This is an uplifting and heartfelt story of... cancer... of all things! Dean Holonko is a marine engineer who faced the ultimate plot twist—being diagnosed with stage four melanoma. But instead of letting fear take the wheel, Dean chose gratitude, resilience, and a whole lotta humor to navigate his journey. We're chatting about how his unexpected adventure with cancer transformed his perspective on life, making him a poster kid for hope and a master of living in the moment. So let’s get inspired by Dean’s incredible journey of survival, mindset shifts, and the power of connection...

Takeaways:

• Dean's story emphasizes that the power of hope and science can work wonders together.
• Choosing gratitude and connection over fear can transform our perspectives on life's challenges.
• Immunotherapy represents a groundbreaking shift in cancer treatment, offering new hope for patients.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Ignite Voice, Inc.
• B.C. Med
• BC Cancer Agency
• Merck
• Bristol Myers Squibb

Your voice is your superpower. Use it. Welcome to ignite My voice Becoming unstoppable. Powered by Ignite Voice, Inc. The podcast where voice meets purpose and stories ignite change.

Deep conversations with amazing guests, storytellers, speakers, and change makers.

Through all this, once I started the treatment and I had this surgery, I was just like, right on, man. I'm gonna be the freaking postage kid for this treatment.

Our guest today is proof that hope, science, and the human spirit can work together in extraordinary ways.

Marine engineer Dean Holonko was busy doing his life one moment, and in the next moment, he was preparing himself to die.

Oh. He was diagnosed with stage four cancer, and life changed in an instant.

But through persistence, second opinions, groundbreaking immunotherapy, and an unshakable mindset, Dean

received a.

Treatment that changed everything. What makes this story powerful isn't just survival.

It's perspective. Dean chose gratitude over fear, connection over.

Bitterness, and hope over spiraling into the unknown. This chat is about many things and how the stories we tell ourselves shape.

The way we live, how we heal, and how we connect with others. Here's Dean.

I had this tumor. Well, at first I thought I had a hernia, this little lump in my groin.

And then went and had the ultrasound and through a clinic because I didn't have a doctor at the time. And when I was at the ultrasound, I'm, you know, curious type of guy. So I'm watching the screen and I look at it, I go, that's not a hernia.

And so then they came back, said, yeah, it's. There's. There's something there. And what do you want to do? And I'm like, well, if there's something there, let's get it out.

So decided to run excisional biopsy.

Now is your head going, oh, no, this is going to be cancer. Are you worried?

No, not really. At that point, there was some there because the doctor was kind of like. The clinic doctor was kind of like lymphoma.

And he says, and lymphoma is just people. Oh, yeah, it's quite treatable.

My dad has it. Yeah.

Yeah. And so anyway, did the biopsy, and the incision wouldn't heal. And I was like four or five days and was still weeping.

And even after the surgery, the doctors sent me home, and I was like, well, this isn't right. The nurses always trust the nurses because they know. And they were kind of looking at it, going, I don't know if we should be discharging you yet.

And the doctor said, oh, no, but Fine, you can go. So anyway, we actually having a bunch of people over at our house that night and I was worried about this.

I'm like, I gotta go to the hospital, I gotta get this checked out.

Trust your gut.

Yeah. So went to the hospital and just to see why this thing wasn't healing.

And they saw the ER doc, they looked at me and went, okay, just a sec, and disappeared. And they didn't come back for like 45 minutes. Sitting there by myself. And then two doctors come in with stools and I'm like, oh, this ain't good.

This is not good.

And at that point they go, you know, we've got terrible news. You've got melanoma. We're so sorry. And one of the doctors was crying. Oh, and. But I have no idea what melanoma even is.

All I know is melanoma, skin cancer. And you know, hadn't done any research or anything. So anyway, I'm like, oh, well, okay, if it was melanoma, good thing.

We went in and took it all out. That's great. And they were kind of, you know, this tag team thing and so.

