Table of Contents

From the Author    
Prologue        
Introduction       

Part I  At the Dock
1    Boarding Pass        
2    All Aboard                                           
3    Calm Before the Storm                       

Part II   Setting Sail
4    Leaving Your Dock                             
5    Setting Sail                                                                            
6    Setting the Course                               
7    Following Your Compass       
8    Headwinds    
9    Calming Seas       

Part III Cruising
10    Drifting        
11    Steady as She Goes          
12    Sailing Winds       
13    Sea Food        
14    Watch Out for Mines          
15    Row, Row, Row Your Boat                
16    Go with the Current       

Part IV Ship Mates
17    Buoys        
18    Your “Wilson”                                        

Part V Full Throttle
19    Full Steam Ahead        
20    Over the Bounty Waves                                          
21    Fellow Sailors        
22    Sail On, Sailor       

“Live Like You Were Dyin’”          
From the Author

Two years ago, I decided to parachute out of an airplane. “Why should I be afraid?” I thought, as I looked over at my friend Kathy. She was smiling from ear to ear as she put on her jump suit.

Any challenges in my life seemed insignificant compared to what she had been through. On the outside, everything seemed fine; she always had an upbeat attitude, a great smile and good things to say. On the inside, however, either from the chemotherapy or the cancer itself, things just did not seem the same.

One, two, three, jump! Ten, eight, six thousand feet, pull the cord and then…. silence. Clouds seem to take on a much different meaning when you’re above them, looking down. The little irritating things in life don’t seem all that important, either.

While I spent less than five minutes total from plane to planet, the experience has given me the lesson of a lifetime:

Hope does float.
Personally, I can’t relate to Kathy’s struggle, nor do I claim to have walked in the shoes of a cancer patient. What I do know is that choosing to exercise and to eat a healthy diet saved my life, both physically and emotionally. Regular exercise and eating well have been proven to promote better health, even for those who have had cancer. I was lucky - fitness found me. You, on the other hand, must go looking for it.

The doctors will perform your surgery, check for side effects and leftover cancer cells, and then send you home with some brochures for counseling. They do their job well, but there is still much more to do in the days that follow. Survival is just the first step. What if you could choose to have more, to really thrive for the rest of your life?

No, you will never be the same, and most cancer patients just want to return to a life of some normalcy. Exercise and proper eating can help regain your life. It can give you both a physical and emotional boost when you need it the most. It can give you the basis for hope of an even better life, even after cancer.

There are endless lists of physical benefits that exercise and healthy eating can produce; however, it is the positive effects they bring to emotional and mental well-being that really saves lives. Cancer may change your body, but it can’t touch your core strengths, your heart and soul. Through exercise and diet, I believe that you have the ability to create both better health and hope for a better life.

Someone once said, “You can live a month without food. You can live a week without water. You can live five minutes without air, but you cannot live a second without hope.”

When times are at their worst, hope is all that you and I have. As you look ahead to your future, have hope that you can regain some sense of control in your life by choosing to exercise and eat well. With these tools, you can continue not only to survive, but to thrive.  The question is:

Are you ready to sail?

 

Chapter 3

Calm Before the Storm

 

When Time Stands Still

“Mom, how are you feeling today?” “Oh, ok,” she says, as she pats her stomach. 

This reminds me of how she would pat my head when I was a little boy and didn’t feel so well.“The doctor says you will be able to go home in a few days.”“Hope so,” she whispers as she closes her eyes and falls asleep.I had never seen my mom in this way. For thirty-five years, I only knew her as the Rock of Gibraltar. But that day, the roles had changed. I was praying for strength, to be there for her.  Mom had colon cancer. “What? This was just supposed to be routine checkup. How can I have cancer?” “Just happened,” the doctor said. “Didn’t just happen,” she says, whispering in my ear. 

 

Since that day, Mom has lived through two bouts with cancer, first in her colon and later, in her thyroid. Both times, she was treated with successful surgeries and suffered no long-lasting side effects. She insists that what caused her illness were stress and bad eating habits. Mom claims that in both cases, within two years almost to the month of being diagnosed, she experienced a lot of stress in her life, followed by poor eating habits.

 

“Didn’t just happen!” she says.

 

 I never will forget the look on her face and the feeling I had in my stomach as we heard the doctor say cancer. In some way, it felt like time did stand still, and from that moment on, the rush of life just didn’t seem as important.

 
You might have arthritis, high cholesterol or diabetes; these health conditions are serious, but not show-stopping. But cancer? What did you do and how did you feel when you heard that word? Time stood still, didn’t it?

 

First you may go into shock, but soon you start to figure out that you need some sort of coping mechanism to handle the news. So what will you do?

 
Wind for Your Sails

Hey, life’s not fair and when things happen, there is often no logic to be found. So what do you do? You try to accept it the best you can. You get on board.

The goal is not to focus on why, but on what you can do to improve your health.

 
Yes, the winds of life will come at you from many unexpected directions. Feeling both blown about by its force and numbed by its impact, it may be all you can do to hang on. 

First, you survive by just staying above water. Soon after, you’re paddling. Before you know it, you’re cruising along better than you ever could have imagined. Getting immediate exercise can be the wind that propels you to a healthier horizon. It may be the one thing that gets you off the dock, keeps you afloat, and allows you to set sail.

 

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