On February 14, 2024, I introduced an initiative that #TwinzTalk Don and I kicked off – getting started with AI and ChatGPT referencing an overview document titled ChatGPT Lite: How to Get Started. We have been engaging with ChatGPT Plus and other AI Large Language Models (LLMs), such as Claude AI, starting in December 2022, shortly after Open AI introduced ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.
The future of work changed instantly with the availability of LLMs for the mainstream consumer.
“The reason AI language models are dumb is that they don’t actually know anything, the model is simply calculating probabilities. Not about the unknown, but about everything. Each word, each sentence, is a statistical guess.
I’ve switched mostly to claude.ai because it’s more effective and less arrogant, but it’s still guessing.
If a guess is good enough, you’re set. If it’s not, plan accordingly.”
“Don’t ignore AI because it’s dumb. Figure out how to create patterns and processes where you can use it as the useful tool it’s becoming.“
Don and I have emphasized from the beginning:
A mindset of curiosity, optimism, and possibility, balanced with realism, is imperative. Learn and grow with the tools.
Know what you are expecting to receive from prompts. Domain expertise is critical for evaluating output that needs to be specific and accurate.
Approach AI results critically, and educate yourself on the limitations, considering the results you seek.
Although not perfect, embrace the possibility of AI to enhance thinking, creativity, and productivity exponentially.
We created a visual, shown below, to consider the potential uses for anyone. This is not a question of “how can this help me professionally?” Please think at a more macro level: “How can this help me, and how can I then help others by bringing more value to the world?“
TwinzTalk Framework – GenAI and ChatGPT
Embrace the possibilities and create value for your world!
In this heartfelt blog post, I share a deeply personal story of how the compassionate leadership of Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington Wizards, helped me navigate a family crisis while maintaining my professional responsibilities. My two-year-old son, Ryan, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) shortly after our family moved to the Washington, DC area in 1996.
Amidst the chaos of intensive medical care necessary to save Ryan’s life, I received unconditional support and understanding from Mr. Pollin and the Washington Sports & Entertainment (WSELP) organization. Mr. Pollin’s advice to “Keep your eye on the ball, and that ball will change from time to time” resonated deeply with me, helping me prioritize my family and my son’s health while managing my professional obligations.
I express immense gratitude for the trust, flexibility, and genuine concern Mr. Pollin and my colleagues at WSELP extended to me. This support was critical in enabling me to persevere through the challenges of balancing my role as the sole provider for my family, maintaining healthcare coverage, and fulfilling my professional responsibilities.
The blog post also highlights the lasting impact of Mr. Pollin’s leadership style on my life and career. My dedication to the organization, particularly during the sale of WSELP’s assets following Mr. Pollin’s passing in 2009, is a testament to the loyalty and respect inspired by Mr. Pollin’s compassionate leadership.
Through this personal story, I emphasize the importance of empathetic leadership, focusing on what truly matters and expressing gratitude for the support received during life’s most challenging moments. The blog post is an inspiring reminder to readers to identify and focus on their “ball” – their highest priorities in life.
Full Original Writing
“Keep your eye on the ball.” These words of wisdom and encouragement were from Mr. Abe Pollin in early 1997. He gently and compassionately reminded me to go all in on my highest priority.
This post was inspired by an Instagram reel my son-in-law, Bo, sent me. Please watch the short video and continue reading my story of gratitude for Mr. Pollin and the career-saving and life-saving gift of understanding and encouragement that he and the culture of WSELP brought to my and my family’s lives.
On October 17, 1996, only two and one-half months after arriving in the Washington, DC, area, my two-year-old son Ryan was diagnosed with cancer – Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). In an instant, our world was turned upside down, and we were thrown into the day-to-day chaos of intense medical care necessary to save Ryan’s life.
I wrote more in-depth about this experience in my unpublished memoir, Living Life…Off The Track, and portions of that writing are reflected here.
March 13, 2001 | Tomoff Family at Capitals Game
When my family and I moved to Maryland, we had no idea about the leadership and genuine caring qualities of Mr. Pollin. And how that permeated into the culture of the organization. It turned out that I was a lucky professional blessed to receive unconditional support and understanding of the personal demands on me and my family. The professional who believes personal and professional lives should be maintained separately has not dealt with a life-threatening crisis. Without the company’s understanding of my personal demands, I simply could not have survived professionally.
Only days after Ryan’s diagnosis, my non-negotiable priorities were crystal clear, and I was laser-focused on where I would allow my precious time to be spent. Now, 27+ years later, my perspective has not changed, and I consider it a great gift. I fully understand my priorities EVERY DAY. In Chapter 32, Heartfelt Reflections from Bill and Olivia, of Terri’s memoir, The Focused Fight: A Childhood Cancer Journey: From Mayhem to Miracles, I noted:
“This trust and the team of professionals that surrounded me made all the difference in managing the impossible balance I had to maintain. I will never forget Mr. Pollin telling me, “Bill, you need to keep your eye on the ball, and that ball will change from time to time.” His use of the basketball metaphor was spot on, and he stressed to me, “Right now, your son Ryan and your family are the most important ‘ball’ in your life.”
The trust and flexibility afforded me, plus the genuine concern for my personal demands were immeasurable gifts that my WSELP colleagues extended to me. Ultimately, the organization and I were rewarded with a dramatic win-win situation. I am forever grateful for the support provided, and I know this was a critical pillar of our family’s ability to persevere.”
What were my core priorities, and how were the less essential priorities handled? I learned through a devastating life moment that most of my priorities were “nice to do” and not essential to moving my family or me forward. When you are focused on saving your child’s life, previously “essential” tasks go undone. A basketball metaphor from the owner of the NBA Washington Wizards hit me with a clarity I will never forget. What were those priorities boiled to their essence? Three rocks:
Family: Saving Ryan’s life and maintaining some sense of normalcy for our daughter and family unit.
Healthcare: Maintaining and monitoring coverage. Having coverage required that I maintain employment with benefits – I felt enormous pressure and prayed that I could deliver on this imperative necessity.
Work: Professional responsibilities had to be completed. My family’s healthcare and financial survival depended on my job as the sole provider – while Terri focused fully on caregiving for Ryan and balancing Olivia and our family obligations.
A fourth “given” was that Terri and I needed to take care of ourselves to ensure we would be the best we could be for Olivia and Ryan. I dismissed anything that did not drop into these buckets of obligations. There was no time to think, “I will put in more hours,” etc…no exception.
My role when joining WSELP was to handle the accounting responsibilities related to constructing the [then] MCI Center. The arena was a state-of-the-art facility, and the accounting aspects consumed much of my efforts from my arrival in 1996 until opening in December 1997.
In early 1997, I was informed that Mr. Pollin wanted to speak with me. To have a direct one-on-one meeting with him was highly unusual, especially considering I had been in my role for less than a year. We had a delightful conversation that started with updating him on Ryan and my family. I soon learned his highest priority was understanding his employees’ human side. Over time, employees built tremendous loyalty to him and the organization. I quickly learned Mr. Pollin was genuinely concerned about his employees and their families. Below are some of my [edited] thoughts I wrote in my memoir:
“I often mention, “surround yourself with the best,” and you will ultimately enhance your life. My WSELP experience was the best fortune in my career…one could not have asked for a more empathetic and compassionate owner/leader than Mr. Pollin. And his spirit of how to treat employees resonated with all those who worked in the organization. This experience would change me dramatically.”
