Local Real Estate Investor, Pancreatic Cancer Survivor Tells Survival Story at PurpleSt

June 20, 2012 - PRLog -- Cleveland’s own Josh Cantwell challenged a crowd of nearly 2,300 people at this year’s Pancreatic Cancer Action Network PurpleStride Cleveland to “Be Daring!” Cantwell is a native-Clevelander, successful real estate investor, Internet marketer and entrepreneur, and at 36 years old, a pancreatic cancer survivor. He was one of 16 pancreatic cancer survivors in attendance. The event, hosted at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, featured a 5K run and 1 mile walk to raise funds, awareness and support for pancreatic cancer.

Cantwell is the CEO of Strategic Real Estate Coach, Sharp Concepts Realty and several other real estate centered businesses. In the fall of 2011, he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. He discovered a lump in his abdomen while playing with his young girls one afternoon, and after extensive testing and multiple doctor visits, he faced a seemingly uphill battle.

In November 2011, Cantwell entered the Cleveland Clinic for one of the most complicated surgeries his daring surgeon, Dr. Walsh, would ever perform. It took 9 hours, and the surgeons removed Cantwell’s stomach, spleen, gall bladder, 75% of his pancreas and 25% of his liver, along with a basketball-sized tumor. Today, thanks to the support of an incredible medical team, his wife, family and friends, Cantwell is 100% healthy and cancer-free; he will receive regular screenings, but has resumed his full, active life with a renewed vigor.

Cantwell captivated the crowd with his story of survival, and his life lessons learned from the ordeal.

“BE DARING! You just may accomplish something significant or save someone’s life. Let me explain. As I sat and wrote this speech over the past few weeks, I kept thinking just how blessed I am and how honored I’d feel to be in front of you today. I’m not upset that I got cancer. I’m not mad that I was chosen for this. Instead I thank God for putting me through it. I ALWAYS look for the positive lesson in everything and that’s what I hope to convey to you today.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to see just how blessed we are until we are put to the test. I’ve been put to the test. Maybe you have too. Last year while watching my wife go through an emergency C-section, I had a giant lump in my stomach. Seeing my son struggle to breathe and almost turn blue, watching my son recover from head and neck surgery at just 3 weeks old, sleeping overnight in a chair at the hospital next to my son while waiting my own battery of tests, finding out I had pancreatic cancer, having major surgery, battling an infection for 4 weeks, leaving my daughters Christmas play because I was dripping in sweat, having dozens of sleepless nights, and losing nearly 50 lbs. in 3 weeks was all worth the experience because of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’m a completely different man today than I was just 1 year ago. Still, I feel overwhelmed by this entire experience.”

Cantwell explained the life-changing lessons he has learned, and the vows he’s made to be different. He shared that he is alive and cancer-free thanks to his incredible support system – his wife, children, parents, brothers, and the skill of his surgeon, Dr. Walsh. Above all, this experience has Cantwell committed to being daring in everything he does in his life, to try new things. He vowed to out-hustle, out-work and out-produce his competition. He encouraged everyone to honor those who are in our lives and dared us to change the lives of someone around us – dare to be different, dare to make a significant impact on something or someone that we love.

Cantwell’s parting words inspired the crowd, “I challenge you this year to get prepared, get confident, be the best, out-hustle and out-work your competition… AND BE DARING.
You may accomplish something significant, something you never dreamed of or even save someone’s life.”

He is one of the lucky ones; pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any of the major types of cancer – more than breast cancer, lung cancer or others.

Cantwell had much support in the crowd, and was one of the top fundraisers for the PurpleStride Cleveland event, raising $6,441, beating his goal of $5,000. He also had 48 friends and family members join him at the event.

This year, according to the American Cancer Society, over 44,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but only 7,000 will survive. There are no early detection tools or screening that can diagnose the disease, and research is drastically underfunded, compared to other forms of cancer.

To read Josh’s entire speech, visit http://www.strategicrealestatecoach.com/?p=4897.

To learn more about Josh’s inspirational story of survival, visit http://www.strategicrealestatecoach.com/?p=4232  and http://www.strategicrealestatecoach.com/?p=4236

As an industry leader, Strategic Real Estate Coach (SREC) provides the most advanced training in the real estate investing profession, both challenging and empowering students to go out to build the type of business they’ve always wanted and supporting their dream lifestyle. To learn more, visit www.strategicrealestatecoach.com.

If you’d like more information or to schedule an interview with Josh Cantwell, please contact Angie Salisbury at 877-319-3760 or via email at angiesalisbury1@gmail.com.