That was not great, Dean. It's not great.

Yeah, but they didn't go into much detail. And I just kind of said, okay, well if I'm glad we had it excised and took it all out and away we went.

So I went home that night and get home and there's a group of people there and I'm just like, I'm going to bed, thanks. And got up in bed and started reading about melanoma. And then it was just like, oh my God, like this.

All of a sudden it's like, oh, five year survival rates are 5%. Oh, and chemo doesn't work. And it was like, oh, this is not good.

So how do you process that? Do you.

At that point, everything is just a fog. It was just absolutely a fog. And through, you know, once you're starting to process it. Fortunately, I have a friend who was high up in B.C.

Med and his brother actually had died. Or. No, not his brother, his very good friend of his best friend when he was younger died of melanoma.

And anyway, he says, came over and talked about it and he goes, okay, the first thing is you're going to get just smashed with statistics and numbers and all this stuff. He goes, write it down because you will not remember. And then at that point, we were still sort of waiting as to what to do, where to go.

You know, the medical system was a little bit slow to Start off. And he said, I've just made a phone call and you can go to see Dr. Winston Chung at BC Cancer Agency.

He's already decided, he's already accepted your file. And he's a specialist in cancers or these cancers, and has a special interest in melanoma.

Wow.

So I was like, wow, you didn't even have to do anything. Your friend kind of set that all up.

He set that up.

Good friend.

Very good friend. Yeah. But at the same time, so that doctor, bcaa, BC cancer, he was away for like three weeks. And so all my stuff got sent to him.

But in the meantime, my initial stuff was at North Van at Lionsgate, and they set me up with an oncologist. So I went and saw that oncologist. And just for a preliminary, and it was only like a 10 minute meeting.

And I think at that point then we were still waiting for a PET scan. And so I did get the PET scan before I saw the doctor at BC Cancer. And when my PET scan came back, I had 10 dime sized lesions in each lung.

Wow.

And so it was like, okay, this is really gone. This is spreading, metastasizing like crazy.

It's a death sentence.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

And so what do you do in your head at that moment?

Listen a lot we worry about family, kids. One of the things too, which was just devastating was my younger son was in Colorado skiing, doing some training.

And I'm like, I can't tell him this over the phone. He's like 16 years old. And so my older son, a couple years older, I tell him, but I go, you can't tell anybody.

Yeah.

And so that's heart wrenching, that really.

Yeah, no kidding.

Sorry.

That's okay. I'm feeling for you.

That's so hard. And do you. Is there enormous regret in life? Is there? What is there?

What goes through your mind at that point? I don't think I wasn't even there because it's still just trying to process what can happen.

Like, so then after I got the PET scan and then I see the cancer doctor, the cancer agency doctor, and he says, there's a new treatment coming out. It's some immunotherapy and it's showing great promise. And he says, it's not approved yet.

We have to get you through a drug company into the testing of it, but. And there was two companies, it was Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb. And he said, you know, I will work to get you into this.

In the meantime, there's really nothing you can do. But he goes, I do not suggest that you go take a vacation like a lot of people do. It's like, okay, you got go. Go live your life for a few months.

And he says, I do not recommend you do that.

So.

And why did you say that? Because you stay local or what?

There wasn't a lot of time happening. Yeah, I don't think there was much time available. So I'm waiting for his results of his attempts to get me into these programs.

And at the same time, this incision in my leg, in my groin here. I got back to see the surgeon, and he goes, oh, we got in there.

He says, I couldn't take it all out because it would grown around a vein and we weren't prepared. And I'm like, oh, what does that mean? He goes, well, you know, we just kind of watch things. And this.

Well, within four or five weeks, I had a tumor the size of my fist.

Holy cool.

In my groin. That was.

Same spot.

Same spot. And it's ulcerating, and it is just gross. It's the worst thing I've ever seen. And now my mind is just like, oh, God, what's going on here?

