The value of hope

As all founders know, without hope we are truly lost

I’ve worked in startups and around Founders for a long time now, and it’s fair to say these people really know the value of hope. We work on things where people around us will reel off lists of why an idea won’t work or all the ways in which it might fail. When we believe in something though, we push ourselves all the way. It’s no coincidence that one founder community I appreciate has Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer as an unofficial anthem (please, turn it up to 11). Folks in there have been wonderfully supportive on this journey too. If you’re unfamiliar with the song, this lyric tells you all you need!

“Oh, we've gotta hold on, ready or not
You live for the fight when that's all that you've got!”

As a brain tumour patient, the hope and the fight is everything. People tell me I’m a Tough Chap To Kill, and I plan on proving them right, to the extent another friend had this t-shirt made for me.

Every medical professional I’ve spoken to on this journey has told me that positive mental attitude can make the biggest difference. Those who know me well will know that I can play the clown when nervous, and this has been no different. Through the radiotherapy sessions, I made it my goal to make someone smile on every single visit. Doing so allowed me to focus on something other than just treatment, and bringing a smile to a face in a place like that brightens everyone’s day. Know I’m done with that part of the treatment cycle, I’ll share the line that had the team laughing along loudest with me:

“Good afternoon team, I’ll have my usual table for one, and I’ll take the house special, served medium rare.”

With that, they’d giggle and I’d get strapped into the treatment table and zapped with that day’s dose - my brain cooked to medium rare, right there. I tried a variety over the 6 weeks of sessions, but that was the run away winner, and it helped me get through.

Toward the end of those sessions, and with Chemo building in my system, I struggled a little more, but clouds started to clear as that ended. What happened next was even more impactful though, and that’s what I want to document and share today. I’d been concerned about what happens when treatment ends. I’d get an MRI and released from treatment, but with the mandate to return for scans from time to time because as with most tumours, there’s risk of regrowth that they want to stay alert too.

I’d somehow missed the growing progress being made with MRNA vaccines though. A Covid silver lining, there have been huge leaps forward in the research here. Typically, the body’s immune system can’t recognise the tumour (it’s complicated) and takes no action. Hence the requirement for such aggressive treatment when they’re found. Now though, researchers are finding ways to take a sample of your tumour and build a custom MRNA vaccine around it. Given to the patient, this then teaches your immune system what to look for so it can deal with it next time!

What really changed my world was learning that early clinical trials have been so successful that these advances are now being rolled out to nationwide NHS trials in the UK. It’ll no doubt take time, but with the size of the cancer problem I believe things will move quickly if it removed the need for further treatment for so many people. More details here.

Finally, I’m going to remind anyone on this path of one other major thing that changed my journey: find a survivor. Find someone else who’s beaten this crap and ask them to lend you some strength. They’ve been here, they know where you’re at and they will do so willingly. I walk this path with Matthew who’s going through treatment too, and we follow the path carved by people like Julian and Damon, two hugely inspirational characters who’ve beaten these things before and now shine a light in the dark. We all need belief and hope, it’s part of what makes us human. Whether we’re out there beating terrible diseases, building world changing companies or delivering sporting achievements, it’s the hope and belief that gets us through the harder times. Don’t ever lose sight of that.