Comes back from cancer to help others

Faced with death, many people bargain with God.

Jonny Imerman did, too. But after his life was spared (cancer), he made good on his side. Now he puts together his "Angels" to support and help newly-struck cancer victims, one-on-one.

His story....

In the future, he plans to expand from cancer to all kinds of maladies. What a world this would be if everyone had his generous, giving spirit....

Author "chooses" not to buckle

We look for and file away stories of Extraordinary Comebacks, and this one is remarkable on any number of levels. The author suffers a Mahlerian trio of hammer blows of fate, by losing his son, wife and daughter within a 20 month period. He says at the outset: "I deliberately chose not to be destroyed." Cain tells the story of each tragedy, and then turns his attention to exactly "how" he repaired his outlook, the actual nuts and bolts of maintaining his sanity by living in the now, as he puts it. The re-telling carries the story of his own remarkable comeback, and has the capability to restore thousands. Hard to put down, we read it quickly over several days. What more pertinent gift for someone in your circle who is suffering? Buddha said "life is suffering" -- so this book is appropriate for everyone in or (momentarily) out of that status.

Fighting off cancer with a $92,000 shot, tennis, weightlifting -- and a very positive attitude

Had a call from an old friend that I had not heard from in some time. Turns out since our last contact (last summer) he had been to hell and back.

Gordon I., 78, is a hale and hearty and gregarious MIT-educated engineer, retired, and passionate tennis player and captain. He has organized tennis activities for men's (and women's) teams in his hometown, Winnetka, Ill., for more than 20 years.

During a routine medical exam, it was discovered he had colon cancer, mantle cell lymphoma to be specific. Some $25,000 worth of CT and PET scan tests showed it moved to his bone marrow as well. He found a doctor who had confidence in the latest technology -- radioactive, injected chemo drugs that found there way to the cancer and killed only the cancer, not all the surrounding cells, like conventional chemo.

Called the "Zevalin regimen" ($92,000 hospital list price) --- a one shot procedure which is good for three months.

Side effects were minimal, a bit of tiredness. Meanwhile, Gordon kept up his tennis regimen ("dawn patrol" doubles, 6:30 a.m., three to four times a week), and added weightlifting apres-tennis!

At 78.

Credit mostly the medicine, but the combination of the shots, the tennis, the fitness regimen, and especially his positive attitude worked. Gordon reported the latest tests, colon and bone marrow, showed no signs of cancer. He is in remission!

All the more remarkable because Gordon fought and defeated (lung) cancer several years earlier.

Hats off to Gordon -- his athletic regimen, (and positive attitude) puts many of his younger tennis partners to shame!

Regarding any more travels to hell, Gordon is planning NOT to go back, he tells me. "And Thank God for Medicare and my secondary health insurance!"

Emmy-winning sportscaster writes his wife's (and his) comeback story

If we have our way, this powerful story -- it will knock you on your back -- will be in a follow-up effort to our "Extraordinary Comebacks". We work on these all the time, and this one is slated for volume 2, chapter 168.

The life and love story of the Kings, Maggie and Rich:

You see members of your TV news teams every day. They come into your home, like family or friends. You think you know them (you don't), and that their lives are pretty charmed (sometimes), and breezy and effortless and glib as the jokes at the end of the late night itself (not for sportscaster Rich King or his Maggie).
Behind the video image, Rich King's wife Maggie was engaged for years in a titanic struggle against blindness, and hearing loss, and all that entailed, as as a result, so, too, was he. When breast cancer, then ovarian cancer joined the battle, it was nothing less than a life and death struggle.

In his book, My Maggie, Rich recounts the story, and it will knock you flat on your back.

The story starts plainly enough. Maggie and Rich met a neighbor children in Pilsen, near West Side Chicago neighborhood. Awkward and gangly, Maggie wore hearing aids, starting age 4. While in third grade, she told friends she would marry Rich. He was nonplussed until high school, then he fell hard for her. By this time, Maggie had developed night blindness as well, but it didn't dissuade Rich. He loved her, all of her. Both afflictions would get worse.

Despite her hardships, Maggie got through high school and enrolled in Eastern Illinois University, but her poor vision brought her closer to home; sheattended University of Illinois at Chicago for a time with Rich, then found her way to a practical nursing program at a South Side Chicago hospital, then put in two more years to become a registered nurse at St. Mary of Nazareth hospital. Meanwhile, Rich finished off his broadcasting studies at UIC, and landed a job with CBS. He would stay for 20 years.

Despite her impaired vision and slowly declining hearing, Maggie, too, was able to work in her profession for 20 years. It would be their golden age -- stone crazy in love, with lots of trips, friends, dining and shopping adventures. With Maggie's health problems, no, they didn't "have it all," but they had a lot, and in the category of romantic love, more than most will ever have, or even come in contact with.

