The video is a motivational talk by an individual who shares how their cancer diagnosis at 23 transformed their outlook on life, leading them to live a life full of adventure and accomplishments. Facing the prospect of a limited life expectancy, they crammed a lifetime of achievements into each five-year span, embracing new challenges such as professional motocross racing, flying, and starting businesses, all while maintaining family commitments.

The speaker emphasizes an encounter with a co-worker during their treatment which highlighted the universal nature of mortality, provoking psychological insight. This interaction served as a crucial turning point, urging them and by extension the audience, to seize life and its unlimited possibilities, forging ahead fearlessly rather than being bogged down by the inevitability of mortality.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. lymphoma [lɪmˈfoʊmə] - (n.) - A type of cancer that begins in the lymphatic system, which is part of the body's germ-fighting network. - Synonyms: (cancer, malignancy, tumor)

Well, I was 23 years old when I was diagnosed with lymphoma, which is basically a kissing cousin of leukemia.

2. finite [ˈfaɪnaɪt] - (adj.) - Having limits or bounds; not infinite or limitless. - Synonyms: (limited, restricted, bounded)

I guess the lesson there is, you know, we're all finite.

3. aerobatics [ˌɛroʊˈbætɪks] - (n.) - Feats of spectacular flying skill acrobatics performed in an aircraft. - Synonyms: (stunts, aerial display, maneuvers)

Did aerobatics, flew gliders, did aerobatics, in gliders...

4. debacle [dɪˈbækəl] - (n.) - A sudden and ignominious failure; a fiasco. - Synonyms: (failure, disaster, catastrophe)

I ran for state assembly in New Jersey. That was a political debacle.

5. patents [ˈpætənts] - (n.) - A government authority or license conferring a right or title for a set period, especially the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention. - Synonyms: (inventions, licenses, copyrights)

Registered a couple patents and copyrights.

6. obsessed [əbˈsɛst] - (adj.) - Preoccupied with or haunted by some idea, interest, etc. - Synonyms: (fixated, consumed, engrossed)

You don't have to live your life as vigorously as I have, which is. I'm obsessed.

7. sob story [sɑːb ˈstɔːri] - (n.) - An excessively sentimental story meant to elicit pity or sympathy. - Synonyms: (tearjerker, maudlin tale, lament)

I'm not going to cry about it. It's not a sob story.

8. terminal [ˈtɜːrmɪnəl] - (adj.) - Predicted to lead to death, especially slowly; incurable. - Synonyms: (end-stage, final, incurable)

What's it like to be terminal? I can't imagine that.

9. motocross [ˈmoʊtəˌkrɔːs] - (n.) - A form of motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. - Synonyms: (dirt bike racing, off-road racing, bike trials)

Then I did this, and I did this afterwards. And so there's a lot of things that I did there. And so I got married and I have two wonderful daughters. I shifted up into semi professional motocross racing.

10. buffet [ˈbʌfeɪ] - (n.) - A system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. - Synonyms: (self-serve, smorgasbord, spread)

Life is really, to me, is like a buffet.

Cancer Was The Worst, Best Thing To Happen To Me - Denis Floge - TEDxWilmingtonSalon

Hello, everybody. I'd like to talk about how having cancer was the worst, best thing that ever happened to me. I'm not going to cry about it. It's not a sob story. This is a story of receiving freedom from this. So to give you a little bit of context, I need to actually explain a little bit about what had happened to me. But I also want to let you know at the end of this, this discussion, there will be a little secret that I'm going to release to everyone, so maybe you can learn something.

Anyway, so 20. Well, I was 23 years old when I was diagnosed with lymphoma, which is basically a kissing cousin of leukemia. I had to go through chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, blah, blah, blah. And when I was finished with it, I said to my doctor, well, Dr. Lee, what can I expect now? And Dr. Lee said to me, well, you know, if you can make it for the next five years, you'll probably be okay. And that's what he said, and that's what came out of his mouth. And those words floated around the room. And when they went into my ear, what I heard and what was processed in my brain was, you've got five years to live. And the first thing that went through my mind is I got a whole lifetime that I got to cram into five years.

And quite honestly, I went kind of berserk. And I did a lot of things. And so this is what I did before I had cancer, all right? I worked, I raced motocross and a little bit, and I skied. Then I did this, and I did this afterwards. And so there's a lot of things that I did there. And so I got married and I have two wonderful daughters. I shifted up into semi professional motocross racing. I built and raced a rally car. And every one of these topics, about every four or five of them shifts to. It actually matches in with five years. It lines up with five years.

I learned how to sail, surf, participated in a triathlon, started a construction company with a partner, went to flight school. Right about there, we shifted to another fight, another five years. I got a commercial instrument rating, flew all kinds of airplanes, did aerobatics, flew gliders, did aerobatics, in gliders, got my commercial instrument rating, got signed off for high performance aircraft, became a hot air balloon pilot, which I did that in Albuquerque, flew to New Mexico Challenge in Albuquerque, which is a hot air balloon race where I actually had a balloon at 15,000ft a couple of times. And someone asked me if we were scared. I said no, or they asked US If I was cold, said no, I was too scared to be cold. So if you can imagine being at 15,000ft in a great big Easter bunny basket with a hot air bubble over your head in a dish rag, that's what it's like.

