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My names Stephen, Im nineteen years old. And first of all I'm going to tell you a bit about
me. And essentially I'm just a normal kid. There's a cute picture of me in primary school.
Ahh how cute. Like I said just a normal kid went to highschool. As normal, theres me doing
county level cross-country running for example. I also did county level athletics. theres
me setting my schools under 15 record, which to day still stands.And like I say I was a
normal teenager. For example, heres me at Reading music festival. I'm the guy in green.
And I was feeling pretty content with my life. but then, dun dun dah! Unfortunately, 3 years
ago, well three and a half years ago aged 15 I was diagnosed with cancer. after six
months of crippling symptoms, underwent surgery, got a really cool 21cm scar down my stomach
and six months of chemotherapy which made me sick and tired and all sorts. but then
I was I in remission, cancer free. woo! However that was short lived and I found a lump behind
my knee and the caner has returned. I then underwent more surgery, some more cool scars
- chicks dig scars, that's alright. And then 30 sessions of radio therapy. Again they thought
i was in remission, cancer free. Woo! but then again the cancer returned. At this point
of events I underwent more chemotherapy which made me even more sick and tired and then
I had some scan results. And the scan results showed that despite all the treatment the
tumour had continued to grow, so at this point they considered chopping of my left leg. But
before we had a chance to do that however, cancer the spread elsewhere. I've since had
more cancer in my groin,pelvis, back of my calf and since underwent more surgery, surgery,
chemotherapy, surgery, surgery, surgery, surgery, chemotherapy and the next step to discuss
is a potential amputation again. phew! so briefly put thats my not so brief medical
history. And kind of the main reason I'm here I guess because as you can see I have been
through a lot these last couple of years. but more significantly I've learnt a lot and
non the less I'm still here and and I'm still smiling and I'm still here and smiling because
of the support of others. Generally I've just learnt to be as positive as possible. What
I've found is a positive attitude links to positive outcomes. And i've learnt not to
feel sorry more myself. So none of you guys should feel sorry for me as well. Unfortunately
though, it has got to a point where my disease has been described as incurable by the doctors.
I do not know how long I have to left live. But one of the reason for that is because
I don't see the point in measuring life in terms of time any more. I would rather measure
it in terms of what I actually achieve, you know. I'd rather measure it in terms of making
a difference which I think is a much more valid and pragmatic measure and I'm here to
encourage you to have a similar outlook. One of the things Ive been doing is last year
on January 7th 2013 I made a Facebook page called Stephen's story and on it I made a
bucket list of 46 things I want to achieve in the near future .So thats a wish list.
In a way, its a bit a shame you know that I've had to reply on tragedy i.e. in the form
of cancer to remind me to have a good time, to remind me to do something you know it shouldn't
be like that. If we want to go out there and achieve stuff we should go do that you know.
Life is for living. The quotes says, " imagine you had a bank account that at the beginning
of the day got £86400 put into it. but at the end of every day that money disappeared.
Now, imagine, you'd take that money out wouldn't you, you'd take it out, spend it on yourself,
you would give the money to someone else, you'd take the money out and store it, you
wouldn't let this £86400 disappear. Well you are given this bank account, unfortunately
its not money, but its time. Everyone in this room is given 86400 seconds at the beginning
of the day to do whatever they want with it. And at the end of the day you don't get it
back. So when you at it like that, thats why I think its important to use the time we've
got as positively as and productively as possible. What I've found is that the best way to help
yourself is to help other you know, sometimes it is better to give. I'm going to end with
telling you, kind of why I share my story you know, why am i stood in front of all you
guys now. Why I am not at home feeling sorry for myself. You know, the reason is this,
it's because I actually see my first caner diagnosis as a good thing. It was a huge kick
up the backside, it taught me to take nothing for granted and gave me a lot a lot of motivation
for life. unfortunately my later diagnosis means i might not have that much time left.
so personally I'm stuck in this position with loads and loads of motivation but not very
much time. well I see people like yourselves, you guys have got all the time in the world
to make a difference to yourselves, do make a difference to others. But what you might
not have is motivation to do that. Well you cant give me your time to make me live longer,
but what I can try and do is, to give you a bit of motivation you know, to go out there
and achieve something, to go out there to help others, to go out there and enjoy life.
Im going to say once more to make a difference. and that's it. So if you want to check out
my online blog and thanks for having me. and thanks for having me!
