My Fight with Pancreatic Cancer [[Part 2] Lesson 1]

Friday, January 27th, 2012 | Uncategorized | 32 Comments

Lesson 1: BE DARING!

You just may accomplish something significant or save someone’s life.

Let me explain……

January 3^rd 2012 around 3pm

I walked into Dr. Ali’s office. He is my oncologist (the cancer doctor) and the doctor who originally explained pancreatic cancer to me back on September 19^th. He also gave me my official diagnosis 10 days later.

NEUROENDOCRINE PANCREATIC CANCER.

As I’m sitting and waiting for Dr. Ali to come in the exam room on January 3^rd 2012, I’m remembering the first time I was in his office back on September 19^th and all we’ve been through since then.

I remembered a few months back on September 19^th, I was sitting in the waiting room at Dr Ali’s office. My general practice physician, Dr. Smolak, had just showed me my CT scan and told me I had pancreatic cancer. He graciously walked me up to Dr. Ali’s office on the 4^th floor that day.

I was sitting in Dr. Ali’s waiting room and I heard these 3 elderly ladies talking about “their cancer” and their treatments. 10 minutes prior I had been given the worst news of my life. These women were twice my age. I thought to myself. “This is bulls**t.” I was pissed off. “I don’t belong here, this doesn’t make any sense. I’m 35 years old, not 75.” I had to get up and walk away to collect myself. I couldn’t listen to them talk about “their cancer”.

I respect Dr. Ali a lot. You know how some doctors act like they are to too good or too busy to spend time with you? Dr. Ali was NEVER that way. He is a true professional; to the point, caring and patient all at the same time.

So on January 3^rd Dr Ali walks into the exam room. He asks a few questions about my surgery and recovery but immediately goes to the computer. He asks me to bear with him for a few minutes as he reads my post-surgery summary report that Dr. Walsh had put together.

I watched his mouth drop open as he read the report. This was the first time he was getting up to speed on what happened.

After finishing the report, in near disbelief, he made a comment I WILL NEVER FORGET.

After taking a second to collect his thoughts he said, “Josh, Dr. Walsh is a “DARING SURGEON.”

I sat back in my chair. I was completely caught off guard.

“What do you mean he’s a daring surgeon” I responded.

“Well, let me explain,” said Dr. Ali. “Most other surgeons would have opened you up, saw the cancer, how big it was, how it was wrapped up in all your other organs, how complicated the surgery would be and they would have sewn you back up and told you there’s nothing I could do.”

“So you are telling me I could be sitting here with terminal inoperable cancer if Dr. Walsh wasn’t willing to operate on me, take a chance (be daring)?” I asked in disbelief.

“Exactly! That’s why I referred you to him. I wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost in the shuffle or go to some other hospital. Walsh does stuff no other surgeon will do. He’s one of the very best in the country. Now you see why! I knew Dr. Walsh would be aggressive and do things others wouldn’t.” Dr Ali replied.

I sat back and thought to myself; “Wow. I could be planning a funeral right now.”

As I think about these three doctors (Dr Smolak, Dr Ali and Dr Walsh) and the experience of having successful surgery and recovery I can’t help but think about what I’ve learned and how I can apply it to the 2^nd half of my life.

What can I change? What can I personally do better? What have I learned?

So here’s just the first lesson of all the different ones I’ve learned in the past 9 months.

First, I am alive and cancer free for several reasons. None are more important than the fact that Dr. Walsh was DARING.

Sometime over the past 30 years, I’m not sure when, I’ll bet Dr. Walsh made a personal decision that he would be THE BEST at his craft. Not good at his craft BUT THE BEST. He would study harder. Work harder. Work longer. Mentally prepare harder than anyone else. Then because he knew he was prepared, he would DARE to try things no one else would try. He would DARE to perform surgeries that would save lives that no one else would DARE to try.

And in the process, he would save hundreds of lives because he was more physically and mentally prepared and he is willing to be daring!

I am one of those lives.

So in 2012, I will be even more daring than before. I will prepare harder both physically and mentally. I will out work and out hustle all my competition. I will venture out into the unknown, try new things and I will be daring.

IT’S THE ONLY WAY I CAN THINK OF TO HONOR THE MAN WHO SAVED MY LIFE.

There’s most likely some venture, some trip, some business, some relationship, SOMETHING that you’d like to do this year that maybe you’ve been putting off. I ask you to DARE yourself to do it this year. No more waiting. No more obstacles. Get prepared. DARE to do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Be GREAT!

Out hustle, out work and out produce all your competition. Honor the man who saved my life in your own way by DARING to change the lives of the people around you. Dare to be different. Dare to make a significant impact on something or someone you love.

