Presented by Mike Dougherty to LivHOME in July 2008. Mike Dougherty is a seasoned public speaker. As a professional in the financial world, Mike has spoken to countless audiences, large and small, about financial planning and products.
Today, Mike loves to share about his journey with cancer and inspire audiences to embrace hope into their lives.
Mike is honored to have spoken to audiences at LivHome and Accuray about his journey with cancer. His firm belief that “with hope, anything is possible,” has inspired and energized audiences touched by cancer and the many other challenges life presents.
Mike welcomes the opportunity to speak to large and small audiences. To contact Mike, please visit http://www.possiblewithhope.com/speaking
Thank you!
2. May 2005: Top of the World
• 40 years old
• Just married the love of my life
• Perfect honeymoon
• Pregnant by September
3. December 2005: This can’t
be happening
• Day after Christmas, Jennie starts
bleeding
• Spend New Year’s in the
emergency room
• Middle of January, James, our son,
dies at 20 weeks
4. March 2006: Bad to Worse
• Lump under my ear turns into salivary gland
cancer
• This is what the CT scan of lungs said:
• “Multiple nodules, bilaterally too numerous to
count”
– May 2006
• How I felt:
• “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some
time now, we’ve finally found him, we’re
surrounded, that simplifies things”
– Lewis “Chesty” Puller, 37 year USMC, most
decorated marine in history, upon landing in Korea
1950
5. May 2006: Panic
• Lung surgery removes largest nodule,
confirming worst fears, lung mets
• Cross country odyssey: Stanford, MD
Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering,
2nd, 3rd, 4th opinions
• Opinions are all over the map
6. July 2006: Radiation
• 6 weeks of head and neck radiation
• Lose all sense of taste, barely able to
eat
• Maintain weight, thanks to Jennie
• Develop lifelong aversion to Ensure
7. September 2006: Lung
Surgery #2
• Assemble team that agrees we should
pro-actively remove “too numerous to
count nodules”
• 8 hour double thoracotomy reveals 10
nodules
• Pathology confirms only 4 are cancer
• Surgeon is giddy
8. November 2006: Chemo
• 3 – 4-day cycles of Cisplatin and 5FU,
over 9 weeks
• Nasty, nasty
• Manage to walk every day, and
maintain weight
• Chemo ends the week before
Christmas
9. Goodbye 2006
• And good riddance
• Hello 2007
• Never been more excited for a
New Year’s Eve in my life
10. March 2007: New year,
new scan
• All Clear!!
• Surgery and chemo have slowed
things down
• Chance to breathe
11. May 2007: Another scan
• All Clear again!!
• Starting to feel like we may be ahead
rather than chasing
• OH, By the way … A miracle!
13. September 2007: Scan time
• A couple of buggers appear
• Nothing bigger than 10mm, looks like
a total of 4
• Very small
• Not surprising, most likely were left
behind by the surgery
• Not necessarily new buggers
14. November 2007: Cyberknife
• Highly targeted radiation shot directly
at nodules in lungs
• Objective: Obliteration
• Fiducials (gold markers), are placed
down my throat into lung next to
nodules
• Groundbreaking, now Cyberknife has
something to aim at
• For 10 hours and 4 days, Zapped!
15. April 2008: Scan
• 3 buggers remain, but no new ones
• Very good news
• Of the 4 we Cyberknifed, it looks like 3
were obliterated
• Might as well Cyberknife again
• July 2008: Fiducials placed, ready to
go
16. Mr. Toads Wild Ride
• What have I learned?
– Stay tuned
• How have I changed?
– Cut out sugar, most animal protein
– Weekly acupuncture
– Take 40 immune supplements per day,
including non FDA approved drug
imported from Panama
– Pump my heart, 1 hour a day, walk, run,
bike
• How do I feel?
18. Don’t back down
• “You can back me up to the gates of hell
but I won’t back down”
– Tom Petty, “Don’t back down”
• “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”
– Jim Valvano, (1946-1993), V foundation for
cancer research
• “Never give up, Never slow down, Never
grow old, never ever die young”
– James Taylor, “Never die young”
• “If I keep moving, it can’t get me”
– Lance Armstrong, “It’s not about the bike”
19. Attitude is everything
• You are stronger than you know
• Believe in yourself
• Courage
• Perseverance
• Push the envelope
21. With hope anything is
possible
• “Get busy living or get busy dying”
• “Hope is a good thing, may be the
best of things, and no good thing
ever dies.
– Morgan Freeman, Shawshank
Redemption
22. Perspective
• You must live in the present
• It’s the only time we have
• Take chances, push fear from your
mind, what are you afraid of?
• Tell people you love them
• Say you’re sorry
• Don’t postpone things
• Stop feeling sorry for yourself
23. Develop compassion
• For others
• Be helpful and kind
• Somebody always has it worse
• Give back, you have the power to
change someone's life
• “Put a little love in your heart, and
the world will be a better place”
– Mary Mary
24. Take it one day at a time
• It’s going to be a good day or a great
day
• Sloooooow down
• Carpe diem
• Appreciate life
• “You’ve got to stop and smell the
roses along the way”
– Mac Davis
