It's funny how things work. Sometimes, you are given a situation that can seem so dark that it is easily overcome by it.
Sometimes you still expect to overcome. Nobody do not blame you if you lost or abandoned. Well, maybe me.
I'm Adam Lee, and I am a personal trainer in Jacksonville, Florida. But I am not only a personal trainer. You see, I have a family history with mesothelioma. And I have a thing about cancer: I do not like it. I want to see the party ?? forever. I give to cancer research. I want to help people who have cancer by encouraging them not to give up, never give up.
When mesothelioma cancer became personal for me, I could not give up. Let me tell you why.
mesothelioma too Hits Close to Home
In spring 2011, just before my year of college, my stepfather, Jeff Wahl, was diagnosed with mesothelioma stage IV. I did not know what that meant. I just thought it was something you saw on TV commercials all the time. I soon discovered me how it was.
After Jeff returned to the hospital of his diagnosis, he wrote the words "Never Give Up" on an index card and blocked the card on the bathroom mirror. You could not look at you without seeing the words. You repeated them in your head over and over until you looked in the mirror again.
As time went on and we all realized how big an opponent Jeff was fighting, his words became more important. Not too long before his diagnosis, my mother and Jeff had bought a camper Shasta 1968. He looked even older than it was ?? and also fight. This thing was rotten and rusty. It was a miracle they even got back to the house without it falling apart on the highway.
A 1968 Camper helped my Stepdad fight against cancer
Their plan was to remodel. Jeff was a craftsman and could build or fix anything. Between his treatment, he would be working on the camper. No matter if it was a good day or a bad day, he worked on the camper.
There have been many bad days. His body has not processed and chemotherapy. All he ate made him sick. I watched a man who I thought indestructible go from a ripped 185 pounds to about 115 pounds. He lost a lot of weight, you can see most of his tumors. He lost so much strength that it became difficult for him to walk unaided.
He fought. He fought hard. He never once looked like he gave up.
Finally, the cancer spread to her bones and broke his arm inside. My mother sometimes drove him in his wheelchair to the camper then it would be able to work. I think his fight has become more about how it could have a lasting impact, even if it was not going to be here to see it.
Jeff Wahl died on 4 October 2011. The cancer took his life, but cancer did not win. He never had on his mind or his will, even if it has ravaged his body. His philosophy was cancer can not win if you never give up.
Adopting a lifestyle
This campground is beautiful today. Jeff finished dang near everything except the plumbing. It seems just as he did in 1968. Jeff has confirmed its high standards artisans. He rebuilt every little detail back into it.
As I look back at the battle of Jeff with mesothelioma, I realized something about myself. It was then that I decided I wanted to do when I grew up.
I had always stayed in shape. I loved playing sports and working. It was my way of life. Yet I never even considered it a potential job.
When I saw Jeff put the label Never Give Up on its fight, I unconsciously adopted. I was his mantra in my head every time I went to a workout. Fitness was my escape, my sanctuary. Whenever I fought through a workout, I almost felt like I was fighting for Jeff.
Jeff has lost weight and strength day by day, but he still sweated and pushed into the thick summer heat of Florida as he worked on that camper. The least I could do was to finish a workout
Never Give Up :. Are you ready
I soon discovered the effect of motivation words Never Give Up could have on people trying to get in shape? . I went to my family history did not end with the death of Jeff. I learned a lot of good could come from evil, the amount of light could come from the darkness.
The bright lights cast the darkest shadows, and I really believe that. Jeff motivated me. I graduated at the University of time and since, winning two personal training certifications (ISSA CFT and NASM CPT). I use the words Never Give Up ?? as Jeff wrote them ?? to help motivate others to achieve their health goals and fitness, as well as to raise funds for cancer research.
For me, Never Give Up is not a sentence. It is not a company slogan, either. Never Give Up is a definition. Are you ready to let you define it?
The purpose of this blog motivation and fitness, especially as regards people with mesothelioma and other cancers, but I wanted you all to know my story. I believe in fitness, there are many metaphors for life. Feel free to take what I write and apply it to but it relates to you.
maybe it is to wake up early and stay up late. Or it is a big project at work. Perhaps, as in my case, it is pushed through a workout. There is not that the morning is too early, no job is too hard and no goal that can be achieved. Greatness is reserved for those who Never Give Up.
