Wednesday of last week one of our employees came in to see me. He has been struggling with a fight against cancer for nearly two years. After starting out as colon cancer it had spread to his lungs and liver but was being reasonably well controlled. The day before he came in, he had been told he had from two to twelve months to live. He had told Tony and was now telling me that he was resigning completely. During the past 22 months we have told him that the most important thing was his health and to work when he felt well enough. He did and it has helped give him a sense of purpose and provided an additional anchor point for his life.
I told Brad again, as I have a number of times during the past two years, that I greatly admired his positive attitude during this whole event.
His response: "I can control my attitude, but that is about all I can control during this time. I cannot control what is happening to me. The doctors control what my treatment is, including chemo-therapy and radiation treatments. And I cannot control how my body is acting, but I can control my attitude."
During our conversation, Brad told me that his doctor (at a large teaching hospital in our state) had told him that the Richway employment policy with regard to cancer is about the best she had encountered. While it validated the value of the culture we have worked hard to establish and maintain, I would much rather have not had to put our culture in action for this reason.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you Brad. You are an inspiration to us all!!
I asked Brad for permission to publish this story in this blog. He readily gave it with the comment that "if reading it helps just one person get through something hard, it is worth it." Brad does not merely talk about positive attitude, he lives it!
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