“My time with Washington Sports & Entertainment (WSELP) would be an exact fit for my and my family’s life. When Ryan was diagnosed, our world was turned upside down, and I truly believe that my accounting career could not have survived in most business environments. People who go through a childhood cancer experience often face incredible challenges to maintain health insurance due to the need to abandon their employment in order to care for the sick child.”
“Mr. Pollin asked that I consider taking on additional responsibilities within the finance operations. I was flattered but surprised that they would remove any of my focus from the MCI Center construction efforts. My heart and soul were going into the effort, and I wanted to see the journey to the arena’s grand opening. This challenge is what brought me and the family to Washington, DC! In addition, I simply could not fathom taking on new responsibilities when Ryan was in the throes of his initial three years and two months treatment protocol. When I shared these sentiments with Mr. Pollin, he commented, “Bill, you need to keep your eye on the ball. In life, that ball will change from time to time.” He fully appreciated and had empathy for the fact that the “ball” at this point in my life were Ryan’s leukemia treatments and my family.”
When Mr. Pollin passed away on November 24, 2009 (age 85), of a rare brain disease (corticobasal degeneration), the focus had to shift to selling the assets of the organization. The process was intense, yet my mission was to dedicate all energy necessary to contribute whatever I could in memory of the personal support and patience of Mr. Pollin and all I worked with over the years. The accounting work was extensive and tedious from November 2009 to the June 2010 sale date and the final transaction closed in November 2010. With a heavy heart, I was privileged and honored to have a significant role in selling WSELP to Monumental Sports & Entertainment. The WSELP organization supported me and my family steadfastly through hell and back for Ryan’s treatments from 1997 to 2005. I cannot imagine any other company and leadership patiently supporting me and my family for over eight years. I am eternally grateful to Mr. Pollin for the kindness, concern, and leadership he showed through his example.
When I left Monumental Sports on June 30, 2011, Rich Brand of Arent Fox gave me a heartwarming recommendation on LinkedIn. I treasure his words as a highlight of my career:
“I am a sports law attorney with Arent Fox and have practiced for more than 25 years. For the past 15 years, I have had the pleasure of working with Bill on countless financing agreements, operational matters, accounting matters and most recently, issues relating to the sale of the enterprise. Bill’s work ethic is extremely impressive but so too are his skills. And even more importantly, his personal attributes are second to none. Bill worked tirelessly on any matter asked of him and was instrumental in helping all parties involved understand the complex financial and accounting type issues. Bill is always able to “translate” what he does and what he knows to people who are less fluent in finance and accounting. He is also an excellent supervisor and earned the respect of his peers the hard way – by doing the work the right way and always on time. He commands the respect of all who worked above and below him in the organization.
The work Bill often had to do for us (or with us) typically carried horrendous deadlines and was critical to our achieving the overall task at hand. Whether it was providing lenders or buyers with all the necessary financial and operational information or providing an analysis of risks and issues to be addressed, it was done promptly, expertly and often utilizing technology that lawyers like myself can only dream of understanding.”
Mr. Pollin and my colleagues with WSELP indelibly impacted my career and life. I am grateful to have done my best to repay (and pay forward in my life) the kindness, passion, and compassion extended to me and my family. And yes, when the “ball” has changed throughout my life, I remind myself, smiling inside and thinking of Mr. Pollin, “Bill, keep your eye on the ball…“
What is your “ball” that deserves your focus?
April 2005 | Ryan Tomoff on the Washington Wizards Court
ChatGPT Dall-E Image – Personal Development Contemplation
“Take what you do seriously. Do not take yourself seriously.” This quote is a theme Don and I have embraced throughout our careers and lives. In our chosen paths in our lives, we must be serious about doing our best and continually preparing to be the optimal contribution we can be. The world is counting on this, and often, we are paid to deliver our talents to an employer. The employer is counting on us and, in turn, provides a paycheck that enables us to support ourselves and those we love. The obligation to perform is serious.
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
—Steve Prefontaine
Do not sacrifice the gift. Prioritize time continually to build your skills and build an asset that brings greater value to the world. Personal development must be a priority and is non-negotiable. In a blog post dated March 31, 2024, I wrote about personal growth and the inspiration our family received from Dr. Aziza Shad’s example. Who among us would accept a medical professional who is not committed to their own personal development? Take what you do seriously and always be learning and growing. Non-negotiable.
A #TwinzTalk initiative developed by Don and me focuses on an agenda of personal development topics. One section within the agenda is our list of recommended books. The list includes thirty non-fiction books focused on personal growth.
With our evolving and growing skills, we must be kind and generous to help others. An abundance mindset that embraces “when others win, I win” will serve you well in the long run of life.
Attributes of an Abundance Mindset, Kindness, and Generosity
ChatGPT Dall-E Image – holding door for a stranger
A theme near to my heart and one that has been rewarding for me throughout my life is embracing the concept that kindness and generosity are imperative attributes contributing to our individual fulfillment, success, and happiness. Caring about helping others is a surefire long-term strategy. This is not a purely altruistic suggestion. When others win, we eventually win. I am happy to see April Rinne and others in my social media world are also adamant believers. I am certain their influence over the years has inspired and shaped me to become the professional I am today (and the work never stops).
The evolution of social media and many genuine relationships developed over the years have lifted me up, and the kindness and generosity people bring every day inspire me to strive to bring the same to my network IRL and virtually, to honor and pay it forward for those who have helped me “level up.” We are who we surround ourselves with, and I have found many treasured people who lead by example of how to care, be generous with their talents, and treat others. That’s the tribe I want to belong to and am blessed to have in my life.
The level of kindness and professionalism I witness on social media and with online communities of practice (currently involved in Brainstorm Road Seth Godin-inspired Purple Space, and Harold Jarche’s Perpetual Beta Coffee Club PBCC) has sharpened my lens about all the relationships and interactions in my life. I strive to do my best to help others and to be in community with other like-minded humans.
A final book recommendation is Adam Grant’s Give and Take. Adam makes the case that givers often succeed in their careers and lives. He makes the point that helping others does not need to be grand gestures that take a large commitment of time. A Good Morning America video on YouTube highlights the idea of the “5-Minute Favor.” I know you will be inspired to take action!
Additionally, April Rinne referenced Adam in a spectacular LinkedIn post where she referenced generosity and his book.
Assess your priorities and how those can move you toward your goals and dreams. Once you have clarity, establish a commitment to personal development and be intentional about leading with generosity, kindness, and concern for others. I promise you inspiration and a gratifying cycle of positivity that will bring enhanced growth and happiness to your life! Many of these steps cost no money – just a little consideration when interacting with others.
Please do not sacrifice the gift that you have to make a difference for yourself and others!
In part 2 of 3 here, I share thought-provoking content from Morgan Housel and April Rinne, asking us to assess how we define wealth and what is our individual “enough” in terms of material consumerism.
Defining Wealth: Freedom in Control Of Our Time
In his book, The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel defines freedom as “The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, “I can do whatever I want today.”