January 10^th 2012

I had a check up at Dr. Walsh’s office about 2 weeks ago. He told me that my follow up with him was complete. I’d need CT scans every 6 months for the next 5 years to make sure the cancer doesn’t come back but Dr Ali would do that.

This was the last time he’d need to see me. “It is over!” Walsh said. I was shocked.

But just before Dr Walsh walked out, I told him what Dr. Ali said about him.

“Hey, I wanted to tell you that Dr. Ali told me you are a daring surgeon.” I told Dr. Walsh. “He said that after seeing the complexity of the surgery most other surgeons would have sewn me back up and said there’s nothing we could do.”

Dr. Walsh shrugged it off saying, “Hey, someone’s got to do it, right?” and walked out with a smile. That’s the kind of person I want to be around and the kind of surgeon I wanted but didn’t know I was getting until that moment.

He was as confident as confident could be. He was over prepared. He had outworked everyone else. His confidence allowed him to be DARING and that saved my life.

I LOVE THIS NEXT SAYING. Have you ever heard this before?

“The guy knows what he’s doing AND he knows that he knows what he’s doing?”

Have you ever heard that saying? When you are that prepared and that confident you can be DARING. That was Dr. Walsh. That’s why I’m alive.

I challenge you this year to get prepared, get confident, be the best, out hustle and out work your competition……. AND BE DARING.

You may accomplish something significant, something you never dreamed of or even save someone’s life.

God Bless.

Josh

P.S. I have a few more significant lessons I’ve learned over the past 9 months that I want to share with you. I’ll send them to you as I gather my thoughts and get them down on paper.

My Personal Battle with Pancreatic Cancer [Part 1]

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 | Uncategorized | 36 Comments

Monday November 21, 2011; sometime around 5:15pm ET

My wife, Lisa Marie, was sitting in a quiet room on a conference call with my surgeon who had just stepped out of surgery. My dad was next to her taking notes. “Lisa, the cancer was as big as a basketball. This was one of the most complicated surgeries I have ever done. However, I want you to know we got it all out,” Dr. Walsh explained to my wife.

“I had to take out Josh’s entire stomach, his gall bladder, his spleen, 75% of his pancreas, and 25% of his liver. Lisa, he lost a lot of blood.  We had to take an artery out of his leg and put it into his liver. Josh is going to be in a lot of pain. But, I want you to know we got it all out; that’s what’s most important. Right now he’s in ICU on a breathing tube. He probably won’t wake up until tomorrow.”

The surgery was 9 hours long and my surgeon was exhausted. Dr. Walsh would later show us the bruises on his hands from removing my basketball-sized mass of cancer.

This all took place exactly 9 weeks and 2 days ago – three days before Thanksgiving.

Before I tell you the story of how I’ve battled pancreatic cancer over the past 9 months, I want you to know why I’m finally telling you what happened.

As I sit and write this, I keep thinking just how blessed I am. I’m not upset that I got cancer. I’m not mad that I was chosen for this. I’m not looking for sympathy.

I ALWAYS look for the positive lesson in everything. I have a lot of great things going on in my life for which I am very grateful. This fight has taught me a number of new lessons and reminded me of some lessons I’ve forgotten. Over the next few days I’ll tell you about the lessons I’ve learned as I put my life in the hands of strangers who save people’s lives for a living.

Today, I’m cancer free. I’m recovering and doing better every day. I’m more humble now than I’ve been in my entire life. I’ve been brought to my knees. Without the help of so many people, many of them strangers, I may not have made it.

Over the next couple of days, as I tell you about the doctors and the surgery that saved my life, I hope you realize how fortunate and blessed you are even when things don’t go your way. Sometimes it’s hard to see just how much so until we are put to the test.

I’ve been put to the test. Maybe you’ve been put to the test.

I believe it’s the lessons we learn along the way that make the experience worth going through. Getting cancer, having major surgery, battling an infection, sleeping in pools of sweat, getting the chills nearly hourly, having dozens of sleepless nights, and losing 40 lbs was all worth the experience because of the lessons I’ve learned over the past 9 months.

I’m a completely different man. I’m more patient and more humble. I move slower and I do less. But the things I do, I do very well. My relationship with my wife has never been better. I appreciate her more than ever. I realized how much I need my family and friends and how important they are to me.

With the support of my amazing wife, Lisa Marie, my parents, my family and friends, today I am cancer free. I do not have any chemo, radiation or additional treatments scheduled. I am already nearly 100% recovered. I’m back to work as of this week.

Still, I feel overwhelmed by this entire experience.

