Sometimes the odds are stacked against us.
Sometimes they are so overwhelming, there appears to be no beating them.
Odds are you are out of luck.
But the odds are there to be beaten. You can make the impossible possible.
They are there to be defied and for others to be left standing and staring at us nonplussed in awe.
We can all beat the odds, people do it all the time.
There have been some quite astonishing great escapes in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and obstacles.
Everyone has their own idea of what’s impossible so the impossible is possible if we apply sisu to our challenges and make it a way of life.
Some of the most remarkable great escapes are medical ones. People come back from death’s door and go on to live for years after.
When your back is against the wall, your indomitable spirit comes to the fore.
Time and again, some people manage to pull through life-threatening medical crises and defy the medical profession.
Tell someone that they “will never walk again” and watch them 2 years later running a marathon.
Of course, medical interventions play their part but not alone they don’t.
Many times it is the extreme willpower of a patient that drives the recovery. There is an unparalleled determination to ‘prove them wrong’.
Some people are ‘medical mysteries’ that perplex researchers and clinicians. Good!
We also have to accept that medical science is constantly evolving and doctors will always have incomplete knowledge. Events happen outside of a doctor’s understanding.
There have been, and always will be, outliers and statistical anomalies but I come back to my previous point: tell me I don’t have much of a chance and I’ll damn well show you otherwise.
I was only given a couple of months to live by one doctor and here I am 4 years later.
One of the many things I have learned from getting an incurable cancer diagnosis is that any attempts to estimate life expectancy is as reliable as a white ball bobbing round a roulette wheel. Faites vos jeux!
Incurable cancer always sounds so unbeatable doesn’t it?
But is it really?
My immunotherapy treatment is helping me beat what are on paper, impossible odds.
Could immunotherapy also be a cure?
As we stand, doctors can’t say for sure but then there are no certainties. That’s the point. Impossible is not certain. The possibilities of ‘possible’ should never be excluded.
There are infinite possibilities of finding hope.
Some patients can surprise their doctors and humble them through the full force of human will and guts.
I hope you can be one of those patients and you can keep applying a generous helping of life in between the slices of bread.
I’ve written a letter to help me and it is something that could help you too:
Dear Impossible Odds,
As this is a life-and-death struggle, let it be known that I will be giving it my utmost on a daily basis. I will not rest.
I will keep going. I am blessed with unbridled determination, I am always of good cheer, and I never lose hope.
I am persistent and I simply can not give in, and I will not roll over.
With me, there is no flight, fright, freeze, fawn, or flop. There is, however, a ferocious fight and sparkling spirit deep inside that will keep me going.
I’ll be here day after day, hitting the repeat button of sisu.
Yours faithfully,
I’m possible.