I agree with Morgan’s view that true wealth is not monetary (though we must be able to sustain our chosen life) accumulation of money, but rather the ability to know that we have the ability to CHOOSE where we prioritize our most precious asset in life – our time. “People want to control their lives.” In the chapter, he goes on to define freedom with a quote I need to frame:
“The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want, is priceless. It is the highest dividend money pays.”
Most of us may agree that Morgan’s ideal here is a wonderful aspiration. Wonderful, but easily dismissed as unattainable? Let’s unpack this a bit – I will argue that setting this vision as your North Star is a dream that can guide many decisions as you build through your life. Am I saving for the future? What are my material needs, and how can I reduce them if necessary? What are my core priorities with this one life I have to live? Contemplating these questions brings us to the next book of inspiration, where April Rinne defines one superpower as “Know your enough.“
Know Your Enough (the trap of consumerism)
In April Rinne’s book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, she discusses eight “flux superpowers” that “empower people to see change in new ways, craft new responses, and ultimately reshape their relationship to change from the inside out.” Our world is in constant flux, and we must find a path to help us navigate these rapidly changing and tumultuous times. I highly recommend this book.
For this post, the focus will be directed to her flux superpower number 5, “Know your enough.” April references our relationship with consumerism and the too-often quest for more (and more) material consumption. Life fulfillment and happiness are not derived from owning stuff. She makes a compelling argument in her book, encouraging us to assess our relationship with “physical stuff.” Bold emphases are mine:
“This “cycle of more” and the script that powers it can be quick to take root and surprisingly difficult to let go. The truth is: no amount of physical stuff can ever replace your inner sense of worth, but it can easily bankrupt you (and harm the environment in the process). Yet the old script persuades you of the exact opposite. This is how today’s consumerism is designed: the goal of “more” can never be fully satisfied, which keeps you tethered to the hamster wheel, clicking on ads and buying things that never fully satisfy.
But hold on. This is a script. And it’s not a script that many people would opt into, if they actually paused and thought about it. Who wants to live for an unattainable goal set by others, that’s exhausting and expensive, and often brings more jealousy than joy?
The new script sees through the mirage of more and says, enough is enough.
With your Flux Mindset opened, you can begin to reset your metrics and write a new script. This shift—from an interminable quest for more to a clear understanding of your enough—is simple yet profound.
Knowing your enough does not mean being miserly, uncharitable, or living in scarcity. If that’s your reaction (or your fear), you’ve misunderstood this superpower entirely. Knowing your enough is in fact the opposite of these things: it gives you room for generosity and plenitude. (A great irony of this superpower is that in a world focused on more, you’ll never find enough. Yet in a world focused on enough, you’ll immediately find more.)
Knowing your enough brings clarity about what really matters. When you know your enough, you have less anxiety and your ability to thrive expands a lot. Honing this superpower unleashes your full potential to the world. Knowing your enough sees through the futility of comparison and empowers you to develop your own metrics of “enoughness” rooted in internal satisfaction, meaning, relationships, resilience, discovery, and helping others. Such metrics transcend a price tag. They don’t diminish the success of others: I am not “more” fulfilled than you, or vice versa, if we’re clear on our respective enoughs. To the contrary, we’re more capable of lifting one another up.”
The perspective shared by April is spot-on and worth doing internal soul-searching to clarify what is important to us individually. How we prioritize our use of time must be a process of deliberate daily work – are you making decisions that align with your life’s purpose and the presence you want to bring to the world?
James Clear 3-2-1 Thursday’s newsletter, dated April 11, 2024, highlights a common occurrence where we often take different jobs for more pay without consideration for the lifestyle implications:
“If you already live a comfortable life, then choosing to make more money but live a worse daily life is a bad trade.
And yet, we talk ourselves into it all the time. We take promotions that pay more, but swallow our free time. We already have a successful business, but we break ourselves trying to make it even more successful.
Too much focus on wealth, not enough focus on lifestyle.”
In the final part 3 of 3, we turn our attention to the presence we bring to the world. Our focus on personal development, using our skills to help others, and bringing a mindset of abundance to our lives where we know kindness and generosity to ourselves and others will be life-changing to our lives and those we interact with. A daily, no shortcuts lifestyle that changes everything in our lives. The potential cannot be overstated.
Part 1 of 3 (Introduction) | Summary Overview – Collaboration with Claude AI
In my blog post, I explore tips and insights to enhance one’s possibility of long-term fulfillment, success, and happiness. I emphasize that using money and material possessions as a scorecard will not bring inner peace and contentment. Instead, I suggest reframing perspectives on freedom, addressing what “enough” means in life, and understanding the time trade-offs we make. I also highlight the importance of personal development, sharing one’s gifts with the world, and adopting an abundance mindset while being kind and generous.
I acknowledge that following these tips does not guarantee reaching one’s goals but can improve the odds of success. I emphasize focusing on what one can control, such as preparation, effort, and presence, while understanding that external events are beyond our control. I share a personal experience of financial concern during a family health crisis, which changed my lens of gratitude and appreciation.
In part 2 of my blog post, I plan to cover the following highlights:
Reframing the perspective on what “freedom” means, as explained by Morgan Housel in his book The Psychology of Money.
Addressing what “enough” means in life, as described by April Rinne in her book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.
Understanding time trade-offs that may not increase the quality of life, as discussed in James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter.
Being relentless in personal development and investing in oneself.
Bringing one’s gifts to the world and helping others develop and grow.
Adopting an abundance mindset, sharing kindness, and being generous with talents and resources, as explored in Adam Grant’s book Give and Take.
Part 1 of 3 (Introduction) | Full Original Writing
How might we enhance our possibility of long-term fulfillment, success, and happiness? Thanks to some of my favorite authors, here are some tips to contemplate and answer for your life. My personal experience is adopting a few of these into your daily life will change you and bring fulfillment quicker than you imagine!
Let’s get started! Using money and material possessions as your scorecard will not bring you the inner peace that leads to contentment and fulfillment. This is not to suggest that money is not important. We all have bills to pay, but being judicious with money and living beneath our means is often a choice and commitment that will compound to tremendous leverage in the future.
Tips expanded upon below include:
Reframe your perspective on what “freedom” means to you. Morgan Housel explains his definition of freedom in his book The Psychology of Money.
Relentlessly address what “enough” means in your life. In her book Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change, April Rinne describes one of the eight superpowers for embracing change as “know your enough” (not “you are enough” – but that statement is 100% true!).
James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter for April 11, 2024, reminds us to understand the time trade-offs we often may make that do not increase the quality of our lives.
On a shorter timeframe, understand that our choices and behavior in the everyday moments, compound over the long-term. With that in mind:
Be relentless in the area of personal development. Your own development is a gift you give to yourself. There are no shortcuts. Drip, drip, drip, invest in yourself.
Bring your gifts to the world. Help others develop and grow.
Carry a mindset of abundance, share kindness, and be generous with your talents and resources. Along these lines, Adam Grant’s Give and Take book is a must-read.