I know at one point, I think I started reconciling my life, and. I was happy. I went, you know, if I die, I've done everything I wanted. Not everything I wanted, but I've done. I've lived the life the way I wanted to.

How old were you at the time?

I was about 55.

I can see that you're super emotional because this is a big moment in your life, and it's still an impact when you think about your children.

Oh, absolutely.

Think about how. Where you are and being. Wanting to be involved in their lives. You know, I can feel that from you.

Yeah.

It was so hard.

It was. Yeah.

And just for perspective for people, you were 55, roughly, and this was how many years ago?

10 Years ago.

10 Years ago. Okay. Yeah.

Reconciling it was, for me was like, okay, have I lived the life I wanted to? Yes, I have. I've been successful. I've done everything. You know, if. Yeah, I just. I had a really good life, a couple of wonderful kids.

My marriage at the time was rough. We were kind of both had sort of checked out before I got my diagnosis. Then it was like, okay, let's circle the wagons. Let's get back together.

Let's try this. Unfortunately, that, you know, it didn't bring us back together. So after I got through it, it was like, okay, you know, let's let's move on.

Let's get over it. Let's get on with our lives.

But that gives a focus, a purpose, a different direction, and that's okay.

Totally different perspective on life.

Yeah.

I went from, you know, I say I was happy or with my life, knew where I was. But I remember looking at my running shoes at one point and going, you know, well, they're all ratty and need new ones, but what's the point?

Why spend 40 bucks or 150 bucks on running shoes now when I can leave it for my kids? And so then it was this. Waiting for this to find out if this treatment was going to happen.

And eventually I got the phone call, and first I was denied, but he said, don't worry, I've already put in the appeal.

Wow.

And two days later, he phoned and said, you're accepted.

Amazing.

And that was just this whole. Whole volatility. Lots of tears.

Well, suddenly I had a little bit of hope, I guess, from no hope to something.

Well, that was it.

Yeah.

And at the same time, I was always going, okay, this program's there. Yeah, I'm going to get into it. Yes, it's going to be successful. And so once I got that, it was. Yes, there was a lot of relief there.

The hope really came back. And through all of this, I had this gross thing happening in my. In my groin, But I felt good. I didn't feel down.

You know, I wasn't working much, but I had the people I work with sort of covered up for me, helped me out, which was fantastic.

So you didn't feel sick, you didn't.

Feel tired, you didn't feel tired and that. But other than that? Yeah, no, typical. You know, not just devastated or anything like that, or not totally run down.

So when I got the okay for this treatment, and I read a lot about this immunotherapy, and it was spectacular how it works.

Can you tell us a little bit about.

Yeah, so they're calling it, like, the fifth pillar now.

And so what it does is as opposed to, like, chemo, which basically carpet bombs your body with deadly chemicals to kill the cancer and is awful stuff.

Yep.

Immunotherapy. It came about when they cracked the human genome and they found they could dig so deep into it, and they got into the cancer genome as well.

Or I'm not specific on.

I'm not perfect with my analysis here, but basically they found out that cancer is insidious to the body because your body doesn't know it's there, and it keeps Growing and growing and it hides from your body. So I term these the cloaking cells.

Star Trek.

Star Trek.

I love it.

So what this immunotherapy does is it targets the cloaking cells, it knocks the.

Cloaking down, it kills it.

It exposes it to your body. And once your body sees it, it goes, hey, what the hell is this?

What the heck?

And then your body goes and kills the cancer.

So white blood cells go crazy and wipe it out.

That's so smart.

It works. Apparently it started, it was in like the 20s or 30s.

There was a German doctor and his daughter that discovered this through like, flu vaccinations or flu treatments or something.

Oh, wow.

But then the world discovered radiation and the doctor passed away. So in the 30s, a woman Dr. Was just kind of not credible, not given credibility.

So it's got such a long history.

So the history was there, but it stopped. It took this big pause.