It's about as safe. That was the New Mexico challenge through all this. I'm still married. Imagine that. My wife raised two daughters. Both of them are very successful professionals. I love them dearly. One of them is here with us tonight. We lived in five states. I visited 38 states and I only count them if I was there for at least three days. Worked in four countries. The United States, the United Kingdom, Panama, Mexico, the UK. Registered a couple patents and copyrights. You can see the list it goes on.

I ran for state assembly in New Jersey. That was a political debacle. I'll never get involved in politics again. It was a nightmare. Taught myself how to do things on AutoCAD, designed casinos, designed several different buildings. Helped get two daughters through college. You can see I'm still married. I don't know why, but she still hangs around with me. And now to check the last box. I'm doing a TEDx talk right now or a TEDx right now. The list goes on, but you get my point.

And lastly, and most importantly, I'm not done yet. What I do want to add to this and talk about is that one of the things that happened during my while I was sick, I was working in a casino in Atlantic City and I was having dinner one night and this cocktail waitress walked in and she never talked to anybody. She pretty much kept to herself, but she was looking around the room and she was looking for me and she spotted me and she came over and she sat down with me. And again, I had never, never talked to her. And she said to me, I understand you have cancer. And I looked really bad at that point in time. My hair was falling out in clumps. I weighed like 160 pounds.

So take 40 pounds off of this frame. And that's what I looked like. And kind of pasty looking, you know, to look. But I was muddling through. And she says, I hear you have cancer. I said, yeah, I do. And I'm eating my dinner. And she says to me, what's it like to be terminal? I can't imagine that. And I almost fell backwards. What kind of question is that to ask somebody? But she did. And I said, I said, I don't know. I said, why don't you tell me?

She said, well, I don't have cancer. I said, yeah, but you know something? We're all terminal. And I kept on eating. And I can't tell you, she couldn't wait to get away from me. She leapt to her feet and zipped out the door as quickly as possible. The next night, I'm sitting here having my dinner again. Guess who shows up? Same girl. She comes over, but now she's a little bit more timid, and she starts to apologize. And I said, no, no, you don't need to apologize. It's okay. You didn't hurt my feelings. I feel fine. It's okay. I said, why don't you sit down and talk now? So she did.

And I said, you know, sometimes we say things, they come out of our mouth, and we can't grab them and stuff them back in our mouth. That's just the way the world is. I said, but, you know, let's talk about it. So then she said, well, you know, I really thought about what you said to me last night. And first off, I'm sorry. And again, I had to tell her, no, it's okay. You don't need to worry about that. She said, I really thought about it, and it was really. It really got to me. And so I said, well, that's okay. And she said, what you said was, you know, we're all terminal. And I thought about that. After a little more discussion, she got up and left. And when I saw her in the pit, in a dice pit or blackjack pit, she'd come over and say hi and ask me if I want to. Something to drink or whatever it might have been at that time.

And so I guess the lesson there is, you know, we're all finite. And that's what I want people to remember. That's why you should do things as much as you can get as much as you can stuffed into the lifetime that we've gotten.

So, moving forward a little bit here, one of the things that I want to also talk about would be the life is really, to me, is like a buffet. It's like the greatest buffet you could ever enjoy. It's like all the buffets in Las Vegas stuffed into one place, and all the celebrity chefs are there just serving stuff up for free. And you can go as many times as you want to go. Why? There's always somebody with situations like this in our lives. They're just eating the chickpeas.

This is the greatest buffet in the world. You're eating the chickpeas. You should be having two plates on both arms, eating as much as you can and enjoying it as fast as you can and going back and forth, back and forth. By the way, you don't get fat from this. You don't gain weight and it's free and you just keep going. It's all the most delicious foods there are. So I could never fathom about the chickpeas. And that's figuratively, of course, obviously. And there's not a place like that, but in my mind that's what it is.

So we spend a lot of time wasting time. And if you just take TV as an example, there are. We spend 10% of our life watching television and that means by the end of our lifetimes we've watched 1,095 hours of TV or about two years. You don't have to live your life as vigorously as I have, which is. I'm obsessed. If you just enjoy your life, that is a really good start.

And so. Oh, the secret. We forgot about the secret. This is the best part. In my view. You don't have to have had cancer to live your life every 10 years like a full life. You don't have to do that. You don't have to go through that nonsense in order to have a full life. And that's my discussion. Everybody have a great day. Thank you for your time.

INSPIRATION, MOTIVATION, LIFE LESSONS, CANCER JOURNEY, PHILOSOPHY, EDUCATION, TEDX TALKS