Joe Marelle

I always thought I was the head coach, but I learned God is the head coach. He makes up the game plan. He decides when you get to play overtime. And when he says game over, it's over.

I felt like when I got cancer I lost my credibility.They thought I was damaged goods. But the biggest thing cancer has done for me is ... people call me to ask me to speak to friends or family who are going through cancer, and I can do that because in a lot of cases I've been there and done that. I know about the nausea, losing your hair and food tasting like rubber -- I've done that.

I tell other cancer patients to do something good for somebody every day,” Marelle said. “It doesn’t have to be big—it can be as simple as opening the door or saying good morning to someone. If that person says good morning back and tells you how he or she is doing, listen to what that person is saying. It took me having a setback with cancer to realize that I haven’t paid as much attention to other people as I should have. And as I started doing things for others, I realized it was giving me strength to do more for myself.

I would tell someone who’s battling cancer to write down the five to ten things that you look forward to doing with the rest of your life. In other words, your future should be the focus. For example, ‘I want to see my grandchildren,’ or ‘I want to take that trip.’ You’ve got to find something to look forward to that will give you strength. You want it to draw you like a magnet. If you don’t try to self-motivate yourself through positive thoughts, cancer will win because it’s not easily defeated.

In my case, the stats that were being quoted to me were not about me personally. I’m not a stat, I’m a person. I considered myself a ‘stat breaker.

One of the things that can help people with cancer is having something that you really look forward to doing, so that you can focus on that while the treatments are going on. I guess it’s like saying, ‘I have unfinished business left before I die.

When I found out I had cancer, I decided I was going to enjoy every day I had left. That’s what I’m going to do now. I’m going to find something to do each day. Each day that I’m idle means I’m wasting the gift God gave me. Life is too precious to waste a single day.”

When you’re a coach or athlete and you win a championship, you realize that the championship was really a work-in-progress. What you went through during the pre-season, in the regular-season and then during the post-season enabled you to win a title. I treated the stages of my cancer treatment as the phases of a championship season, and it kept me on track to accomplishing my ultimate goal.

You’ve got to have dreams. If you don’t continue to have dreams, then you’re only defeating yourself. If you continue to follow your dreams, you’re going to succeed.