Woody Roseland held the Greenhill School Upper School student body and faculty spellbound this morning, moving an audience of five hundred between laughter and tears, and always with a humble, self-deprecating wisdom rare in such a speaker.   Without ever getting preachy or even approaching self-pity, Woody opened our eyes to the experience of confronting the “c-word” with discipline and self-determination.  His lessons transcended his own medical challenges and provided an inspirational charge to the entire school community to take control of our lives and be a force for good in the world.  When he finished, our students rushed the podium, wanting even more time with this rock-star speaker!  Our community is wiser and more compassionate today than it was yesterday, and I am grateful to this remarkable young man for that.

Tom Perryman, Assistant Head of School - Green Hill School

Have you ever heard the term - creative serendipity? Creative serendipity is when out of the blue a great idea pops into your head.  For me this usually happens right before you fall asleep or while I'm in the shower and have no way to write it down. But the other day as I was preparing for a speech I had a bit of creative serendipity -- a fun idea to get the audience more involved in my speeches and all it takes is a bunch of sharpies and some $2 bills. 

Read more: $2 Bill Experiment

I have spent the last six years trying real hard not to die from cancer. Last Friday I received back to back clean scans for the first time in my life. I went into my doctor's office expecting to hear awful news. You see, I've developed a strange relationship with cancer. Much of my success and notoriety is due to cancer. My cancer is what gives me the credibility to go into high schools, fundraisers, or corporate retreats and tell people to give money, or change their perspective. My routine with cancer has become just that, routine. Treatment, surgery, scan, treatment, surgery, scan -- wash, rinse, and repeat.

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So here you are, settling into the cancer lifestyle. Zofran in the a.m., Zofran in the p.m., Zofran when you’re nauseated and not sleeping.

You never thought that you would miss your cubicle or your co-worker’s stupid jokes, but for better, or for worse, you do. It’s a bummer having to come to terms with not living your life on your terms. But look at it this way, it’s your mandatory drug-experimentation phase.

Of course, I’m kidding. But at the same time it’s important to realize that you don’t get an award at the end of treatment for being the cancer patient who quietly suffered the most (even if the drug-induced voices in your head tell you otherwise). Don’t get me wrong, you’re going to suffer, but it’s important to fight every day to keep your humanity.

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