To Live Every Day of Your Life

In 2004, I came very close to dying. I was diagnosed with acute leukemia, which seven years earlier had killed my father Hyman, and I only survived due to the incredible care I received at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, and a life-saving bone marrow transplant from my brother Gordon.

In many ways, my illness changed my life and as hard as this is to believe, it was a gift. Every day since then, I reflect how lucky I am to be alive. I understand how fragile and precious life is, and the importance of making life count, in the words of Jonathan Swift, “To live every day of your life”.

I am driving across Australia because I am alive.

I am also embarking on what I hope will be a great adventure, a land of beautiful sights, luminous light and remarkable emptiness. I hope my drive, and “walkabouts”, will help me see another culture, another land and other lives.

I am also going for those who were less fortunate than I was, who didn’t survive leukemia. For my father, and for my friend Don, who became my friend during his illness, and who tragically passed away several weeks ago at age 40 leaving a young family.

Survival brings life, and joy, but also responsibility. When I recovered, I helped to establish The Fund for Education and Research Into Blood Cancers, which funds fellowships at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and research into blood cancers. Please give generously at the link to your right.

Last year, to celebrate being well for five years, I cycled from St-Nazaire in France to Hungary, where my grandparents were born. I hope you can visit my blog of this trip (www.acelebrationoflife.blogspot.com), also found at the link to your right.

On my return from my cycle trip, I started my current project, a book about leukemia survivors entitled “Faces of Leukemia”, featuring portraits and words of those who have survived leukemia and other blood cancers. You can see twelve sample pages of this book at:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8813991/FacesSample01001hiresnobars.pdf – it is a very big file so you have to let the whole file load before you can go from page to page. You can also see other photos I have taken for Faces of Leukemia at www.williambrockphoto.com.

I hope you follow my journey and more importantly, may you as well live every day of your life.