Terry Tucker is used to reinventing himself. He bounced from job to job for a long time, skirting around the profession he was most interested in (and the one his father wanted him to do least): law enforcement. Then, when Terry was 37, his father passed, and Terry took the plunge and became a cop for real. As it turns out, Terry wasn’t done changing, and he eventually retired from the force to open a consulting business.
But then he was diagnosed with cancer. Terry has a rare melanoma that led doctors to amputate his left leg in the middle of the pandemic. Physically, Terry’s had a rough go of it, but he says that cancer can’t take his heart. So he makes the intentional choice to keep going through it all, and he’s learned a lot from that endurance. Cancer, Terry says, gives him clarity. He also says cancer helped him learn four truths:
- You have to control your mind or it will control you.
- You can embrace pain in life and use it to become a stronger and more determined individual.
- What we leave behind is what we weave in the hearts of others.
- As long as you never quit, you can never be defeated.
Another truth: Terry’s prognosis is bad. The cancer spread to his lungs, and he knows he’s going to die. But he doesn’t want to give up. Because he doesn’t think life is about just him. He wants to live a life that leaves a positive, loving impact on the people around him. The thing he most wants others to know is that risks are worth taking because life is short and failure is good.
