Jake’s journey a story worth sharing
Cancer survivor Jake Bailey is coming to Nelson on March 2 to share his story and some of the insights he’s picked up along the way. He talked to about the journey so far.
For most of us a leaving speech is a polite goodbye, a tidy way of summing things up before moving on. If it even has much of an impact most of us will never be made aware of it.
For Jake Bailey though, his leaving speech at Christchurch Boys’ High in 2015 was heard and felt around the world.
His school speech has entered folklore not just for being eloquent and inspiring but also for the fact that when Jake delivered those words he was staring down death.
These days you can find his words on You Tube. The thrust of his speech was to embrace each day and don’t take anything for granted.
Bailey wrote it when he was about to wind up his final year of college as head boy about to launch himself at the world.
He had firmed up plans to study law and commerce at Auckland University and was full of excitement at what lay ahead.
But then came the game changer. On October 29, 2015 he was diagnosed with burkitt’s non- Hodgkins lymphoma.
Just one month earlier seemingly innocuous wisdom tooth and jaw pain had worsened and his symptoms impossible to ignore.
When he was diagnosed and the outlook was presented to him in very stark terms - without immediate treatment he may have only had 2 to 3 weeks to live.
For Bailey that meant his speech delivered on the 4th of November took on new poignancy and it resonated around the world.
‘‘When I wrote that speech what was going through my head was planning this future ahead of me and being excited about finishing my end of year exams and having a great new years with my mates and family.’’
From there was only ever one option for Bailey and that was to face it head on and put everything into the fight.
‘‘I remember my haemotologist saying we think there’s a pretty good chance of you beating this and I remember thinking what does she mean ‘there’s pretty good chance of beating this’, of course I’m going to beat this there’s no way I’m going to die of cancer when I’m 18 years old.’’
Having that positivity helped Bailey through the diagnosis and the treatment.
‘‘A big part of my journey was being positive, that overwhelming belief I was never going to die because dying wasn’t an option.
During that time he drew inspiration from his family and his girlfriend, the people who were around him at that time.
‘‘They had it far tougher than I had it and I’m really grateful it was me going through it not them so I didn’t have to watch any of them go through it.’’
‘‘They were incredibly strong throughout, they demonstrated a lot of the values I needed to get through the cancer whether it was the strength they had or the courage or their bravery regardless of how tough it was.’’
Bailey also drew inspiration from fellow cancer sufferers.
‘‘There was always someone who had it tougher than I did and they were getting through it by being stronger than I was.’’
He has been in remission since early last year and has been based in the Gold Coast fulltime since July.
Bailey now speaks to groups as diverse as school kids to business groups across New Zealand and Australia at times addressing groups of up to 1000 people.
‘‘People from all walks of life are receptive to my message and I’m very grateful for that. People have been incredibly supportive and I feel comfortable sharing my story.
‘‘Different parts of what I say speak to different people in different ways.’’
And things are picking up steam with his autobiography due out in May and potential opportunities to speak in the United States and the UK.
For the future Bailey says he’s keen to take it as far it goes. He has an idea of where a finish line might be but he keeps that to himself.
‘‘I don’t want to be talking about this for any longer than anyone wants to listen about it.
‘‘But for now I’m happy with what I’m doing, I’ve got a lot going on, I wouldn’t change how things are.’’