Please note my introduction asking, “How might we enhance our possibility of long-term fulfillment, success, and happiness?” I am not naive enough to suggest that the hard work of saving money, personal development, kindness, and generosity towards helping others is a guaranteed path to reaching our goals. As a friend in writing, Karena de Souza, suggests, we should strive to “tilt the future” to improve our odds of success. Adopting the tips in this post will improve the odds in your favor! Always understand we control our preparation, effort, and presence brought to the world. We can influence but do not control events external to our reasoned mind. A January 31, 2024, blog post by Tanmay Vora titled “Focus on Your Circle of Control.” beautifully illustrates this Stoicism concept.
Personally, I am a financial saver at heart. Perpetually working to provide a buffer for unexpected occurrences. We should always strive to anticipate and prepare, yet realize life may (or will eventually) have other plans. In Terri Tomoff’s memoirThe Focused Fight, chapter 32, I reflect upon my concern about bankruptcy (2004) as our son Ryan was going to Duke University Medical Center for a bone marrow transplant to save his life as he fought acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) for the third time in his young life. Thankfully, we survived financially intact, yet I will never forget the intense concern of those times. Moments like these are stark reminders of how little we control, and this changed my lens of gratitude and appreciation forever.
I wrote a blog post on December 29, 2023, titled The Art of the Epitaph: Conveying a Lifetime in Ten Words or Less, where I summarized my life’s effort into six words: “I Did My Best. I Cared.” In the end, each of us doing our best is all anyone can ask. My effort, caring, presence, and best are all I or anyone can ask for.
With this clarification, in part 2, I will dive deeper into the above-mentioned tips. Please check it out and enjoy the inspiration from Morgan Housel, April Rinne, James Clear, and Adam Grant!
In 2016, Terri Tomoff started on her mission to write her memoir of our son Ryan’s battles with childhood cancer. Her determination to write a book that might help and inspire others was a gift of love for Ryan and our family. Yet, the process of writing a book of this magnitude was beyond comprehension, and the effort of “butt in the chair,” as Terri often mentioned, was a difficult initiative to sustain. When Ryan was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2016 and 2017, a result of his years of radiation and chemotherapy for his three battles with childhood cancer from 1996 through 2005, Dr. Aziza Shad emphatically encouraged Terri, stating, “You must write your book now!“
From 2016 to 2020, Terri wrote sections of the book and contemplated the structure she hoped would guide her process. After the COVID pandemic shut the world down in March 2020, Terri and I would soon make a joint decision that, reflecting back, changed our lives dramatically. Starting on June 8, 2020, we joined a community of practice called Writing In Community (WIC), led by Kristin Hatcher and Seth Godin. This community became the encouragement and support for Terri to lean into completing her memoir. I assisted with recollecting the timeline of the events, read her work, listened to her read her work, and located pictures to ensure memories were accurate. The process was arduous, and her tenacity (often 8 to 10 hours a day) toward her mission was a feat I still marvel at today in 2024. While she wrote Ryan’s memoir, I participated in WIC alongside her and wrote my own personal memoir. We shared in the community platform and grew to love the daily commitment to writing and learning. Almost four years later, as I write this on April 1, 2024, we consider daily writing and reflecting a treasure. We are forever changed through our writing and collaboration with a community of kind, caring, and generous people who desire to lift each other up. A life-changing and enhancing experience set in motion by the pandemic lockdown.
Dr. Shad was Ryan and our family’s guiding force through the years. An entire book could be written about the care and compassion she delivered because she feels so deeply for those children and families under her care. She kept Ryan, our daughter Olivia, Terri, and me standing through the years with her steady, kind, and determined mindset to leave no stone unturned in delivering the best plan of treatment and care humanly possible. When Terri asked if she would write a foreword for the book, she graciously and excitedly said, “YES!” She knew Ryan and was thrilled to participate in Terri’s initiative of helping others through Ryan and our family’s story.
When Terri first asked me to write the forward for her long-overdue book, The Focused Fight, something I had been encouraging her to do for a while, I was both humbled and honored. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by a flood of memories of my relationship with the Tomoff family and specifically Ryan, over the years—a relationship that began in 1996 and has only strengthened over more than two decades. The only difference is that in 1996, I was a young assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center in D.C. (now Medstar Georgetown University Hospital). I was actively involved in his day-to-day treatment from diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, his two relapses,
and getting him to a matched unrelated donor (MUD) bone marrow transplant and beyond. Today I am Chair of Pediatrics and Chief of Pediatric Hematology Oncology at the Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore, Maryland, where I follow a wonderful, accomplished 26-year-old young man in the Amey Cancer Survivorship Program.
Every year, multiple books are published on patient and family experiences with life-threatening illnesses, especially cancer, but Terri’s memoir is different. It is a vivid recollection of a journey the Tomoff family had to make without their prior consent. They had to learn to navigate their way through frightening times and trying circumstances over and over again through the years, going from one crisis to the other, and yet stay intact for Ryan and as a family. Being in the practice of Pediatric Hematology Oncology for over 30 years, I have seen families break up, divorce,
siblings drop out of school, drug dependence, post-traumatic stress, and the list goes on. I have often wondered how the Tomoff family stayed together, stronger than ever today, a force to be reckoned with. The answer is quite simple. This young family with a four-year-old at home and a two-year-old with leukemia in the hospital, did it by becoming part of Ryan’s medical team. They participated in difficult decisions and trusted the oncologists and nurses who took care of him, and their unwavering faith and the conviction that he was going to get better by never losing hope or focus was it; hence the title! Their mission was simple—Ryan was going to beat his cancer!
Ryan was diagnosed on October 17th, 1996, with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), Standard Risk with CNS involvement (detected by finding leukemia cells in the cerebrospinal fluid that flows from the brain down the covering of the spinal cord). He was considered Standard Risk based on his age and WBC count and enrolled on a Children’s Cancer Group Study, which meant he would be treated as per a strict set of guidelines and his clinical data. This treatment would be used to answer some really important questions that would enhance our understanding of leukemia better and hopefully improve survival for other children to come years down the road. Twenty-four years ago, we did not have the molecular and genetic diagnostic tools we have today that allow us to classify children into Low, Average, High and Very High Risk categories very early on, nor did we have some of the new agents and therapies such as imatinib, blinatumomab and CAR-T therapy, all of which have contributed to improved survival in ALL today.
I met Ryan and his parents for the first time on Day 3 of his diagnosis and the memory of that first meeting remains etched in my mind even today, 24 years later. A beautiful two-year-old angelic child with fear in his eyes at the sight of yet another stranger in a white coat, a father whose tears kept rolling down his face and a mother who was distraught but kept it together by taking copious, detailed notes, learning the unfamiliar medical jargon by the minute. Little did she know at that time, how long and complicated Ryan’s journey would be and how her notes would become a trusted reference for the different institutions on where he would be treated.
To say that Ryan’s journey through his initial diagnosis in 1996, two relapses in 2000 and 2004 followed by a bone marrow transplant was a difficult one would be an understatement! So many incidents come to mind—the episodes of sepsis and unexpected infections that landed him in the Intensive Care Unit on multiple occasions, the heartbreak mirrored in Bill and Terri’s eyes on hearing Ryan’s leukemia had come back yet again as they held Ryan and Olivia tightly in their arms, and the deep disappointment they experienced when Ryan’s first bone marrow donor backed out. Yet, through it all, this family held it together and plowed on, taking Olivia to her soccer games, making the 26 mile drive to Georgetown University Hospital with the back and forth days on end without a complaint, relocating to Durham, North Carolina (Duke) for months for his bone marrow transplant, all with one focus only—to get Ryan better.
