JUST LET IT GO!

Today's blog post is a little long but I hope you will find the time to read it. It is a story that grabs me by the heart. Today's post is not about "me". It is a story of my friend Cameron. I shared it with my Lawrence Park Weight Watchers group and I want to share it with you. It is a story that has nothing and everything to do with weight loss. It is a story about how we can choose how we see and live our lives.  

We all have things to “let go" of and they can cause us what seems like insurmountable amounts of pain.

We all know that we should let go of the difficult things in our past (and sometimes our present) but I think “let it go” is a simplistic statement. The statement implies that things can just be “gone” but we all know we carry a lot with us in life and carry deep routed feelings that are never really “gone”. To me “let it go” really means “handle it in the most positive manner and try not to dwell on the things we cannot change”.

I want to share with you the story of my friend Cameron. Nobody I know in life has exemplified the sprit of "focussing on the positive" more than this man has. 

Some of the longer term Lawrence Park Weight Watcher members will remember my story of Cameron from back in 2013.

I first met Cameron when he came to stay at our Bed and Breakfast from Australia twelve years or so ago. We rarely take guests for a month long stay (think about it…even your best friend would drive you crazy after a month) but Cameron emailed us that he was coming to do physiotherapy on ballet dancers here in Toronto and needed a home for a month. Something felt “right” and we decided to take him in. This began the start of a life long friendship.

As close as we felt, however, when one lives in Canada and another lives in Australia, the communication over time can start to dissipate. This happened with Cameron and we actually didn’t communicate for a few years.

In 2013 we decided we were going to go to Australia and contacted Cameron with the exciting news that we were coming to see him! Cameron was equally delighted but had news for us that was devastating. He had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumour in 2011. The diagnosis was terminal and the average person survived 6 months from diagnosis with 20% of people surviving 2 years.  He was now at the “two year” point.

Our visit with Cameron was one I will never forget. He was the perfect host and so full of energy. Yes, a couple of times he needed to rest very briefly, but the times were rare. 

Cameron had made a very important decision with his diagnosis. He could chose to wait for death or to live life. He chose life.

He named his tumour “Timmy" and started the TumourHumour Foundation with the motto: “It’s CANcer not CANTcer". 

In his own words: “It doesn’t matter that I have Cancer, I am still happy and still living a full life. To me it is kind of like an exciting adventure…like fighting pirates”. 

That, my friends, is the epitome of “letting it go”. He does not live in denial. He knows he lives with a terminal disease, but instead of letting it bring him down he has chosen to spend his life running a Karate School for children with challenges (click here to see his website: Cameron's Karate School) and training for athletic activities that I wouldn’t even dare to contemplate. A truly amazing man.

On our last night in Australia back in 2013 we went out to a pub, and as we were walking down the staircase of the pub to leave I said to him: You have to send a message to my Weight Watchers group at Lawrence Park. I know you don’t have to deal with weight loss but you do have a message to share about not giving up. After a few beers, and totally unprepared, this was Cameron’s message: Click Here

A few minutes after this video was taken we had to say goodbye to Cameron. It was hard.

When I got back to Canada and played this video for the group at Lawrence Park, I told the group that the hardest thing about saying goodbye was the knowledge that we would likely never see our friend again. The distance was too great and his time seemed so limited.

In true Cameron style, however, Cameron has once again proven that a positive attitude trumps all. It is now about 4 1/2 years since his diagnosis and he is not only living a wonderfully full life but he is coming to visit us in Canada!!!!

It gets even better. On Saturday May 21st he is coming to visit my Weight Watchers groups at Lawrence Park. He has heard me speak of them for years and wants to come and sit in on a meeting with me. I love this guy!

Think about the challenges you are dealing with in your life. Can you change the perspective? Look at things in a more positive manner? What seems insurmountable can still be handled positively. 

We only have one journey in this life. No matter what we are going through, let’s make it the best journey we possibly can.

Have an amazing week.

Alan

Alan's Weight Watchers Meeting is located at:

Lawrence Park Community Church
2180 Bayview Ave, North York, ON M4N 3K7 
Weigh-In starts at 8:30AM and the meeting times are 9:00AM and 10:00AM