Now if you’d like to hear how this unfolded I’m going to back up a little bit so I can try to put this into perspective.

Sometime in late July/ early August, 2011

I was at home playing with my two girls – tackling them, tickling them, playing Superman and airplane. It’s one of my favorite things to do. When we’re done playing and I’m lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling fan, I have my hands crossed over my stomach. I’m in good shape – I’ve lost 20 lbs. over the past 2 years – so my stomach collapses in when I lay down. I feel the right side of my stomach and it’s flat. PROBLEM – the left side isn’t. There is a lump and it feels hard as a rock. It’s about the size of my fist.

I call out to Lisa Marie. “Hey Honey, check this out. I feel a lump or something in my stomach.” Lisa walks over, looks and says, “Oh god, what is that?” I don’t know, but it’s not supposed to be there. I did know that it couldn’t be good.

We knew that I should get this thing checked out as soon as possible. BUT, we immediately agreed that it would have to wait. You see, Lisa Marie was 8 ½ months pregnant with our third child and first son. My son, Dominic, was going to be born in a few weeks. We already knew that he was going to have serious complications on the day of his birth.

Dominic’s doctor had discovered a “black mass” in his neck during Lisa’s 18 week ultrasound back in May, 2011. They didn’t know what it was exactly – maybe a cyst, maybe a tumor. Maybe it would go away. It didn’t. Each time we went for an ultrasound throughout the summer, the mass was bigger. Lisa’s doctor had been a high-risk OB-GYN for 35 years and had never seen this before. Dominic’s due Sept. 10.

The diagnosis for Dominic was our first priority. Lisa and I talk about this “thing” in my stomach over and over – several times a day, every night. There was no way I was putting myself in front of my wife’s pregnancy and my son’s birth. We decided to wait until after he was born to address my health issue.

Dominic was born via an emergency C-section August 17^th, and after several days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit we brought him home.

September 7^th 2011

A couple of weeks later, he was struggling to breath in the middle of the night. The cyst had gotten bigger almost overnight. We could see the cyst bulging out of the side of his neck. We rushed him back to where he was born at the Cleveland Clinic. It was 1am. He had emergency neck surgery to remove the cyst and half of his thyroid. He had a 4-inch incision in his neck, but would be fine.

Monday, Sept. 19th, 2011

I received a call at 8:30am. The woman on the other end of the phone said I had to come to the hospital immediately. She wouldn’t tell me why, other than something showed up on the CT scan that I had on Saturday September 17^th. But what? I got ready to leave the house and told Lisa I had to get to the hospital now. She started crying.

I walked in to my doctor’s office at 9:15, nervous about what I would hear. As I sat down to wait I thought, “What could be wrong?” It was obviously something serious; otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here.

My doctor walked in and immediately said. “I need to show you something. He pulled up my CT scan on his computer screen. “Mr. Cantwell, do you see this large grey area here? This isn’t supposed to be here. This is a mass and it’s really big. I’m sorry to tell you, Mr. Cantwell, but you have PANCREATIC CANCER.”

My heart sank. My head fell between my hands. My thoughts immediately turned to my son who was in the ICU at the Cleveland Clinic, and my wife who was recovering from her emergency C-section and home alone with my two baby girls. Dominic was three weeks old and on a breathing tube. He had just had the mass in his neck removed 6 days prior.

What was I going to tell Lisa?

My son is in the hospital recovering from surgery. My wife is home recovering from surgery. Now I had just been told I have pancreatic cancer.

This would be anyone’s worst nightmare. It was my real life.

Over the next few days I’ll fill in the blanks on how my battle with pancreatic cancer was won and how the doctors saved my life. I’ll also continue to reveal to you the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Maybe some of them will help you along your journey.

Happy Thanksgiving. You mean more to me than you realize.

Thursday, November 24th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I hope you are about to have the best day of the entire year today!

I love Thanksgiving and today I want to tell you personally how thankful I am for you.

I realize that you are chasing your dreams and have enlisted me to help you get there. I don’t take that lightly. It means a lot to me to know you are looking to me for “the edge” and every day I try to deliver that to you so you can achieve your goals and dreams.

Today, I just want to say thanks. I am grateful for you

You mean more to me than you realize.

Josh

How To “Cheat” On Short Sales

Thursday, October 27th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I just got off the phone with a really successful short sale investor from Arizona who’s connected to my inner circle.
He told me that after doing hundreds of short sales he’s found a way to cheat the short sale process.

You have to see this!

Check out this brand new video

I have done over 400+ short sales and I’ve never seen anyone do it this way, this fast and for this large of a profit margin.

