‘I never had a second thought’: College athlete cuts career short to save stranger’s life

Cameron Lyle has asked a lot of his body over the years, but he never expected it to save the life of a stranger.

A shot put star on the University of New Hampshire track and field team, Lyle was at the pinnacle of his collegiate athletic career when he had to make a profound decision.

A man with blood cancer was desperate for healthy bone marrow and Lyle was the only match on a national registry of potential donors. The only problem: if Lyle decided to donate, it would mean missing some of the most important track meets of his senior season.

Faced with cutting his career short, Lyle focused only on the chance to save someone’s life.

“I was surprised, I was pretty happy. I said yes right away,” Lyle, 21, told TODAY. “And then afterwards I thought about everything that that meant giving up, but I never had a second thought about donating. If I had said no, he wouldn’t have had a match.”

Lyle had all but forgotten the Be The Match Registry drive that came to his university two years ago. He allowed his cheeks to be swabbed and didn’t think much more of it. Only 1 out of 540 people who sign up go on to donate, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, which operates the Be The Match Registry.

Then, two months ago, he got a call. Lyle was told he was a possible match for a young man with a rare form of leukemia, a disease that gets worse quickly if not treated, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Lyle underwent blood tests, which confirmed he was a definite match. Once he agreed to donate – something “any kind of decent human being” would do, he said — more tests followed to make sure he didn’t have any health problems. Time was of the essence.

“They gave me a pretty strict deadline because my recipient needed it pretty fast,” he said.

Everything was a go and last week, Lyle headed to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to share his bone marrow with a stranger.

There are two ways to harvest the cells, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, with most collections done in an outpatient procedure that’s similar to donating blood. A quarter of cases, however, require a surgical procedure in which doctors insert a special needle into the hollow of donor’s hip bone. A syringe attached to the needle draws out the marrow. The procedure usually requires general anesthesia and an overnight hospital stay.

The recipient’s doctor determines which method is best. Lyle needed to undergo the surgical option.

It took two hours for doctors to collect about two liters – some eight cups — of bone marrow from Lyle’s pelvic bone. His body will regenerate the marrow in about two weeks.

Most people can return to their full activities within days after the donation, according to Dr. Jeffrey Chell, CEO of the National Marrow Donor Program.

But most people aren’t track stars who hurl heavy metal objects as part of their normal routine.

Doctors told Lyle to take it easy and not lift more than 20 pounds for about a month – routine advice after any surgical procedure, Chell said — effectively ending his collegiate track career.

“This is just an incredible, incredible story of what Cameron [Lyle] has been willing to do,” said Chell.

Since anonymity is crucial to the donor process, TODAY was unable to obtain information as to the recipient’s condition since receiving Lyle’s bone marrow donation. However, a spokesperson for Be the Match said after a transplant, “recovery is gradual and usually takes several months or more.”

One-year survival rates for patients who receive transplants from unrelated donors was 60.3 percent in 2011, up from 42.2 percent in 2003.

Lyle said he was told that the man received his transplant the day after he donated but that he “won’t get an update on his condition for 30 days.”

Until then, he plans on recuperating and watching his teammates compete at the America East Conference where he’d planned on “going out pretty big.” Lyle’s donation also meant missing the Penn Relays and other events where he wanted to shine after eight years of shot put training.

“But it’s OK,” he said. “It was worth it. I would do it again, too.”

Giving the everyday mundane value is a mindset; a mindset that we control.

In other words, value can be found in everything or… there’s simply no value in anything.

Learn to perfect and even love the routine!

“The rippling effect refers to the fact that each of us creates – often without our
conscious intent or knowledge – concentric circles of influence that may affect
others for years, even generations.  That is, the effect we have on other people
is in turn passed on to others, much as the ripples in a pond go on and on until
they’re no longer visible.” by Irvin Yalom

Translation: Our words and actions are powerful influences upon ALL those who experience them; whether positive or negative in nature, be careful with the ripple you effect.

To become better than we are right now! We are instinctively made for personal attainment and achievement, the mind and body an on-going building process. This has nothing to do with social status or money and everything to do with self-mastery; personal improvement is the goal!