But then life turned unspeakably cruel. Maggie's sight declined rapidly, and her hearing followed suit. It was at this time, in her 40s, that it was determined that she suffered from Usher's syndrome, an exceedingly rare malady that attacks both sight and hearing, condeming the victim to a netherworld devoice of sight and sound.
Maggie and Rich were devastated, but amazingly Maggie determined to fight back. After a kick start from a brusque, loud, well-meaning and effective counselor (himself blind), Maggie was injected with the hope that she could get on top of her blindness and not allow it to rule and crush her life.

Indeed, she was so inspired she herself determined to switch careers and become a counselor to the blind. Maggie traveled -- by herself, assisted only by her cane -- to attend a seminar at the Helen Keller Institute, Long Island, N.Y., then enrolled in a two-year program to earn her degree in social work at Chicago's Loyola University.

An extraordinary comeback in the face of debilitating setback.
Fate was not through with Maggie, however. Breast cancer piled on, then ovarian cancer. Tragically, the latter metatasized, and could not be overcome.

Buoyed by her husband Rich and best friend Arlana, Maggie kept her love of life and fighting spirit intact all the way to her last breath.

In the book, gutsy Maggie becomes our heroine, yes, but Rich, too, becomes our hero, too, in baring his soul as the author. His recounting of My Maggie is not a sugar-coated idyll by any means, (he is plain spoken about her flaws and his), but a book of grit and stubble and devastation and overcoming and an ultimate triumph in the spirit realm, if not the physical. We all succumb, sooner or later, to that last one.

Someone once said of "Extraordinary Comebacks" volume one that when you're feeling down, 'read a few of these stories to see what's possible.' My Maggie is the nonpareil story in that regard. No one, and we mean no one we've encountered in these researches, does more with less than the extraordinarily courageous, indomitable Maggie King. As a counselor, Maggie had the power to change lives, and now that Rcih has captured her essence in this biography, she will keep on doing that for many years to come.

As Rich King would say simply, she would like that.

From hip surgery to dancing before millions -- in 3 months!

The flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks had hip replacement surgery (June, 2007), then within just three months, began dancing! He competed in Dancing with the Stars (2007).

After making the cut for four weeks, the somewhat stiff yet enthusiastic and charismatic billionaire (#407 on Forbes Richest American, he sold his $100 million revenues, 330 employee broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.9 billion before the NASDAQ crash, then diversified his wealth, one of the few dot com wealthy to do so) was eliminated on October 23, 2007.

He didn’t go away empty-handed. He won a new legion of fans (several ESPN anchors call him their “favorite owner). And he lost 30 pounds during the competition.

Turned down 20 times, he persists and achieves his goal

Michael Ain knows more about rejection than almost anyone. First, he is a dwarf, just 4 ft. 3 in. He knows the stares, the teasing, the turndowns first hand.

Nevertheless, blessed with a superior intelligence and a desire to serve others, the Brown University graduate aspired to become a doctor. So he applied to some 20 medical schools.

And was rejected 20 times.

Some interviews portended the outcome. He was told he would have great physical difficulties, e.g. that he wouldn’t be able to reach the patient’s bedside. Ain suggested he could use a footstool. Others said he wouldn’t be strong enough. Ain was a weightlifter, was stronger than other applicants and pointed that out. Finally, other interviewers posed the question, ‘would Ain be respected by his patients?’ He had won awards from peers at Andover.

The excuses were lame, but the rejections stuck, like a wrongful court verdict. Ain was angry, hurt, and afraid that his dream would die. But still he would not relent.

To improve his chances of acceptance, he came back to Brown for a fifth year, took two advanced science courses, and earned two A’s with distinction. He published research.

Thus fortified, he again applied to the round of 20 medical schools. Again a batch of rejections – but this time, one acceptance!: from Albany Medical College in upstate New York. The interviewer was impressed that Ain played baseball at Brown, and batted against future star and New York Mat Ron Darling. (You never know where your redemption will come from so keep all the irons in the fire sizzling.)

Ain excelled at Albany, found a wife (5 ft. 6 in.) and started a family. Albany also took him on as a surgical resident; he received further training at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where he practices.

Today, Dr. Ain is a successful pediatric orthopedic surgeon, likely the only one in the world who also happens to be a dwarf. He refused to allow his condition to rule his life.

He specializes in solving the orthopedic problems of little people. Dr. Ain’s can-do personality, ready smile and professional success gives his patients hope of a productive, satisfying life.

Asha's successful war on disease

We publish a violin teaching aide, Violin Scale Charts™, and came in contact with musician Asha Mevlana, an intelligent (Wellesley grad), and creative professional violinist. She contracted breast cancer at 24, but fought back successfully with courage and humor. Her web site tells the story... Original post: Wednesday, December 14, 2005