Josh

P.S. Plus he has funding ready for people who do it his way.

This video explains it all

I need private money to do big deals. You do, too.

Thursday, October 20th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from my members about Private Money, Hard Money, and Transactional Funding.

Here’s the MAIN question they ask:

Do I need private money to be super successful in real estate?

~OR ~

Can I do alot of deals without private money?

Here’s MY answer:

You can do lots of little deals without private money. Little deals meaning $2,000 to $14,000 deals. Equity wholesaling, lease options and short sale bird dogging can easily make you this type of income WITHOUT private money.

~BUT~

All the BIG deals typically need some sort of funding and CASH IS KING. He who has CASH gets the best deals.
If you want the truth about doing real estate without any money, then you need to watch this video.

I hate to have to break this to you, but money is ABSOLUTELY needed in this business to do the BIG BIG BIG DEALS. I just closed a $40,000 rehab. Without money there’s no deal. I have a short sale I’m closing in 2 weeks BUT I have to hold it for 30 days. Profit is about $38,000 NET after all expenses and holding costs. Without money no deal!

Whether you are just getting started or you are a seasoned pro, your ability to access money for your deals is a HUGE issue.

But before you allow yourself to give up, there is a MAJOR silver lining out there.

The people holding all the money ARE LOOKING FOR YOU… RIGHT NOW! That’s right!! I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s ABSOLUTLEY TRUE! They want to invest their money with you. In fact, they actually NEED to invest their money with you.

Their challenge is just the opposite of yours.

They just don’t know how to find YOU. In fact, they don’t even know that your business exists right now.
So, if they are looking for you and you are looking for them, how do you find each other and start doing business?

This video will show you how to reach right across the table and shake their hands.

[VIDEO] Matching You With Money

Just imagine how different your life is going to be when you have access to the money that you need to do deals.
How much pressure will that take off you?

How much more enjoyable will this business be when you don’t have to wonder how you are going to pay for this property or that property?

Imagine…you will just know that you can write the check.

Josh

P.S. Getting access to unlimited funding was a game changer for us. This is exactly what we have done to raise millions of dollars, so I know it works.

Make sure that you watch this entire video and make it work for you too!

>>>> Best video you will ever see on raising private money <<<<

Congratulations on just doing what it takes!

The Best Addition for your Business (no contest)

Saturday, September 24th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Can you believe summer is coming to a close? For me, it’s a perfect time to reexamine my business and make sure I have all the best pieces in place. This lets me finish the year strong, moving into the new year.

Having the right tools and resources is KEY, but sometimes you don’t have the budget yet to match your objectives.

Well, that’s about to change.

You have to check this out now:

http://members.internprofits.com/dap/a/?a=1410&p=www.InternProfits.com/newsp

You’ll learn about this AMAZING BUSINESS BUILDING STRATEGY that you can’t afford to pass up…

It’s pure genius.

In fact, I’m in the process of implementing this strategy in my own business RIGHT NOW.

After you watch the video, you’ll get your hands on 2 fr*ee documents and something extra, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Watch the video now:

http://members.internprofits.com/dap/a/?a=1410&p=www.InternProfits.com/newsp

You’re about to find out a totally new way to think about your business.

Be ready.

Josh

P.S. You’re going to find out how to get more done, grow faster, make more, and work less, simply by watching the video and repeating the strategy for yourself.

Watch it here:

http://members.internprofits.com/dap/a/?a=1410&p=www.InternProfits.com/newsp

Business Systems Webinar Replay

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Last night’s webinar was one of the best we’ve done in a long time. Check out some of the comments :

“I was fortunate to be able to listen to the entire webinar today presented by Josh Cantwell and was almost mesmerized by his business module systems, i.e. Yellow Jacket Properties, Sharp Concepts Realty, DAG Properties, Loss Mitigation Solutions, and Quantum Capital.” -Diane W.

“This was by far the most educational and useful webinar I’ve attended since I started my journey into the field of Real Estate. . It is so exciting to see what you are doing. I look forward to getting the process maps to help with my planning for this new endeavor.Thank you for all you do Josh, enabling the entrepreneur is what will ultimately be the force that brings this country back to it’s glory. ” -Sabina T.

“It was truly a great eye opener on how to accomplish amazing things” -Diane W.

“I appreciate the great information and Josh’s tremendous generosity.” -Eric S.

“Please let Josh know that the presentation was very informative, dynamic, and inspirational. Thanks for the invite and the knowledge. It is appreciated.” -Don G.

“This was by far the best webinar I have ever attended. Please send me the process maps so I can follow your model for success.” -Ranko R.

