wanted to make, I feel it was one that
needed to be made.
I hope I did Kelly proud and the whole Bauman family proud.
All right, guys.
I'll see you soon.
Kelly: He fought so hard.
Ultimately, he's won.
I've seen how he's inspired people around the world.
Fight through any obstacle that comes your way.
His dream of inspiring people has come to fruition.
If there's one thing he would want you to know, it would be never forget, never give
up, and rise to the battle.