I challenge you to ask yourself a simple but important question: What truly defines you?
Who are you when your job, your accomplishments, your fitness goals, and your daily routine are stripped away?
For years, I defined myself by legal victories, settlements, billable hours, and checking every box. I wore my Type A personality like a badge. I was always chasing the next goal, the next PR, the next workout, the next version of myself, and worrying about my children as if it was a sport.
As many of you know, I was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and was given a second chance at life through an anonymous bone marrow donor from the National Marrow Donor Program.
All I know about my donor is that she is a 28-year-old woman and a couple years older than my own daughter. She is a perfect match, and because of her extraordinary act of generosity, I have another chance to live. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude.
AML is an incredibly aggressive blood cancer. Countless things had to go right for me to make it to transplant. The stars truly had to align. Shout out to Dr. Pratz and his wonderful team. I've now spent the last 19 days as an inpatient at University at Pennsylvania, and not a day has gone by that I haven't asked myself, "Who are you? How can you make a difference? How can you leave the world better than you found it after something like this?" Those are questions I never asked myself in my former life, my "PC" (pre-cancer) life. Back then, I obsessed over workouts, races, billable hours, and comparing myself to a younger version of me. Sitting here now, in a hospital room without fresh air or sunshine, watching my hair fall out in clumps, I can honestly say I don't think about any of those things anymore.
That doesn't mean I won't return to practicing law, racing or exercising. I absolutely hope to. But I've realized those are things I do, they are not who I am. They will never define me again. For perhaps the first time in my life, I'm comfortable sitting in silence. I don't have all the answers yet. I'm still discovering my purpose and my "why." But I know that when I leave this hospital, the things I want most have very little to do with work, workouts, restricting my calories, or walking 25,000 steps a day.
This experience has taught me that our greatest accomplishments aren't found on my resume, in a courtroom, or my Oura ring. They're found in the lives we touch, the kindness we extend, and the legacy we leave behind. So today, I challenge you to ask yourself the same question I've been asking every day, "Who are you?"
Find your "why." Discover what truly defines you, not someday, but now, while you have the health and the time to choose. None of us knows how much of either we're given. And if you're able, please consider registering to become a bone marrow donor. One anonymous stranger changed the course of my life. You could do the same for someone else.
Philice
acute myeloid leukemia (AML