That's incredible.

So anyway, when it, you know, now it came back.

So it also makes me angry while I'm thinking about it.

Yeah, well, that's society supposedly changing. Yeah. So anyway, when I got the.

I still had this tumor thing growing, and I was just starting into the program for these infusions for the immunotherapy, which, like I say, it kills the cloaking cells. Your body goes and reacts, does what.

It's supposed to do.

So then I had to have a surgery on this. There was lots more details than that where some doctors said, oh, no, we can't touch that. It's too close to things, and blah, blah, blah.

And then another doctor, we said, can we try and hold this at bay while this treatment takes effect? And went and saw a radiation doctor at cancer agency. And he goes, yeah, I can radiate it. And we can have a plan here.

And I mean, this is open wound, basically. And the look on the nurse's face told me all I needed to know. And she was like, oh, my God, like, no, that's not gonna work.

You know, you could just see her, just see the look on her face was like, oh, you know. So my ex at the time, she says to the radiation doctor, well, why can't they operate on this? And he goes, that's a good question. I don't know.

So he's. Let me ask. So went out of the room, called the specialist surgeons, they looked at my stuff.

Fifteen minutes later, he says, go over to the other wing there. They're going to look at you because they think they can do something about this.

Wow.

Now you're told by another surgeon before that. Inoperable.

Inoperable.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Second opinion is always a good idea, isn't it?

And I actually ran into that doctor again after the surgery.

And did you have a few pieces of advice for him?

I held back to her, but I looked at her and she knew.

Yeah.

And I think that was all that was needed to be said. So anyway, then I had this operation which took this out. They had to, you know, move some muscles around and stuff and.

But it was six hour surgery and was totally successful. They got all the margins that they wanted.

The surgeon, she's since moved to the states, but just a wonderful lady and was very successful with the surgery. So I actually started my treatments, had the surgery, and then went for my second treatment.

So the treatments were three weeks apart and an hour long infusion.

So it's a diet.

It sounds like chemo because that's what chemo's like. Fusions and takes time and three weeks apart.

And that's where I ended up first. I started it was a private clinic because it was sponsored by Merck. And then after six months, six months or somewhere past there, the B.C.

Government accepted this as a treatment. And so then it moved over to the cancer agency.

And it's just an IV, basically hooked up.

Basically, it's an IV. I got like 98 milliliters of this stuff with some saline and I was in the same room as the people getting chemo.

And, you know, through all this, once I started the treatment and I had this surgery, I was just like, right on, man. Like, I'm gonna be the freaking postage kid for this treatment.

Is this your personality? Is this how you've always looked at life?

I've always been a pretty positive person. Yep, yep. Always. Yeah. Always look on the bright side of life and don't look at, you know, the negative stuff.

Yeah, the negative stuff hits you, but it's like, okay, what can you do?

One of the biggest things that I, when I went, that was going through my head through all of this, and I say this to people all the time is, you don't know. And somebody says, oh, you've got cancer. Everybody's like, oh, my God, I'm gonna die. You don't know.

And when I'm going through the biopsy is like, I don't know. Then you do. Then when you find out something, okay, now I know I've got melanoma. Then it's like, this treatment's available.

How well is that going to work? You don't know. But at the same time, you want to be positive about it, but you don't try and go down the rabbit hole.

And the rabbit hole worst for me was driving, because I do a lot of driving through my work. And you're driving along and all of a sudden you start spiraling, spiraling, spiraling. And I would to out loud, I'm like, stop it.

You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know. And try and shut myself down that way.

Loud music, talking to you.

Meditation. I think of tennis, I think of tennis because I was never terribly good at tennis.

And every now and then, you know, they get the back hand just right, the swing, everything going beautiful. I'd be powerful out there, but then a shot would go a little crazy and I'd start to doubt. And I was doubt more and more and the game just collapses.

So it's so hard to get that head under control. But you managed to fight it off.

