Every day when I go to work, I love what I do.
I look forward to it, but I've got to admit, every now and then it could actually feel
a little bit like a routine.
Then there's those things that rock my world and remind that it's anything but a routine.
Let me tell you about Brendan Dougherty.
He's an ATHLEANX follower, he watches our videos, and he uses our programs.
34 year old guy who was just diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He goes in, gets treatment, a year later it comes back worse than it was before.
He continues his treatment – chemotherapy – to try everything.
Now it gets to the point where the cancer if formed secondary in his back, next to his
spine, and he can't even walk.
Brendan writes to me to tell me how much he's inspired by ATHLEANX.
How, despite the fact that he's going through this he's thinking about what ATHLEANX means
to him.
This is the thing that shocks me.
This is the thing that humbles me, that rocks my world that makes me stop in my tracks.
I've lost a mother and a grandfather to cancer.
I know what it's like, and it doesn’t get any easier.
I've lost friends.
It never gets easier.
Brendan's email touched me very deeply.
Literally, threw that routine right out the window.
At that point I know there was only one thing that I had to do.
Jeff: Brendan, what's up?
Brendan: hey, man!
You all right?
Jeff: How you doing?
Brendan: I'm good, man.
I'm good man.
Yourself?
Jeff: Good.
Good, I want you to know I got your email.
It was forwarded to me the other day and I was inspired by your email and touched by
your words.
I'm honestly humbled by the fact that you would even think of me during all that you've
been through.
Brendan: Well, I must say.
I used to watch your videos and everything prior to having this awful thing happen to
me, and as I continue to watch them throughout my treatment and everything, and that is just
inspiration to "This is what I'll be doing once I get better again.
I'll be trying what he's doing in this video, or something.
So it was something to keep me motivated as well, on my side."
So, yeah.
I don’t know if you ever thought that's what your videos would be affecting people
in those areas.
So I suppose it is quite strange to hear that, but that was the case.
Jeff: Yeah, I can't say that I did.
But I definitely – it makes it a hell of a lot more worthwhile, you know?
Brendan: I hate people that find excuses not to train.
There's always a reason not to train.
It's human nature to want to be lazy and everyone finds excuses not to train.
Like, I've been to work all day, and if you don’t get out that door and get to the gym
straight away then you're never going to make it.
I used to drum that into people and then when I fell ill people that I worked with were
like "How are you even still trying to stay motivated and stay healthy?"
The [inaudible 0:02:59] that they give me is that they see me now, they just don’t
believe what I've been through.
People just don’t believe it.
It's just a point of saying that no matter what happens, if I can find the time to still
try and be motivated and stay on track, then really anyone can, I suppose.
Jeff: To be quite honest with you, you certainly had a built-in, legitimate excuse to just
not train had you not wanted to.
Believe me.
But there are a lot of people, especially this time of year with resolutions probably
already falling by the wayside.
People would need to – especially after hearing your story – to reevaluate what
reason actually stopped them from what they're doing.
Brendan: Definitely.
I agree with you.
I think most people that now start their new year's resolutions, the gyms are all full
in January, and everyone's rearing to go.
By the middle of January, already there's half the people there, and by March time there
will be a fraction of those still there.
Jeff: Right.
Especially, I do find that people that are ill, they wish they could have something they
could control because a lot of times as you've found, a lot of this shit's out of our control.
What you're able to do, and what is in your control is what's extremely motivating.
Brendan: You said being in control of yourself and what you can do, and I had that taken
away from me.
I mean, I couldn't move, I couldn't physically do anything.
I was in a bed for a couple of months.
Jeff: How's your overall health?
Now, since January of last year.
It's been about a year, right?
Brendan: Yeah.
Basically, on the end of this month I've got a yearly test.
I've got a CT scan, a blood test, and chest x-ray, and I get the results in February.
The reason why this is relevant is because the pattern before, it was coming back every
year.
So if I can get over this hurdle then they're hoping they've got it and it's completely
gone.
So I'm just a bit nervous about that in February.
But if that comes back okay then they think I'll be good to go for a long time.
So, that's – I'm a bit nervous, but excited because then I can finally – your life is
on hold and I've gotten this new twice before where it's disappeared and it's come back.
So I'm really hoping this time that it has because the next step is [inaudible 0:05:14].
So I hope this is now, that I've got it.
But I'm doing everything I can to stay healthy and to keep it away, but that's not in my
control.
Jeff: Well, we've got a lot of people that are pulling for you.
Your story touched me, and it really, truly inspires me.
It inspires me.
I know it inspires the guys that are around me here, and we draw from guys like you because
a lot of times we don’t know what it's like unless we're faced with those things and we
don’t know how we're going to act.
But through guys like you we can kind of imagine that we wish we could be able to approach
it the way you have.
So, we're pulling for you.
Brendan: I love that you guys are rooting for me and it makes you guys feel inspired
and help people.
That's brilliant.
Any sort of positive I can put on this I've been trying to do since day one.