Universal message in ‘6 Things’
Geoff Eaton, founder of Young Adult Cancer Canada, released his first book for kids on Wednesday
Geoff Eaton has been thinking about writing a book since he was diagnosed with cancer at age 22.
“I started writing the week I got sick,” Eaton said. “I have a blog that’s extensive and documents a lot of the intense personal experience.”
Eaton’s father donated bone marrow to save him. But complications from the transplant placed Eaton in the intensive care unit on life support in a drug-induced coma.
“I was sick as hell,” Eaton said. “I had a bunch of acute episodes in that space where they didn’t think I was going to make it past the hour. It was during one those crises … it was just odds, but they thought I had less than a two per cent chance of coming out.”
He beat those odds. But at age 25, he was diagnosed with cancer again.
He beat that, too, and now, close to 20 years later, Eaton is not only still alive, he’s happily married with three young kids, and just released his first book.
But it isn’t about the details of his life specifically — it’s about the knowledge and wisdom he’s gained from his experiences, struggles and triumphs.
And as he writes in “6 Things”, which is directed at school-age children who may be facing challenges, one per cent is not zero per cent.
“There’s a bunch of things in that statement … part of it is very much about hope,” Eaton said. “Statistics are sometimes an accurate reflection of the past. They’re not necessarily a predictor of the future.”
The message is simple and direct. For instance, the second message in his book: “You will screw up and fail: It’s okay.” That’s something that may be easy to forget, even for adults.
“The book came from a speech that I gave to a group of grade sixes, five years ago now,” Eaton said. “The message in there is age appropriate for 11 or 12 year olds, but they are totally how I live my life … they are as applicable when you’re 86 as when you are six.
While Eaton dedicates the book to his kids and wife, he hopes to inspire people to learn from their mistakes and keep on pushing forward.
“We’re going to have lots of people in our life that say it can’t be done. They are not going to be hard to find. I want some more people out there saying … keep that dream on your list, keep chasing that, whatever it is.”