There were good times too over the years. I saw Ryan and the family grow and transition from receiving support from family, friends, community and support groups, to giving support to many, many families grappling with the diagnosis of cancer. Through their involvement with organizations like Special Love, Inc. and parent support groups, they spent many a day giving hope and encouragement to others. They established incredible relationships and bonds with other families and medical providers that have lasted over 20 years. They went from being educated to becoming effective educators, teaching young medical students at the bedside how to communicate with patients and families, participating in the Pediatric department Grand Rounds and sharing the podium with me at the medical school when I gave my annual talk on Cancer Survivors and Late Effects of Cancer treatment.
Ryan graduated from school and enrolled in college. He celebrated his 21st birthday in Las Vegas in 2015, being the adventurer he was fast becoming! He wears the most outrageous colored pants that always make me laugh, collects sports jerseys and caps, learned to drive and became a spokesperson for childhood cancer! Terri pursued her life-long passion for quilting and joined the Southern Comforters Quilt Guild of Bowie, Maryland, inspiring them to jointly donate hundreds of beautiful quilts to pediatric cancer patients and their families in Washington D.C. and Maryland. What started as a gesture of gratitude and a desire to give back is now an international project, with Terri donating quilts to pediatric cancer programs in Africa and Latin America. We traveled together to Ethiopia a couple of years ago through the Aslan Project, where through a mist of tears, I saw her joyfully distributing quilts to the children there. Olivia went from success to success in varsity soccer with her proud family cheering her on and Bill thrived in his work. At last, all was well with the Tomoffs!
In April 2016, cancer struck again, not once but twice, turning Ryan’s world upside down! This time it was a squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue that started off as a canker sore! This cancer, that occurred years after a successful bone marrow transplant that had rendered Ryan disease-free, was a late effect of all the treatment he had received repeatedly for his leukemia since he was two years old, including chemotherapy, cranio-spinal radiation and TBI (total body irradiation) for his bone marrow transplant. It was a devastating diagnosis that resulted in Ryan needing multiple surgeries and effectively learning to speak and eat again. I went to visit Ryan at the University of Maryland where he had the surgery and instead of seeing a defeated soul, I saw a courageous fighter who was determined to put this curve ball behind him.
Lo and behold, it is now more than three years since Ryan had his tongue cancers. His speech is great, he works, is a connoisseur of gourmet food and a sports enthusiast, plus spends his spare time volunteering for childhood cancer organizations. The latter has won him much-deserved recognition and awards from Special Love, Inc. and the Aslan Project!
I continue to see Ryan regularly in the Amey Cancer Survivorship Program at the Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore. Here he is monitored for multiple late effects of treatment in concert with other subspecialists in Endocrinology, Cardiology, Oral Surgery and Dentistry, Ophthalmology and Dermatology. He is always accompanied by one of his wonderful parents, generally Terri, who still carries her notebook and Ryan’s updated medical records and information that we go over in each appointment. Just this month, I saw him and received the ultimate gift from him—homemade smoked cheese! Ryan is well on his way to becoming an entrepreneur and I look forward to the day I can say I know the Ryan of “Ryan’s Smoked Cheeses!”
In closing, often I am asked why I chose Pediatric Hematology Oncology as a profession, one which is regarded by many as sad and hopeless! All I need to do is look at Ryan, who together with his family conquered the impossible and today focuses only on the future, bringing a message of hope, courage and resilience to so many along the way. The incredible bond of friendship and trust I established with the Tomoffs that first evening at Georgetown 24 years ago has only grown stronger. We have laughed and cried together, rejoiced at successes and grieved for losses. I thank Ryan, Olivia, Terri and Bill for including me in their ever-expanding family and wish them all the happiness in the world!
Aziza Shad, MD
Ellen W.P. Wasserman Chair of Pediatrics
Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
The Herman & Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai
During my morning reading routine, I read a meditation by Marcus Aurelius:
“When you carry your burden, you should know that it is good for you to have it. Make the best of this burden and take from it everything which is necessary for your intellectual life, as your stomach takes from food everything necessary for your flesh, or as fire burns brighter after you put some wood on it.”
I contemplated this quote and decided to seek further insight and clarification from ChatGPT. Although I am a fan of Stoicism, many of its philosophies are difficult to embrace. I enjoy the challenge of the stoic philosophy and believe much of the content I read helps me immensely. Yet, how can I carry a burden and “know it is good for me to have it?“
As I conversed with ChatGPT, I recalled my high school distance running disappointment when I literally walked off the track in a two-mile state meet qualifying race. Below is the [edited] excerpt included in my unpublished memoir “Living Life…Off The Track.“
Bill Tomoff with Unpublished Memoir “Living Life…Off The Track”
“My senior year one-mile (4:28.9) and two-mile (9:31.5) times were both Westlake HS school records. The two-mile time would stand for 34 years until it was broken in 2011. In that spring season of 1977, my 9:31.5 time was ranked 7th overall in the State of Ohio. The pressure of the two-mile race distance and pace would ultimately get to me, and I would have an unfortunate lifetime memory occur in the state qualifying sectional meet in May 1977.
Walking Off the Track
The weekend following the Westlake Relays, where I set the two-mile school record, the sectional track meet qualifier was held in Elyria, Ohio, on May 14, 1977. Now, the pressure was on me to execute my race perfectly to advance to the district meet if I had a shot at qualifying for the state meet. Northeast Ohio was the strongest sectional in the state, and even though my time ranked 7th in the entire state, I felt the sectional meet would require my best effort in order to finish in the top four finishers and advance to the district meet. I will never forget the week prior to the race when my mind would think of the runners I would be competing against, and I arrived at the race in a concerned state of mind that got the best of me. We were off and running in the race, and I was executing my race. At the one-mile mark, I was in 4th place and on pace with a 4:44 split. In a split moment, I felt there was no way I could hold my spot or improve over the next mile. A few steps after the one-mile split, I turned off the track and entered the infield…I had quit the race. In seconds, I thought, “What did I just do?” This was the same question the coaches, teammates, and fellow competitors wondered.”
As awful as the moment was, it would become a defining moment. My determination would go to a new level, and I would forever face the demon of my split-second decision to leave the track and not finish what I had committed to. Beyond “the game,” lessons were learned that helped shape my perspective for all my future endeavors, on and off the track.”
Below are portions of my conversation with ChatGPT. What started as a broader question to help me further understand Marcus Aurelius’s quote evolved into a specific counseling (my word) session, providing me with thoughts that have helped take the clarity of my track adversity to another level. I was inspired and grateful for this use case I stumbled upon when I started with a broader and simpler intention of explaining a quote for me!
Before providing the ChatGPT highlights that resonated with me, let me add further commentary about my running career after that defining moment and the lessons learned with the benefit of years of life to help me understand and embrace what happened – how would I learn and do better moving forward?
