Welcome to another inspiring episode of "Beating Cancer Daily" with Saranne. In today's heartfelt conversation, Saranne shares a touching story she heard from a pilot about her extraordinary grandfather. Through his remarkable acts of selflessness, wisdom, and humor, he left an indelible legacy that inspires Saranne and everyone who hears his story. Join Saranne as she reflects on the power of leaving a positive impact, embracing joy amidst worry, and finding strength in adversity. Get ready to be uplifted and motivated on your cancer journey.
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[MUSIC] >> Welcome to Beating Cancer Daily. Beating Stage 4 Cancer for 30 years still takes my breath away every time I say it. I'm Saren, founder of the Comedy Cures Foundation. And I hope you'll join me for just a few minutes daily for the next 365 days. So we may laugh, learn, maybe cry a little as we live our best days. Beating cancer daily together. [MUSIC] Did you ever hear about a life and it just inspired you? Now, I never met this person, but I met a relative of this person. I actually was talking to a pilot on a plane. And that pilot had heard about beating cancer daily, and was really inspired by the fact that I would take on this commitment to record 365 days of guidance, information, inspiration, humor. And so the pilot said to me, can I tell you about my grandfather? Because you remind me of my grandfather. And I was just so honored that they would take the time to talk to me while people were getting on the plane. So she told me three things about her grandfather. And all three of them just really resonated with me. And I said, I have to share this. So first of all, this grandfather was a miracle. And I guess she related to the fact that I had beaten stage for cancer against great odds. And she felt that about her grandpa. So according to this pilot, he was in World War II. And he was documented as missing and they thought that he was dead. So an estate settled and this man was supposed to inherit $3.5 million. Now $3.5 million in World War II, I think I looked it up and it was about $10 million now. That's pretty incredible. Even if it was just still $3.5 million. So when he returned, he did not ask for the money back. Seriously, would you have asked for the money? Where did the money go? It was given to him in this will. But since he was missing, it went to the American Cancer Society. He didn't take it back. He didn't ask for the funds to come back. Who would do that? I mean, you would think he would take some of the money and then keep some of the money there. But no, and he didn't have means. It wasn't like he was wealthy. He just went on to live his life and didn't regret it. So I thought, she's comparing me to him. I think I would ask for some of the money. She said that her grandfather used to say a lot of wise things. And one of the things that he said to her was, everywhere you go and everything you do, always leave it better than you found it. I don't know if that's his quote or he just decided to tell her that. But yes, can you imagine if each person in this world, everywhere we went, all day long, all night long, everything we did. We left it better than we found it. Now I try to do that. I don't always succeed. But can you imagine if we all committed to that intention all the time? One more, and I really love this one. It turns out that this pilot is a worrier and he used to say to her, "So many worries." I said it like her grandfather was Jewish. So many worries. And no, he was not Jewish. She has a really interesting mix, but it wasn't Jewish. But I guess because I'm Jewish, I hear all grandpas like they're Jewish. So many worries start a business. Take off the worries for all of the other people. And you know what? Return them better than when they left them with you. That's a really funny brilliant quote. He's telling his granddaughter that she's such an amazing worrier, like a professional worrier. She should go around getting everybody's worries because she's so good at worrying. And then give them back to other people with better worrying than when they worried about them. It's really brilliant. It diffuses this whole idea about worrying. I just love this man. I never met him. As I said, he's deceased. But the way she spoke about him was so incredibly beautiful. I just want to meet somebody that has that world of view that has that sense of humor that has that incredible grace not to take back a donation from a charity. And he had every right to. He was entitled to that money. And he loved working. He was a realtor. He had very famous clients. I'm not sure I can say who one of his famous clients was, but she just loved talking to him. And she would show up at his real estate office and just talk to him because he inspired her. And she struggled with depression. What an amazing human. What a legacy to leave his granddaughter. And now to leave me and to leave you. So if you are a professional warrior, let me know. I'll give you some of my worries so that you can make them better and then return them to me. As some of you know, I have red hair. And people just assume I'm Irish all the time. So for some reason, I love reading Irish wisdom. And I do have really good Irish accent. But this is a little philosophy on worry. And I don't know, it just made me laugh. So I'm going to share with you because I love to share silly humor with you. And Irishman's philosophy, there are only two things to worry about. Either you are well or you are sick. If you are well, then there's nothing to worry about. But if you're sick, there are two things to worry about. Either you will get well or you will die. If you get well, there's nothing to worry about. But if you die, there's only two things to worry about. Either you will go to heaven or you'll go to H E double L. If you go to heaven, there's nothing to worry about. But if you go to H E double L, you'll be so darn busy shaking hands with friends, you won't have time to worry. That's really, it's really pretty amazing. I know I'm not making fun of dying. I was told to get my affairs in order. I was told that I had less than five years to live. And I had to still keep going, even though I was given that bad news. And you know what? There were only two things I could worry about. So I actually decided not to worry and consciously, every day, get up and seek out strategies for not worrying. So hopefully beating cancer daily is serving as a way for you to mitigate your worry and to just have more fun every day. Obviously, when we're diagnosed with cancer and we have to go through all this cancer treatment, we worry. We have a lot to worry about what the treatments are going to be like. Are we going to survive? How are we going to keep working, going through cancer treatment? If we have children, how are we going to care for them? I remember thinking all those things, but I do remember that when I infused a joyful, playful perspective, my worry started to dissipate and I felt like I could accomplish what I needed to accomplish in my cancer treatment and that the worrying just made me more tired and the worrying also robbed me of the hours that I had with the people that I loved. So why I do these episodes every day is so that we can check in with each other and really make sure that we are facing the worries head on and that we are making time for joy and laughter and hope and that we are not expending all of the energy that we could put towards healing into worrying. So I hope that her grandfather's wisdom further motivates you to be doing these episodes and to really be trying to create more joy and happiness and laughter and time for living than time for worrying. And if you are feeling incredibly sad and burdened and anxious and depressed by your cancer journey, please seek out a professional, a social worker or a therapist to really help you through this journey. We've got to go through it. So let's try to make it the best experience that we can. I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you tomorrow. If you've enjoyed this podcast, then I'd love to ask for you to go to comedycures.org and check out our membership circle levels. You will find even more resources and more programming, like our live virtual Q&A sessions with me, our live comedycures events with our very talented comedians, live health builder workshops with Jackie Bryan hosted by me, a robust monthly newsletter plus much more. It's really an exciting community, so please consider becoming a member, giving it as a gift, telling your friends, telling your hospital support group all about this community. I can't think of a more empowering way to go through a cancer journey or your survivorship or your caregiving experience than with us at Beating Cancer Daily. It's truly an honor to serve you. Thanks so much, see you tomorrow. Guess what time it is? It's time for me to read the disclaimer. Beating Cancer Daily and the membership circle are not in lieu of medical advice or treatment. They are for entertainment purposes only. Please consult your health care team to review your best strategy. Thanks for listening. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
