Joseph Sargente retired and soon after was diagnosed with skin cancer. He spent his whole life upset that life seemed unfair. Surviving cancer though, he realized how few people survived to retirement, let alone had more time left to live.

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Cyrus, can you tell me a little bit about your cancer experience and what that has meant to you? 

Basically I felt like I got ambushed. I retired at 62, had a mole on my face a year later, and sometime after that, my dentist told me, get that looked at. And I never thought anything of it. It wasn’t giving me any problems. I had it looked at, and it was malignant.

It was a melanoma, and I got it from sun exposure.

It was hard to digest all that information, because I was just starting the last phase of my life. I was looking forward to it.

I felt I was ambushed on this thing. fortunately it was totall removed. All the tests came back Very well. I had no problems, lymph nodes, no problems

And the only reminder I have of it is some scarring on my face. So I consider myself extremely lucky. how has this experience changed who you are? I’ve been negative my whole life. The glass was always half empty. I was always, interested in justice and feeling that I never got my share, went to school with this guy and he makes more money than me and I’ve worked harder, it just goes on and on, this has totally given me a wake up call. Look at the half full part, you made it to retirement. I just had a, within, oh, three weeks ago I attended my 45th college reunion. 25 percent of the class is not there. They’re dead. That’s staggering odds. And I was there, I dodged the bullet a year ago.

I was fine. The topic of conversation at most of the tables at the reunion was family. I went through a terrible divorce and I’m estranged from my children. But I have step children and a step granddaughter who’s two years

old. And she’s the love of my life.

I was divorced in the late 70s. So from that point to recently, it was half empty. Why did this happen to me?

to cut to the very basics of life, health, family, and a purpose.

And I have that. My comment at this point would be I wasted a lot of time. And if I could pass that on to somebody else, who’s much younger, don’t waste your time.

Seize the day. And it takes work. Especially if you’re inclined to be negative. It takes a lot of work. Because there is no justice. Things are not fair in life. if you’re spending your life looking for it, you’re really going to waste a lot of time.

Just, accept the hand you’ve been dealt and play as best you can. And it’s not a bad deal for anyone. I’m reminded of um, Kurt Vonnegut. One of his famous lines was, Life is a series of accidents. It’s self explanatory, everyone has their own series of accidents.

And, at the end of the day, I think most people can say, you know what, that’s not a bad series of accidents. I could have done worse. And that’s how I feel about my own experience, not only with the brush I had with cancer, but with most other things.

And again, Carpe Diem. If you let today go by, and you’re in a funk, and you’re unhappy, you can’t get that back. I would like to pass that along to anyone who would listen. When you wake up, that’s your first blessing. You’ve woken up make the most of the whole day, even if it’s just going shopping or washing your car.

It’s all good,

in terms of just being diagnosed, that’s only one piece of bad news, you can move on from there. it’s not a death sentence.

And, step by step with your medical team, and the eventual outcome. I dunno if this is gonna come back next week. I have no idea. but my belief is, that it’s gone, that I won’t see it again. And if it does, I’ll deal with it at the time. I think that’s probably all you can do, you know.

my mother died of cancer at 56, and the technology at the time was terrible, and she suffered terribly. So I have that specter in my mind. if it came to that, I don’t know what I would do, but, just staying positive and appreciating every, pain free day that you have.

Because we’re all humans, we’re not superhumans, we’re just humans.