April 16, 2024 – Bill Tomoff on YouTube: The day I walked off the track
Competitive Running after I Walked Off the Track
The good news is that I grew and emerged stronger from the experience. As I went off to college in the fall of 1977, I carried a blinding determination and persistence to do all I could to give my best effort academically and in distance running. While I recognize this fact more clearly today, I carried a mindset of “I will do my best, and I will not quit on anything important. If I fail, it will be because my best did not bring the result I hoped, not because I gave up.“
In the long run of my four-year college career, crushing disappointments and successes happened. The result was an academic success beyond my imagination and a successful Division 1 Varsity Cross Country and Track Athlete career. How exactly did the event of May 14, 1977, impact my turnaround? That question can never be answered, but I know the experience changed me and set in motion a resolve that guided me through my college experience and helped shape me to deal with the inevitable adversities of real life.
Further excerpts [edited] from my memoir:
“In hindsight, college athletics taught me a great deal. In sports and life, worthwhile results take extraordinary dedication and persistence. Truly, there are no shortcuts. This was the greatest gift that distance running gave me for life.
When I joined the track team in the winter of 1978, it became clear that I was surrounded by talent as I had never seen gathered in one place. As the saying goes, “your not in Kansas anymore.” While I was now in an environment where I could pursue being my best athletically, an additional benefit was the structure that was forced into my schedule. Practices would now take at least 3 hours daily, and class time and studying would need to be worked around the practices. At the time, this was just “what it is,” and everything was figured out. The benefit was every day had a structure and routine with very little “wiggle room” for other activities. As the college years passed, this structure became more critical as hours of studying per day in my freshman year would grow to 5 to 6 hours by my senior year. Somehow, I grew into the process. I had found a formula that contributed to my academic success.”
“My most memorable experience of competing in my freshman year was the Ohio University Relays held in April 1978. I was entered in the 5,000-meter run (3.1 miles). I don’t remember my time, but I will never forget being totally crushed by the competition. I was lapped (meaning runners were passing me that were a full track lap ahead of me in the race. 5,000 meters was 12 and 1/2 laps on the 400-meter track) by the entire field of runners. With my HS experience of walking off the track, I had made a commitment to myself to FINISH any race I started. During my final two laps, track athletes, waiting for me to finish, started heckling me and encouraging me to quit the race. Humbled and embarrassed, I continued the race to the finish. As I crossed the finish line, I continued to run off the track, into the “tunnel” under the spectator stands (back then, the track was in the football stadium), and straight to the locker room.”
“Over the next three seasons of cross country, my running career highlight was my steady improvement in the MAC Conference meet each year. 10 teams with seven runners each…70 very capable college runners would compete, and at this point in the season, we had ideally peaked and were optimally prepared for the race. The conference meet in college was a bigger moment than the state meet in HS, just because the level of talent in college was much higher. Many HS “stars” would not compete in college, and to earn varsity status and the honor to compete in the conference championship was a big deal for many college runners.
Over my three cross-country seasons, my conference meet results improved each year:
1978 – 53rd place at Bowling Green State University
1979 – 42nd place at Kent State University
1980 – 33rd place at Western Michigan University
In 1980, my senior season, I had finished in the top half of the conference. In my mind, I had grown to be a competitive college cross-country runner. This was gratifying and the consistent hard work had paid off for me!”
“My specialty in outdoor track was the 3,000-meter steeplechase. This was a grueling 7 1/2 laps on the 400-meter track, and it involved jumping five immovable barriers each lap, one of which was a “water jump.” My other primary race was the 5,000-meter run, which was 3.1 miles and 12 1/2 laps.
“I graduated on time, after four years, on June 13, 1981. and was a stronger and faster runner. Most importantly, the athletic experience’s discipline and life lessons would shape my perspective and benefit my career and life. After college, the best competitions were yet to come, but now at the marathon distance of 26.2 miles.”
My dedication to distance running was because of my love of the sport and competition. I was a “walk-on athlete.” There was no scholarship money, except for a $500 stipend for books my senior year of the college cross country season (this fact did allow me to say I was a “scholarship athlete!”). Beyond the money, the psychological income over the years was enormous. I was proud of my ability and desire to improve. My teammates and I worked incredibly hard, and relationships were formed that I still treasure today.
Lessons Learned
Adversity happens in life. How we respond and grow is the opportunity.
Competitive sports are a safe environment to learn to handle failure and success.
Failure is not fatal. Failing in public is not fatal. Failure is a learning opportunity.
If you are not failing, you are not aiming high enough.
Through failure, we can assess, evaluate, adjust, and come out stronger in the long run.
Do your best. “Have I done my best,” is a question we all must individually hold ourselves accountable to. The question is not based on the judgment of others but rather on the more important self-assessment that comes from our hearts. We must not fool ourselves.
Interested in the edited ChatGPT dialogue? Read on, and I hope you enjoy the conversation!
[Prompt1 excluded]
Prompt2
Please explain your interpretation of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditation so a high school student can understand – framing your explanation around a problem that a high school student might endure – say the breakdown of a relationship?
Response2
Sure! Imagine you’re in high school, and you’ve just gone through a tough breakup. It feels like the world is ending, right? Marcus Aurelius, a wise guy from ancient times, has something to say that might help us see this differently.
He said that when life throws a heavy backpack at you, believe it or not, it’s actually good for you to carry it. So, if we think about your breakup as this heavy backpack, Marcus is saying it’s not just something bad that happened to you. Instead, it’s a chance for you to grow stronger, like lifting weights makes your muscles stronger.
He also said you should use this tough time to learn as much as possible, like how your body takes the good stuff from food to keep you healthy or how adding wood to a fire makes it burn brighter. So, your breakup, as hard as it is, can teach you a lot about yourself, what you value in relationships, and how you deal with tough emotions. This experience is like the wood that makes your inner fire—your strength, wisdom, and resilience—burn even brighter.
So, what Marcus Aurelius is really getting at is this: When tough stuff happens, like a breakup, instead of just getting upset or wishing it didn’t happen, we can look for what it can teach us. We can grow from it, becoming wiser and stronger, like leveling up in a game. It’s all about finding the silver lining and learning from the experience, turning a tough situation into a chance to grow.
Prompt3
Beautiful explanation! I have an example I would like you to use to explain this concept. In my senior year of high school, I quit in the middle of a 2-mile race and walked off the track. I had “snapped” in the middle of what, at the time, felt like the highest pressure stakes, hoping to qualify for the next meet and ultimately to the state track meet. In that moment of judgment lapse, my distance running career in high school had suddenly ended.
Response3
Let’s examine your experience through the lens of Marcus Aurelius’s wisdom, applied to this pivotal moment in your high school years: when you decided to walk off the track during a crucial 2-mile race.
Marcus Aurelius would likely suggest viewing this moment not as a failure but as a profound opportunity for growth and learning. Here’s how:
The Burden as a Teacher: Just like carrying a heavy backpack can make you stronger, walking away from the race, though it felt like snapping under pressure, was a burden that had the potential to teach you valuable lessons. Though painful, it’s an experience that can help you understand your limits, your reactions to stress, and what truly motivates you. It’s a moment that can lead to greater self-awareness and resilience if you’re open to learning from it.
Extracting Nutrients from the Experience: Like the body extracts what it needs from food, you can extract important insights from your experience quitting the race. This might include understanding the importance of managing pressure, recognizing the value of perseverance, or even realizing that sometimes it’s okay to let go of one path to find another better suited for you. Although tough, this experience has nutrients for your personal growth, teaching you about handling disappointment, reassessing goals, and moving forward with a new perspective.