I'm stefan wissenbach, found of magic future.com and online engagement programme that helps
people create bigger futures and fulfil their potential. I had the privilege of being in
the audience that day when Stephen gave his presentation and I'm delighted to say that
Stephen is here with me today. Stephen your message impressed me so much that what I want
to do is share it with as many people as possible. and one of the things that really strikes
me about you is your positive attitude and outlook on life. Can you tell me why that
is? Well throughout my journey there has been all kinds of ups and downs but on the whole
what i found is a positive attitude links to a positive outcome. i started off with
the belief that I could be a better person, do more things and as a result joined that
with a positive attitude and I have done, so. Was it your diagnosis that promoted you
to start thinking more like that or is it something you've always been naturally been
very good at. The diagnosis pushed me into an extreme circumstance where I needed to
re-evaluate my life and re-evaluate where i was going. As I say there have been points
in the journey that have been tougher and as a result I've need to look at things more
efficiently and coherently. how do you switch that positive attitude on and start taking
positive actions. well my main message to try and put across is that bad things unfortunately
do happen, whether its cancer, whether its another its another illness, whether you just
stubbed your toe, I don't know bad things do unfortunately happen. But its how we react
to it that s the important point, and to a certain extent what sin the past is in the
past, and what we've got to concentrate on is the future and is making most of it. we've
spoken about your bucket list that you've created and its a wonderful bucket list and
I was looking at it just this morning and seeing how much fabulous progress that you've
made and for many years I've prescribed the theory that people with plans achieve so much
more than people that don't have plans. whether it be a bucket list of whether it be a personal
written plan for your life. It's important to have a plan. yes, thats completed correct
as I say the bucket list for me was fantastic what it provided was a focus for me to do
something and then as it got into it I started exploring more things I could do and I've
just done things on the bucket list and off the bucket list, but would never have imaged
got to do those things if it wasn't me starting this simple to do list. everyones got things
they want to do in their life but after my incurable diagnosis I'd start thinking about
that more pragmatically and I had to start thinking about when and how I'm going to do
them. so to me making this list kind of with an online journal made sense and its just
spiralled form there, but actually the bucket list took a bit of a back seat for me almost
now, what the bucket list has done is highlighted the most is helping others. So my number one
goal is to help as many people as possible by spreading as many positive messages as
I can. Yet and also on your bucket list was wiring book is that right? Yes thats correct.
And I'm delighted to say that as a result of the work that Stephen and I have done together,
thats now happening. and if you want to download Stephen's story and short easy to read inspirational
eBook then there's the link to do so right at the end of this short film. You talk very
openly about how you have control of your life and how cancer doesn't control you, but
how you do appreciate that you do have a certain amount of time, your looking to do as much
as you can with that time. and I was thinking about this after your presentation and the
fact is that we are all terminally ill, everyone is terminally ill we just have different degrees
of time left. And yet most people seem to live their lives as if there is never an end
point. Life is all about perspective, on the one hand you could say I'm dying of my cancer,
but I dislike to use that, I am just living with it, living with my cancer despite it
being there and at the moment I'm living very fruitfully and productive. If there was one
message you could share with anyone that could be life changing, what would it be? Well as
mentioned one of the first things my cancer diagnosis did, it give me a lot of motivation
for life, unfortunately my late diagnosis means I might not have much time left, so
personally I'm stuck in this position with loads and loads of motivation and not very
much time. but I see lots of people out there who've got time you know, but what they might
not have is motivation, they cant give me their time to try and make me live longer
but what I can try and do is give them my motivation though to go out there and achieve
something and enjoy life. And thats the message I want to leave really, is to make the most
out of every second and to make a difference. Fantastic, which is exactly why when we met
after that fabulous presentation that you gave that we decided to make this short film
together, because you have this burning desire now at the top of the bucket list to share
your message with as many people as possible and get them to take action. And as founder
of magic future which is an online programme that enables people to take action and we
want to get 100,000 people to set and share a goal, we said well wouldn't it be great
if we could make this short film together and get people to actually get off their backsides
and do something, so thats why we're here, thats why we made this short film today, we
hope you've enjoyed it and we've hope you've taken a lot of meaning from the messages because
they are very very powerful and we hope that you as a result of this do take action. and
whether you sue magic Future or not doesn't matter but we just want you to take action
and and start improving your life for the better. my goal is to share my message with
as many people as possible and you can help by sharing the ebook or sharing this video.
Thank you