We’d be silly to believe that we can exert full control over our lives, there’s far too many variables out of our control, but we’d be equally silly to believe that we have no influence over what does happen in our lives. Get to work making the right influences work for you… a nudge in the right direction makes things possible with continued momentum.

Most bystanders think, as a personal trainer, that I simply assist people in losing weight and guiding effective exercise, but really I assist people in expanding and improving themselves; exercise without mental improvement is eventually just a waste of time.

When we learn about something that wasnt readily known before, or see something from a new and unexpected angle, it literally takes a hold of us and alters how we view the world; that’s an insight. We shouldn’t wait for insights to come to us, we should seek them out by actively learning with a purpose. We should read books with depth, watch television of substance, attend interesting courses and engage in activities that mentally expand us.

The pursuit of health and fitness goals cause all dimensions of our lives to hypertrophy (grow stronger); remove health and fitness goals and all dimensions of our lives atrophy (grow weaker).

Early on I came to believe that you should learn as if you were going to live forever, and live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

What does this mean? In the simplest way, I would explain it like this.

Always be learning, acquiring knowledge, and seeking wisdom with a sense that you are immortal and that you will need much knowledge and wisdom for that long journey ahead. Know that when you are through learning, you are through.

But I want to live that life as if I were going to die tomorrow: with relish, immediacy, and the right priorities. I will not waste even a minute.

By John Wooden

Humility isn’t weakness, it’s simply acknowledging that we have personal limitations; what is weakness, is not pushing right up against those personal limitations.

There are multiple solutions to things that are not working in your life, you simply have to know where to find them; once solutions are pointed out externally, you simply work to implement them internally. Improving is easier than you think. Find someone who cares, find someone who will listen and work together to implement the solutions.

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

The majority of personal trainers can’t even select the correct duration and intensity of exercise required for a particular client, so the right psychological strategy certainly doesn’t cross their mind.

If working throughout the day doesn’t really matter, because you’re already back home in your mind and if being at home doesn’t really matter, because you’re already back at work in your mind, maybe it’s time to reclaim your lost hours. Make every hour in your day count! It All Matters!

The surest problem I see facing those seeking weightloss and fitness today, is their impatient desire for quick results. Impatience will certainly get you results, just not the ones you may be seeking.

Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom

Amazon.com Review:

Southern California psychiatrist William Glasser, the author of Reality Therapy, believes that almost all human misery is caused by people trying to control others. In
fact, he says, the only behavior we can control is our own; by the same token, no one can make us do anything we don’t want to. It’s only when we give up spending our energy trying to force others to conform to our ideas or to keep them from doing the same to us that we are able to live the way we want to.

http://www.amazon.com/Choice-Theory-Psychology-Personal-Freedom/dp/0060930144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361457647&sr=8-1&keywords=choice+theory

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a legitimate cardiothoracic surgeon, who just happens to host an eponymous television show that’s filled with various products, procedures, ideas and advice. He admittedly does not use the vast majority of products, procedures, ideas and advice discussed on his show. I strongly recommend that you do the same.

The passing of time, year upon year, has a cruel way of exposing our weaknesses; whether they be physical or mental in nature. Because many self-improvements take a great deal of time, best to determine the areas that require work now, and take the necessary steps to strengthen them before they are truly needed.

Marketing doesn’t get results, it never has and it never will, it simply gets your money; if you choose marketing over craftsman, you’ll certainly get what you pay for…

If you value learning over money and things… the money and things you do have will be worth more.

It’s like chopping down a huge tree of immense girth. You won’t accomplish it with one swing of your axe. If you keep chopping away at it, though, and do not let up, eventually, whether it wants to or not, it will suddenly topple down. When that time comes, you could round up everyone you could find and pay them to hold the tree up, but they wouldn’t be able to do it. It would still come crashing to the ground. . . . But if the woodcutter stopped after one or two strokes of his axe to ask the third son of Mr. Chang, “Why doesn’t this tree fall?” And after three or four more strokes stopped again to ask the fourth son of Mr. Li, “Why doesn’t this tree fall?” he would never succeed in felling the tree. It is no different for someone who is practicing the Way.
—Zen Master Hakuin

To avoid a bumpy flight and find smoother air, a good airplane pilot learns to rise above poor weather conditions. Likewise, we should learn to rise above the endless material distractions and petty emotional maneuvers of others by pursuing self-expansion; that’s where we find the smoother air and avoid the bumpy ride.