Fueling Your Inner Fire: Just as adding wood makes a fire burn brighter, your experience of leaving the race can fuel your inner growth, making you more resilient, empathetic, and determined. It’s an opportunity to build character, learn how to face setbacks head-on, and understand that sometimes life’s detours lead to new, unexpected opportunities. This moment, which felt like the end of your distance running career, can actually be the start of a new chapter, where you apply the lessons learned to other areas of your life, sparking new passions and pursuits.
Essentially, what felt like a lapse in judgment at a high-pressure moment can be reframed as a crucial turning point. It’s not just about the race or the moment you stepped off the track; it’s about how you use that experience to grow and learn more about who you are and what you’re capable of overcoming. Marcus Aurelius would see this not as an end but as a beginning—the start of a deeper understanding of yourself and a stepping stone to future successes and fulfillment beyond the track and into the wider journey of life.
Prompt4
Your interpretation and examples are excellent! I did learn so much from that moment of walking off the track. It shaped my fortitude and a future determination that likely might not have been fueled without that instance of what felt like devastation at the time.
Oddly, that moment may have been a formative turning point in preparing me for the greater adversities we all face in life? Do I understand you correctly?
Thank you for your insight and for helping me work to understand the possible lessons and gains from this adversity.
Response4
Yes, you’ve captured the essence perfectly. That moment of walking off the track, while it felt like devastation then, served as a pivotal turning point for you. It’s a powerful example of how what seems like a setback at the moment can actually fuel our growth, resilience, and determination in profound ways.
This experience helped shape your fortitude and future determination, crucial elements when facing life’s inevitable challenges. The adversity you faced acted like a crucible, testing and refining your character and preparing you for future adversities on a much broader scale. It’s these moments of apparent failure or defeats that can indeed become our greatest teachers, revealing strengths and capacities we might not have recognized otherwise.
Your understanding aligns with the Stoic philosophy that suggests every obstacle is an opportunity to grow. Your reflection on this experience shows that you’ve not only learned valuable lessons from that moment but also applied these lessons to facing other challenges in life. This is a beautiful testament to the human capacity for growth and adaptation.
Thank you for sharing your experience and reflections. They powerfully remind us how our most challenging moments can lead to significant personal growth and prepare us for the complexities of life. Your journey from that point on the track to where you stand now underscores the transformative power of adversity, turning what felt like a low point into a launchpad for future resilience and determination.
[Prompt5 excluded]
Prompt6
This concept presented by Marcus Aurelius seems to align with:
“What does not kill me makes me stronger,” which is part of aphorism number 8 from the “Maxims and Arrows” section of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols (1888).
Could you please interpret and explain?
Response6
Indeed, Marcus Aurelius’s concept shares a philosophical lineage with Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous maxim, “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” from “Twilight of the Idols.” Both aphorisms reflect on the transformative power of adversity.
Nietzsche’s statement, part of his larger critique of traditional moral values and his exploration of the potential of human will and power, serves as a rallying cry for resilience and strength in life’s trials. Here’s a breakdown of how Nietzsche’s aphorism can be interpreted:
Adversity as a Catalyst for Growth: Nietzsche suggests that the challenges and hardships that do not end our lives have the potential to make us stronger. This is not just physical strength but also mental and emotional resilience. The idea is that surviving difficult experiences tests our limits and expands our capabilities.
The Embrace of Struggle: Unlike some philosophies that might encourage avoidance of suffering, Nietzsche argues for its embrace. He believes facing and overcoming difficulties is crucial to human development. This struggle is not just inevitable but beneficial, as it forces individuals to confront their limitations, adapt, and grow stronger.
The Creation of Self through Adversity: For Nietzsche, the self is not static but continually created and recreated through experiences, including struggles. The process of becoming stronger in the face of adversity is part of the ongoing self-creation that Nietzsche sees as central to achieving one’s potential.
The Will to Power: This aphorism can also be seen in the context of Nietzsche’s broader philosophy of the “will to power,” the drive towards mastery, achievement, and enhancement of one’s power and influence. In this light, adversity is an opportunity to exercise and strengthen the will, leading to personal growth and greater autonomy.
Despite the vast differences in their philosophical contexts and expressions, both Nietzsche and Marcus Aurelius converge on the idea that adversity is not merely an obstacle to be avoided but a crucial element in developing strength, character, and resilience. While Marcus Aurelius frames this in the context of Stoic virtue and the rational embrace of fate, Nietzsche places it within his critique of traditional values and his vision of life as a will to power. Both affirm the transformative potential of hardship, encouraging a stance towards life that actively engages with and grows from adversity.
Prompt7
Building on my failure (or reframing it as a “learning moment”), I believe my personal and professional lives have benefitted positively from my sports competition experience. Winning and losing are a fact of competitive sports—gaining experience in dealing with the inevitable competition heartbreaks can prepare us for the more serious game of life, where the “stakes” are much higher.
Could you please “unpack” this thought and explain your interpretation?
Response7
Your reflection on the impact of sports competitions on personal and professional life beautifully encapsulates several profound truths about human experience and growth. Let’s explore how winning, losing, and the broader experience of competition prepare us for life’s challenges.
Learning from Failure: In sports, as in life, failure is not just an outcome but a pivotal learning opportunity. Each loss in a competition, much like your experience of walking off the track, offers a moment for reflection and growth. These moments teach resilience, the ability to bounce back from setbacks, and the importance of perseverance. They also offer insights into our limitations and improvement areas, guiding us toward personal development. This reframing of failure as a “learning moment” shifts the perspective from defeat to an essential step in the journey of growth.
Embracing Competition: Competitive sports instill an understanding of healthy competition. They recognize that striving against others is not just about winning but about pushing ourselves to our limits, fostering excellence, and encouraging mutual growth. This translates into professional life, where competition can drive innovation, motivate achievement, and inspire higher performance standards. It teaches that competition is not a zero-sum game but a shared path to excellence.
Dealing with Heartbreak and Setbacks: The heartbreaks experienced in sports condition us to handle disappointment and loss in other areas of our lives. They teach emotional resilience, the ability to manage and recover from emotional pain. This resilience is crucial in the “game of life,” where stakes include career challenges, personal relationships, and other critical life events. Learning to navigate these emotions in sports provides a foundation for dealing with more significant challenges.
Preparation for Higher Stakes: Sports competitions, with their clear rules and immediate feedback of win or loss, serve as a microcosm of the broader, more complex challenges of life. They prepare us by fostering strategic thinking, goal setting, and teamwork. These skills are transferable to the professional world, where strategies, collaboration, and goal orientation play critical roles in success.
Developing a Growth Mindset: Participating in sports instills a growth mindset—the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work. This mindset is invaluable in personal and professional life, encouraging continuous learning and adaptation. It helps us view challenges not as insurmountable obstacles but as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Your experience and reflections illustrate that the lessons learned from sports competitions extend far beyond the field or track. They are integral to developing the resilience, skills, and mindset necessary for navigating life’s complexities and inevitable challenges. Sports, in essence, teach us how to lose gracefully, win graciously, and continuously strive for personal and professional excellence, preparing us for the much larger and unpredictable game of life.