“Thank you for sharing such high level of information. I look forward to receiving and applying the systems maps and being involved in more of your training.” -Maurice D.

“I just want to share- I have been to many, many webinars and this was the best webinar i have been to in a long time. I learned so much, Thank you so much Josh- GREAT JOB !” -Manny L.

“After watching this webinar on the 8 profit pockets I can honestly say that I experienced my FIRST real estate orgasm!” -Tom V.

Watch the replay of the webinar below, and then be sure to fill out the survey afterwards!

Fill out the survey here.

Special Personal Announcement – My Baby Boy

Thursday, August 25th, 2011 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments

My wife Lisa Marie and I welcomed our 3^rd child,  Dominic Tomasso into the world on August 17^th at 8:52 a.m.

6lbs 3oz. My wife would say he’s beautiful. She loves his little lips. I say he’s tough as nails. You should see his biceps. LOL

He’s named after his nona (Dominica) and his grandpa (Tommaso). My wife’s parents are “off the boat” Italians. Lisa has a great family and support system.

Below are a bunch of pictures of “DOM” and my little girls. His older sisters just can’t get enough of him.

Real Estate Announcement

Today’s my first day back to work….just a few hours today and a few hours tomorrow. Then next week I’m going to hit it hard.

This morning I was looking at a new list of REO’s that just hit the market yesterday and also reviewing all the great comments and feedback we’ve gotten about the “Instant Cash Infusion” 4 week coaching program. I wrapped that up 2 weeks ago.

The top question I’ve been getting from the ICI members all revolves around ONE IDEA:

“Now that I have the knowledge to do these deals….. how do I create a consistent, profitable business in real estate.” – J.K.

“How do I avoid the cash flow problems while growing my business? How do I scale up?” – R.A.

“Who should I hire first and how do I pay them?” – R.F.

“How can I consistently profit $10,000, $25,000 even $50,000 a month or more? AND not have to work 80 hours a week to do it?” – P.M.

These are all great questions that I want to answer for you.

I’m going to do a training class next week Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening to show you How to Create Business Systems that will allow you to make more and work less and enjoy the results your business can provide you instead of slaving in your business with little results.

Register for the Wednesday Afternoon “Business Systems” Class 2pm EST / 11am PAC

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/941932082

Register for the Wednesday Evening “Business Systems” Class at 9pm EST / 6pm PAC

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/487535066

Everyone who registers and attends will get a complimentary set of “Process Maps” that I use to buy and sell real estate on autopilot. You’ll see the “systems” in action and how they allow me to buy and sell profitably without slaving “IN” the business.

I’ll send you more details tomorrow about the class

Talk soon

Josh

P.S. . Register now. I’ve never done a class this detailed before on how to set up and scale your real estate business with office systems and staff protocols. I was reviewing and tightening up the process maps in the hospital while everyone else was sleeping. You’ll love them.

Register for the Wednesday afternoon “Business Systems” Class 2pm EST / 11am PAC

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/941932082

Register for the Wednesday evening  “Business Systems” Class at 9pm EST / 6pm PAC

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/487535066

“Sure Thing” Marketing Strategy Trumps All Others I’ve Tried

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I Just Fired All Of My Realtors….BAM!

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Click below to see my new traffic goldmine.

http://www.srecmegamedia.com

Here’s why this lead generation strategy kicks butt.

1) It drives more seller and buyer leads than any other lead generation strategy I have ever tried. – Enough said.
2) It drives leads all day and night – it works while you sleep.
3) No baggage – you don’t have to work through an agent bringing in the leads or bother with them calling you all day and night for updates.
4) You’re in control – you control the situation. You have the relationship directly with the seller. This means that you are in charge through the entire process.
5) It drives all types of leads – Equity, No Equity, FSBO, Pre-foreclosure, Sellers, Buyers. You name it.
6) I have done all the work for you already. – watch the video and I’ll explain.

This new traffic goldmine will blow your business away, just like it did ours.

Just think, endless leads that you can turn into dollars every month. No longer will you wake up hoping that your direct mail generates some calls…or that you door knocker gets some appointments scheduled…

AND did I mention that you’ll never have to put yourself in the position of being reliant on a Realtor or Broker again?

You don’t want to wait on this. I don’t know how long I’m going to keep this video up simply because it’s not something I want too many people to do (you’ll understand why once you see the video).

Watch this video now:

http://www.srecmegamedia.com

And gain control of your business.

~Josh Cantwell

P.S. – Stop wondering if calls will come in or if appointments will get booked. End the uncertainty today and take your business up to the next level!

Click the blue link below now to see it in action…

http://www.srecmegamedia.com