Those who can control their emotions, instead of letting their emotions control them, always appear smarter and wiser than they really are; and eventually, it will become more than just an appearance.

To master anything worthwhile, we must love the subject involved, be naturally drawn to the subject involved and spend endless amounts of time learning the subject involved; there is no other way to master it.

Any personal goal worth achieving is earned through patience and a series of connected small steps, one followed by another. Slowly chipping away at a goal, taking small bites, allows a solid foundation to form beneath it, while some forward progress is continually met. A goal pursued without patience and small steps is eventually met with an insurmountable divide that will never be crossed; this is where a goal turns into a dream that’s never met.

Everything in our lives can and will be taken from us over the course of time; this fact is widely ignored and generally unaccepted within our society. But intelligently training our minds and bodies to remain strong, even when fully aware of the unavoidable future, is what we owe to those who care about us. The bottom line: work to improve your mind and body, and you directly reward yourself, while simultaneously rewarding others with your efforts.

Countless hours, year after year, immersed within the same subject, makes someone a professional; add quality to those countless hours and you now have an expert. Many call themselves by a title they haven’t earned and certainly don’t deserve. Generally speaking, the more hours spent performing operations, the better the surgeon; the same rule applies to personal training and personal trainers. 10,000 hours applied makes you better than most…

We are free to write our own lives (predetermined short-term and long-term objectives in life are necessary to maintain a consistent and healthy direction) but from where I stand, most of us have no idea what kind of story to write; our personal objectives were externally assigned rather than internally chosen.

Fast progression and quick results are frequently the demands we make, but things of value rarely come packaged with these characteristics. Rather, we should accept the long learning curve that comes with mastering any worthwhile activity; we should be patient while creating a strong base to build upon in the near future; and we should appreciate the long view of our chosen endeavor.

Some people work really hard in order to buy a Porsche; some people prefer to work really hard in order to be the Porsche.

Quit juicing your produce – eat the “whole” thing! Whole produce contains greater fiber content, fewer calories, slower absorption of those calories and is more filling for a longer period of time. Machines that are capable of processing produce in it’s entirety (such as Vitamix blenders and the Magic Bullet) merely act as calorie compactors, reducing the total volume of the produce, leading to greater consumption. Don’t believe the marketing hype and those who swear by it, they’ve simply bought into the hype already.

When intelligently applied, we are much more likely to wear out physically from a lack of use, than from actual use.

Those who are most successful at practicing excellent health and fitness habits, are not only interested in postponing disease and premature death, but are just as interested in savoring their lives through this productive and centering medium.

It is not to postpone necessarily… but, rather, to savor life!

Dissatisfaction is found where we least expect it sometimes; buried within the ever-present search for novelty. After our decadence and indulgence is complete, novelty soon fades, only to repeat itself, again, and again, and again. Satisfaction is actually hidden in plain view… among familiar things and routines, done well.

Improve your life through the written word. Significant insights are more powerful and longer lasting then fame, recognition and money. One meaningful sentence or well-written paragraph has the immediate and lasting power to enrich and improve your life.

Although elusive and never fully attainable, the pursuit of mastery is a purpose driven life. Whether we pursue mastery within a physical activity or a mental activity, the pursuit of mastery provides positive direction and deep meaning to those who choose to pursue it. Although our modern world advertises immediate gratification and instant success, these popular paths provide short-term distraction and stimulation that fades quickly. The pursuit of mastery, in whatever vocation we choose, is the only route that rewards in ways that never end.

There is no animal on this entire planet that can match the overall athletic ability of a well-trained human being; the combination of intelligence, strength, speed, balance and especially endurance are unmatched when tallied in their entirety. Why wouldn’t you want to use it?

