One Gift... Countless Results
CSF Advisory Board Member Jim Driscoll
with students Nic Reinert & Jose Pacheco
at CSF Annual Breakfast Meeting 3-24-07
Share Your Message
by Jim Driscoll
“Two
weeks ago, I had the great privilege of meeting Yeshim Yonter, and the
thing that stood out the most about her was the incredible passion she had
for the Cancer Survivors Fund and
for each of you in this room.
When
I got home that night, I immediately went to the website and while I was
there, I began
to wonder exactly what cancer was. So, I did what any intelligent person
would do, I went to Webster’s, and
this is whet I found:
Cancer
- A
malignant and invasive growth or tumor. An evil condition that spreads destructively.
Malignant
-
Disposed
to do harm, and suffering deliberately (On Purpose)
As
I sat there in a semi state of shock, I remembered what Yeshim had told me
about her own
battle and how she had won the victory. So, I looked up the word Victory.
Victory
-
Triumph
over an enemy in battle.
Now
that put a smile on my face, because I knew that when ever I was
victorious, I would
receive trophy. So I looked up the word Trophy.
Trophy
-
Something
which is kept in memory of a victory
When
I heard the words "Which Is Kept", it occurred to me that you
are all trophies
Because,
You have been kept. You have been kept in memory of a victory. You
have gone from:
Terror to Triumph
From
victim to victory
From
surviving to thriving
Yes,
you have been kept in memory of a victory.
And you are all trophies. You are trophies to your families and to all those who saw you through to your victory. The Doctors, the nurses, the aides and the volunteers. To those who spoke a timely word of encouragement. But most importantly, you are trophies to yourself. For it is you who persevered and ultimately won the victory.
When
people see you, they see a trophy, and they know that you were victorious
over your enemy. And when they hear
you speak, they are inspired, empowered, motivated and
challenged by your message.
In
the eyes of the world, you are ALL winners, and as winners, you posses the
characteristics
that define one:
●
Winners Set Goals, and pursue
them with passion
●
Winners have Mentors and a
Strong Support Network
●
Winners are problem solvers and
help Others to Succeed,
●
Winners have Confidence, and
Take Risks
●
Winners Make a Difference, and
Never Give Up
As
a cancer survivor, you have a purpose and a mission for your life. And
those with a purpose must fulfill it and those with a mission must share
it.
Because
those with a mission have a message and those with a message will speak
before others and inspire.
So
what will you do with your message? Your message of
hope, courage
and
perseverance? Your message of
victory and triumph? This is a message that must be shared and only you
can share it.
You're
the winner who posses the trophy. You're the mentor and role model. You're
the speaker who can inspire.
I'm
not here today to motivate you, but to challenge you to motivate and
inspire others with
your powerful stories of survival and victory.
Each
of you in this room have the
ability to transfer the knowledge of the principals
of success to others and then inspire them to act upon that knowledge and
meld it into
wisdom.
I
personally know the incredible feeling of standing on many a podium to
receive my trophies of victory, but I am convinced that they do not even
begin to compare to the incredible feelings you felt when you heard the
words that you were victorious over your enemy and you became living
trophies.
I
used to proudly brag about how many times I've cheated death.
But
you didn't cheat anything, you stood in the ring face to face, and toe to
toe and not only
fought, but defeated your enemies. And not one, but two, Cancer and Death.
The
first time I read your bios on the web site, I cried for hours. But not
because of what you
went through, but because of who you've become in the process.
After
reading all the bios, I realized there were 3 common denominators that
every survivor
in this room shares, and that is AMBITION, LOVE, and SERVITUDE.
You
are all so very ambitious, your filled with love and you have a servants
heart. You fully understand The
golden rule - Treat others the
way they want to be treated.
You
are all light years ahead of you peers. You understand the power of
unyielding faith, and
you understand first hand the omnipotent power of persistence and
determination.
You
have all learned to take 100% responsibility for your lives and without
realizing it, you have applied the most powerful formula of success E + R
= 0 to your life.
It
stands for Event + Response = Outcome and simply states that you only have
2 choices in
how you respond to what life throws at you. You can either blame the
events for your unfavorable outcomes,
or you can look at the event and plan a response that will yield you
the outcome you desire.
You
only have control over three things in life. And as you well know, events
that happen are not one of them.
Because none of you chose to have cancer, and none of you chose to loose
limbs or eye sight.
You
can only control:
The
thoughts you think
The
images you visualize
The
actions you take or your behaviors
And
how you manage these three things will determine every experience you have
in life, whether positive or negative.
The choice is yours, and the wonderful thing is, you have all
demonstrated the ability to manage those 3 things. Instead of blaming, you
chose to respond to the event in a
way that yielded you a- positive
outcome. .And I know this because
of being angry and bitter, you all have great passion, ambition, love and
a servants heart.
So
I stand here today and challenge you to commit with me to take your
message of hope to
your little part of the world. You don't have to personally change the
whole world. Just do
your part, and together, with our combined efforts, we can and will make a
difference.
Remember
what I said:
Those
with a purpose must fulfill it
Those
with a mission must share it
Because
those with a mission have a message
And
those with a message will speak before others and inspire
Let
me close by saying, today I call you my heroes, my mentors and my
inspiration. And by the time I leave
here today, I truly hope that I can call you my friends.”
Visit
Jim at his website: www.JimDriscoll.org