That was the biggest thing. I'm a full believer in positive attitude. I think the brain can really affect your body.

One of the biggest things is stress affects people so bad in a negative way. Well, let's turn that around. Like, try and eliminate the stress. Think positive. Positive things are going to happen.

And there's science behind that too. I mean, they've proven that sending positive vibes to water changes the chemicals in water.

It changes.

Yeah.

Well, I'm also just thinking running cortisol through your body in the stress all the time is going to cause sickness, right? Yeah. You want to fight that?

Yeah. So that was, you know, those were kind of my mantras was like, you don't know and stay positive. And then the other was so kind of carrying on.

I ended up being like the poster kid for this treatment. And what they do is they will not give you a scan for three to four months after you start.

Because when your body's attacking something, generally it will swell up. That's the healing process. So they said with a scan they can't tell whether the stuff is healing or whether it's growing. They don't know.

So they just say, okay, we're not doing anything for four months or three, four months.

So you got to wait that time. You know, you've got what, 10 dime.

Sized in each lung?

In each lung. So you know, that's all sitting inside of you and you just don't know for three months.

But you're still going to see the doctor and, you know, how are you feeling? I said, I feel good. And they say, if you're feeling good, that's a good sign.

How do you look at your own body when you know this thing is growing inside of you and can kill you? It must feel kind of funny.

I don't think I even looked at. I've always looked at my body as being strong.

And it was just like once I wrap around the idea that the cloaking cells were gone and my body was up and one of the other things in my head I had that this treatment also ramped up your immune system. But I've checked with the doctors since and they go, no, no, there's nothing there that ramps up your immune system.

Which I don't know because after I had the treatment five years, I never got a cold, I never got a flu, nothing. It's very, very rare that I get any kind of illness. So I don't know if that was just a side effect or side benefit.

But so I'm waiting for this, the decision, or waiting for the results. And so that was a huge, huge day. And that was the most nervy because you're going in and so you go.

In and get the scan and then how long before they tell you anything?

Well, then it's like, we did the scan and we'll see you next week or something like that. Yeah. And so then, so we go in for the.

To meet the oncologist and it wasn't the original doctor I had, it was another fellow that was in the department and who is totally clinical and which, you know, they have to be, they're so unemotional.

And so the funny thing is we went into the appointment and I had this little cough or something, and my ex at that time, she's going, he's got this cough, like, da, da, da. And she and the oncologist are going on and on about this cough, and I'm finally like, hey, stop. What about all my lungs, all the crap in my lungs?

And he goes, oh, that's all gone. Don't worry about that. So back to this cough. And I'm like, whoa. So that was, it was, it was just so bizarre because I'd still.

I hadn't realized how much I was thinking about dying.

Right.

And now my whole thought train had to turn to living again.

Right.

That really surprised me.

Do you remember a moment when it clicked, when stuff really struck you in anything you recall from the moment?

I think it was like over like two months. Like it was a real gradual thing because you had to kind of stop and go, oh, no, I don't have to think about that anymore. No, that's gone.

And yeah, it wasn't just this bing change. It was quite gradual.

Was there ever like a fear that you would have it again? Did that enter your mind?

That's interesting because my current partner asked me that a while ago. She goes, how often do you think about cancer? And I went, probably once a day.

And then I started thinking about it and I probably think about it at least five to ten times a day. And it's just with the only lingering symptom I have from all of this, which is incredible. And when I went through the treatment, I had fatigue.

I didn't lose my hair, I didn't feel down, I wasn't vomiting. It was unreal. It was just like getting going for an hour of an infusion and that was it. So I had an hour inconvenience.

Compare that to chemo, right?

Exactly.

Chemo's nasty.

And when I was in the room, when there's six or eight chairs in the room and I'm seeing what people are going through with chemo. And so I had it in my head that every time I went in, I was positive, I dressed nice and I went in, hey, how's everybody doing today?

