Finish Your Race, Living Your Best Life Now

I am excited to share my first blog with you today and begin the conversation about how you can finish your race, living your best life now. This can be a reality for all of us. It took me a while to understand it, hopefully I can smooth the journey ahead for you. To get started I’d like to introduce myself to you.

I consider myself fortunate and blessed for so many reasons. You will learn many of the reasons for this comment as you get to know me. I’ve worked in the golf industry since I was 12 years old. After graduating from Virginia Tech (1977) with a degree in Agronomy (specializing in turf management) I got my first job as an assistant golf course superintendent at Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas. I remained at Colonial, as an assistant, for three years until I got my first golf course superintendent job at a local country club. I was thrilled to move into the role of superintendent and practice the skills I’d honed at Colonial. I moved up quickly in the golf industry getting my second job as golf course superintendent after only five months. I worked hard and applied myself at both jobs and after only fourteen months was offered the job as the golf course superintendent at Colonial. WOW! This was an amazing opportunity and from a career perspective was a dream job! Colonial is home of an annual PGA Tour events and is recognized as one of the top jobs in the United States. Working at Colonial was a rewarding experience giving me the confidence (after six years) to start a golf course consulting firm, Golf Resources, Inc. (GRI), partnering with some terrific people in the golf industry including PGA Tour Player, D.A. Weibring and golf legend Bryon Nelson. For the next thirteen years, I traveled the world consulting on golf courses. This was amazing time for me from a professional perspective but left a lot to be desired from a personal perspective. More on that in future blogs.

Most of my adult life had been in a word, “spectacular”. I had terrific jobs, traveled the world and lived what I called the “Good Life”. Many of you may have experienced the same thought believing you were living your best life now. I’d convinced myself that I was pretty much invincible or bullet proof. I was certain I could leap tall buildings in a single bound. I was Superman, at least I thought I was. Then out of nowhere, the unexpected happened. Where all is good and then it’s not.

September 14, 2005 was one of those moments, because on that day I heard those three words no one every wants, plans or expects to hear in their life, “You Have Cancer!” More specifically I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). I didn’t really know what having leukemia meant. I knew it was cancer, but that was about it. Needless to say, I was shocked, overwhelmed and frightened with this new reality. This couldn’t be happening to me. After all, I was young, my health was excellent and I was very active. With this diagnosis came an unexplained sense of urgency. I could see it in the nurses’ faces & I could hear it in the doctor’s voices. I remember thinking that I was receiving far too much attention and I wasn’t sure why. It didn’t take me long to understand the WHY! I had a 25 – 30% chance of surviving this type of cancer.

As you can imagine, I was filled with tremendous uncertainty as I faced my first hospital stay which started the day following my diagnosis. There were so many first time experiences affecting me and it seemed like every minute there was something new. There were blood tests, bone marrow aspirations, biopsies, pic line/central line insertion procedures, medications, and a constant monitoring of everything that was going on in my body while just as much was going on around me. And of course, there was the chemo. However, early in my journey, I realized that chemo would be my life giving ally.

Fast forward (30 days), my 1st round of chemo was successful and I was in remission. I was released and sent home for three weeks to rest and recover. For me, there was a sense of relief, yet so much uncertainty. Returning to the hospital, my doctor told me that a stem cell transplant could eliminate a future re-occurrence of leukemia. So the search for a donor began. To keep me in remission during the search I had four additional rounds of chemo, which included another 30 day hospital stay. It took 8 long, long, very long uncertain months to find a donor. There were notable down and up moments in my cancer journey from the 1st round of chemo to the stem cell transplant including many daily victories which kept me moving forward.

My most important victory came on the day I was blessed with a stem cell transplant! This was my new birthday. A birthday I’ve celebrated every year since May 12, 2006! On that day I became a survivor! I am thrilled to say that in a couple months, I will celebrate my 14th post stem cell transplant birthday. This is a big deal and I will definitely CELEBRATE the occasion with friends who love and support me. In the event that you are wondering there will be a chocolate cake (my favorite) loaded with candles.

Life’s journey is a story with many chapters. We all have a story that belongs uniquely to us. You’ve heard about part of my story. As you might imagine there is more to the story, a lot more. The chapters of my story are clearly delineated between my pre-cancer life – a time when I was driven primarily by money, accomplishment, perfection in the outcome of my work with minimal regard for relationships of any kind – and my post cancer life – a time when making a difference in the lives of others is paramount and a true understanding of the “Power of Relationships” is critical everyday.

The chapters of my cancer story were eye opening! These chapters were filled with a great deal of uncertainty and what I call “un-good moments.” However, they are also filled with life lessons, strategies and huge victories that changed almost every aspect of my life. I had been successful in business, however I was missing out on life. Cancer changed my priorities and lead me to a true purpose. I was a survivor transforming to a thriver of life!

I started this blog to share the extraordinary lessons and strategies I learned while my life was on the line. What I learned isn’t just for cancer patients – Everyone can use them to empower their lives. So I hope you’ll check in with me over the coming months to read about the life changing lessons / strategies I learned along the way. It is my hope that you will use these same lessons / strategies while living your best life now.