As recommended here at StrengthLab Personal Training for over 15 years:

1. “Eat better” (consume vegetables, fruit, whole grains and extra lean proteins)

2. “Eat Less” (don’t drink your calories, stop before you’re full and don’t eat if you’re not hungry)

3. “Move More” (exercise consistently – varying frequency, duration and intensity)

Forget diets: Cutting fat keeps you slim

It’s important emotionally and physically to connect with others; it’s not just a personal preference, it’s a human requirement. Our well-being depends upon making multiple, strong, human connections; the more frequently we make these connections, the better our personal health. Treating others like objects, not only damages those we disregard, but ourselves as well.

It’s You and Me… not just you, not just me.

The food we habitually consume literally has the capacity to regulate our future genetic material. We can activate genes that protect health, and we can de-activate genes that protect health, simply through the variety of food we choose to consume. We can activate genes that promote disease, and we can de-activate genes that promote disease, simply through the variety of food we choose to consume. Nutrition Matters.

Generally speaking, the more gifted we are physically, mentally or financially… the longer it takes to reach the thoughts and actions that matter most; our personal limitations have the potential to be our greatest teacher.

Important people in our lives, the ones that we spend the most time with daily, weekly and yearly, have the greatest influence upon what we find acceptable, possible and achievable in our own minds; they literally help re-shape our on-going lives. Therefore, connect with those who really listen to you and work to connect with those you are really willing to listen to… because these significant people are literally reshaping how you view and experience the world.

Fitness does NOT require turning your back to traffic! In fact, if your choice of fitness requires that you expose yourself directly to vehicle traffic, I strongly suggest that you find another method. When you expose yourself directly to vehicle traffic… you allow every single driver who’s approaching you to dictate your future.

By accepting characteristics about ourselves that need deep improvement, we deliberately and knowingly affect everyone else around us negatively with these deficiencies. Furthermore, to maintain personal inadequacies, without effort to improve, is disrespectful to those who have to experience it.

We had nothing to do with the original hand that we were dealt; our genetics and our immediate environment were simply out of our hands. By that same token, we have no one to blame for how we choose to play that hand once it’s received.

Staying fit and keeping your body-fat low is a long-term decision that’s made with the right small decisions everyday; there are no shortcuts and gimmicks eventually lead to the same place in which you started.

Moreover, the approach you choose to help reduce your body-fat should be the same approach that inevitably leads to long-term health and maintenance; many approachs are not maintainable and do not promote health. In addition, weightloss is not a condition that can be fixed in a few short weeks with a limited attention span; treat it like it’s a race… and you’ll keep ending up at the starting line over and over again.

There’s a lot of personal attributes that can make someone special, but GRIT is an attribute that can make all other personal assets shine; the capacity to push forward, regardless of setbacks and to continue pushing forward as long as it takes, even if the motivation and effort required take years. Have potential? So what. Have talent? So what. Have an advantage? So what. Smarter than most? So what. None of these things matter without Grit; the application of what you have and what you are, for as long as it takes. 

To change a negative habit, we need to find an alternative routine to replace the habit that we no longer desire. That’s where having support from another can make all the difference we need to make a clean break and be successful at making a positive change within our own lives. Reach out to someone who’s doing successfully what you would like to be doing successfully and follow their routine as an alternative to yours. You may find that you become a community of two doing constructive and positive things together, while your negative habits become a thing of the past.

The topic of this article is NOT new; males frequently have as many body and self image issues as females. Females generally want to be smaller and males generally want to be bigger; both respective desires can lead to unhealthy obsessions when not realistic.

Muscular Body Image Lures Boys Into Gym, and Obsession

By DOUGLAS QUENQUA

Published: November 19, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/health/teenage-boys-worried-about-body-image-take-risks.html

Canned vegetables and beans are a good source of nutrition but there’s no reason for artificial ingredients to be included. For instance, when buying kidney beans in a can there should only be kidney beans, water and salt on the ingredients list, not EDTA as a perservative or color enhancer. Also, wash the product well to lower the overall sodium content before eating.