Blah, blah, blah. And you know, just try and bring spirits up and, you know, help people along.

And I didn't want to feel like I was bragging to them to say, yeah, well, mine's all gone. And I'm just, you know, just this maintenance stuff, I'm doing great. But at the same time, you're like, hey, you know what? There's hope.

And you hear people's different stories. Like one fellow I talked to in there, he was like, you know, I'm in here. I've took care of my body my whole life.

I ate, well, this, and now I've got this bloody cancer going through me. And you see other people who've never taken care of their body and they smoke and they drink and it's like we're in the same spot.

So, you know, it is non discriminatory. Like it takes whoever.

Yeah.

So you never know.

It's not fair.

No, really isn't. So.

Kind of lost where I was going there, but we were talking about.

The moment and the processing of realizing you're not gonna die.

Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking about cancer daily.

Yeah.

Just before that. Help me out for a second. So that clinical oncologist said, oh, it's all gone. So literally everything's gone.

Gone. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Everything was gone.

Wow.

Oh my God.

Yeah, that's a miracle.

Yep. And so. Yeah. And so the treatment, did the immunotherapy, did exactly what it was, and I was, you know, fortunate.

I was one of the first 12 people in Vancouver to get this treatment.

Wow.

And then, you know, if I'd been diagnosed with this six months earlier, probably wouldn't be here.

Right.

You know, and when I went in for that surgery to remove the big tumor, basically they said. I heard them saying, well, we're just doing this to hopefully keep them alive till the treatment keeps in.

So I think I was within, like, two weeks, because this would have ulcerated more and I would have bled out.

Yeah.

So, you know, and those are the, like, the little things that catch you, and you go, wow, was that close. And I didn't think feel that bad,.

But just opposite side of a coin, you know, could have flipped one way, could have flipped the other way. You were ahead of that, but you were lucky.

And like I say, the timing of it, with this coming in, I actually ended up. Since I've been through it, I've had three other friends and acquaintances that had melanoma. And I'm like, whoa.

Well, let me tell you about this stuff. And they've all had successful outcomes. And one had it in his brain, another one in an arm, another one in lungs.

So melanoma I know, is skin cancer.

Yes.

And so that's how it. Is that how it started? Skin cancer?

I never saw a thing. There's a fairly large percent of melanoma that is subcutaneous, so you don't see anything on your skin. And that's what mine was like.

They were like, where's the base site?

And it just manifested.

Never found a base site on it.

Well, then it can metastasize, I guess, and just work through the body anywhere. Right? Like it did in your lungs.

Yeah, yeah. It goes to your lungs and to your brain.

That's the two friends. And I've had melanoma, too.

Oh, have you? And you're still here. Good.

Yeah. Yeah. I was lucky. We found mine early, and it was on my neck, and it was a small little mole that my mom had just died of cancer.

I never would have got the mole checked, but I just thought it was tiny, and it just got a little darker, and then it started having little tentacles, and I thought, oh, maybe I should get that checked, and I wouldn't have that. So I say my mom dying saved my life because we found it, and I was one of the lucky ones.

We got it really early, but I've had friends who've had it and they didn't have the luck that you've had.

Yeah, there's different. Every cancer has its different mutation. Mine was fortunate. I had the mutation that this treatment was designed exactly for.

And I haven't followed it so much now. But when I was really looking into the immunotherapy, they were.

The research on it into so many different cancers was going on so fast that they were, you know, they're like, well, this is the stuff. This is the way to do it. And you know, I guess it's funding and research and all the time that it takes to develop it for each specific cancer.

But, you know, now the cancer agency does the genetic testing or genetic analysis and they can really hone in with what your treatment is. Yeah, just be better, you know, do the best you can and make other people's lives happy.

Be better. That's such a simple term. But you know, it's just one thing a day, right. To be better.

We're talking about rewriting the personal narrative. We're talking about the story you tell yourself about yourself, first of all, and how you see yourself.

And then secondly, the story you tell yourself in the moment. Right. For that day or for that pre game or something. It's that story in your head that is so important.

Yep.

That we. I don't always realize until we go through some crises. Like you're talking and you've adjusted it somewhat, right?

Yeah, yeah, I've. I've always been a kind of a live in the moment person.

Like, I, like I want to focus on what I'm doing and I don't do social media, anything like that. I don't. Anyway, that's a whole other topic.

That'll be the next podcast.

I was going to say next podcast.

Yeah, there's a lot of. Lots of that. But you know, if I'm say.

I always remember this from when I used to do a bunch of kayaking and we were over on west coast, Vancouver island, kayaking with some friends and on this little island and I'm like, you know, it's bizarre. Like we've been here two days and I feel like I've been here two months. Like I'm just so at peace here.

And whether it's that or whatever I'm doing now, like, it's like, okay, live for the moment. Don't be recording it all to look at it. It's just live for the moment and then remember it. Although as I get older, I find I Remember, less and less.

There's that.

But yeah, it's live the moment and like you say, focus on what you're doing at the time to. Yeah, just to be better, I guess, and to just enjoy it and make the best of each time.

Well, and the other word I think I throw in there is gratitude.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, Big time. Yeah. Well, when you realize how fragile life.

Life is, you know, and it was like, you know, when I'm taught people I tell my cancer story, you know, I try not to tell it too much because I can. I could talk about it and keep everybody be sick and tired of it. But yeah, the gratitude behind it is just like, yeah, every day is a good day.

It doesn't matter if it's pouring rain. Well, awesome. It's pouring rain out there. Put on a rain jacket and away we go.

I think about that in our current times, that can seem a little dark right now with everything going on in the world and you get caught up in that. Almost go down, as you said, the rabbit hole of looking at all that shit. Right.

Getting overwhelmed.

But this is a moment when you can back up and go, wait a second.

Puts things in perspective.

Yeah. Well, I look at that. If you're watching the news all the time and it's so negative. It's like, so how much can you change?

Turn it off.

Yeah. What can you change about this? It's all happening anyway. There's really not a lot you can do other than you get your chance to vote. And it's.

Why. Actually, let me finish with that question that we often do.

Having gone through what you've gone through and then looking at the world the way it is and some of the mess we're in, often we'll ask a guest. A guest, okay, Dean, you are now king of the world. You can make any change you want.

If we're going to make the world a better place, because that's part of our aim together. It's part of the podcast Desire in this hard times. If you can make one change to make things a little better, what would you do?

Stop hating people. Stop hating people for what they believe in and what they like. Like, let everybody be their own person.

And if you know it's not negatively affecting you, like, what's the big deal? If somebody wants to believe this or that, let them do that. You don't have to impart or impose your values or your beliefs on someone else.

That's their individual life. Let them do that. Keep going, like, just. And be happy. Right. Like, you know, look at, look at all the good things that happen.

So, yeah, that's what I would change is just like, stop hating people. Stop worrying about what other people are doing. Do your, do your own thing.

Focus on yourself.

Yeah.

Stay in your lane.

Stay in your lane.

Dean's story reminds us that life can change in a moment, and so can the way we choose to meet it.

From facing death to learning how to live, live again. Dean's journey shows us the power of mindset, community, and staying present through uncertainty.

He talks about gratitude, letting go of hate, not sweating the small stuff and remembering that most people are simply doing the best they can.

You know, maybe that's part of finding your voice too. Learning to live with more compassion, more authenticity, and less.

We believe communication isn't just about speaking. It's about connection, resilience, and the stories that bring people together.

Your voice matters. Your story matters. And every day above ground is another chance to use both well.

So work with one of our talent development or coaches for one on one guidance in finding your powerful voice to make an impact.

Ignite my voice. Ignite my voice. Becoming unstoppable. Your voice is your superpower. Use it.