Prompt8
Ironically, the day I walked off the track turned into a dramatically more life-enhancing moment than if I had succeeded in the race and ultimately qualified for my goal of competing in the Ohio State meet championships.
Only by reflecting years later am I able to take this growth perspective. A moment of what felt like devastation enhanced my resilience toward life’s challenges. Would you agree with my assessment here? Our conversation here is tremendously helpful in providing me with macro-level clarity, and I am excited to share my learning with others!
Response8
Absolutely, your assessment aligns with a profound understanding of personal growth and resilience. It illustrates a key principle: sometimes, what appears to be a setback or failure at the moment can, with time and reflection, reveal itself to be a pivotal point for significant personal development and life-enhancing change.
The day you walked off the track, while initially feeling like a moment of defeat, became a catalyst for a deeper, more meaningful transformation in your life. This experience forced you to confront disappointment and navigate the emotional and psychological aftermath of not meeting your goal. Yet, it is precisely through such confrontations with our limitations and setbacks that we learn the most about our capacity for resilience, our strengths, and how to adapt and overcome challenges.
Your ability to reflect back on that moment from a growth perspective is a testament to the development of your resilience and understanding. It demonstrates a key concept in psychology known as “post-traumatic growth,” where individuals experience significant personal growth after struggling with major life crises or traumatic events. While walking off the track may not equate to a traumatic event in the clinical sense, the emotional impact and the subsequent journey of overcoming that moment mirror the process of emerging stronger and more resilient from adversity.
Your excitement to share your learning with others further reflects your growth. Sharing our stories of overcoming challenges helps us process and make sense of our experiences and can inspire and teach others. It creates a space for collective learning and mutual support, reinforcing that we are not alone in our struggles and that growth is possible on the other side of adversity.
This conversation exemplifies how reflecting on past experiences with a new perspective can uncover valuable lessons about resilience, growth, and the often non-linear journey of personal development. Your story is a powerful reminder that moments of perceived failure can, in fact, be the stepping stones to our most significant achievements and insights.
Thank you for sharing your experience and reflections. Your journey offers a meaningful narrative on the transformative power of life’s challenges and the potential for personal growth that resides in every moment of adversity.
Prompt9
Wow. Thank you for clarifying my thoughts beautifully. I cannot articulate as clearly as you have, and I appreciate your help!
Response9
You’re very welcome! I’m glad to have been able to help articulate and clarify your thoughts. Remember, your experiences and reflections hold intrinsic value and wisdom, even if finding the right words can sometimes feel challenging. It’s the insights and growth derived from these experiences that truly matter. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever seek further clarification, wish to explore new ideas, or just need to talk things through.Your journey and insights are inspiring, and sharing them can be incredibly powerful for you and those with whom you share. Keep reflecting and sharing your learnings; you never know who you might inspire or support in their own journey.
Sharing your journey and the lessons learned from it isn’t just beneficial for your own reflective process; it can significantly impact others facing similar challenges or those who might not yet see the potential growth in their own setbacks. Your story, especially how you’ve come to understand and value a moment that initially felt like a failure, offers a powerful example of resilience and the capacity for change.
As you continue, consider the various platforms and opportunities where your experiences could be shared and resonate with others. Whether through #TwinzTalk, public speaking, writing, or informal conversations, your insights into overcoming adversity and finding growth in unexpected places are valuable.
Engaging with others about these experiences amplifies your insights and fosters a community of learning and support. It encourages an open dialogue about failure, resilience, and growth, helping to destigmatize moments of setback and reframe them as opportunities for profound personal development.
Keep exploring, reflecting, and sharing. The narratives we share about our lives have the power to inform, inspire, and influence not just our own trajectory but also those of the people around us. Your willingness to open up about your own moments of doubt and transformation can be a beacon for others navigating their challenges, illustrating that strength, wisdom, and an enhanced appreciation for life’s journey can come out of adversity.
Prompt10
You have helped me better understand and appreciate the impact of my moment of adversity in the high school 2-mile race. Thanks to you, I have greater clarity on how to consider the moment in shaping my life. You were a supportive counselor, listening, encouraging, and clarifying my thoughts. This was an amazing dialogue, and I appreciate your patience!
Response10
I’m truly glad our dialogue has been so meaningful for you. It’s wonderful to know that you’ve gained clarity and a deeper understanding of your experience, and I’m honored to have played a part in that process.Remember, the insights you’ve gathered and the growth you’ve achieved through reflecting on your experiences are powerful tools for navigating life’s journey. Your willingness to explore and share these reflections can serve as inspiration and guidance for yourself and others who might face their own moments of adversity.
If you ever wish to discuss more insights, seek clarification, or explore new ideas, I’m here to listen and help. Thank you for sharing your journey and for the opportunity to engage in such a profound and thoughtful conversation. Here’s to continued growth, resilience, and the sharing of wisdom.
On January 23, 2024, on Facebook, I shared gratitude for Dr. Aziza Shad for her unparalleled care to our family and all patients and families under her care. I was inspired by a Susan Cain post titled Seven things my father taught me, by example. Her father was a doctor and the list of seven things he taught her was heartwarming and points we should all take to heart. Point number five immediately reminded me of Dr. Shad:
“If you happen to be a doctor, take care of your patients – really take care of them. Study medical journals after dinner, train the next generation of physicians (my father kept teaching until age 81), spend the extra hour to visit the bedside of your patients in the hospital. (Here’s a letter from one of those patients, which we found after my father passed away. He never showed us these things while he was alive.)”
Susan Cain Image – Patient Letter to her Doctor Father
The gratitude I shared in my Facebook share was:
“When I read Susan Cain’s post on Substack, this point, and the letter sent to Susan’s father, it inspired me to intentionally pause and be grateful for Doctor Aziza Shad.
Since 1996, Dr. Shad has been at our family’s side guiding and caring for Ryan Tomoff through his #ChildhoodCancer wars and beyond to monitoring the late effects of his treatments through the years.
The image above IS the essence of expertise, care, and compassion that Dr. Shad has brought to our family and every patient and family blessed to be a recipient of her care.
Please read Susan’s full Substack post and my wish is you can share your #gratitude with someone who made a forever impact in your life 🙏❤️.
Dr. Shad, thank you… the words shared by a patient, in Susan’s post, are beautiful. The Tomoff family carries these sentiments for you:
“How do I start, where do I begin to express my feeling of gratitude. appreciation to a [doctor] that has compassion, knowledge, and the kindest doctor… I had the pleasure to have in our lives.
Your caring, right from the heart, your kindness to always lead us in the right direction. We never thought to get a second opinion. Whatever you advised was good enough for us. BECAUSE YOU CARED, TRULY CARED….” “
Please prioritize 35 minutes to hear Dr. Shad’s perspective on treating her patients and their families. She cares deeply about all whom she is entrusted to care for. In the pediatric world, the child patient and the family must be considered to achieve the optimal outcome of curing a child. Aransas does a beautiful job guiding the conversation, and the entire podcast was an inspiring listen.
In the interview, Dr. Shad discusses why she chose pediatric cancer as a specialty, the founding of The Aslan Project dedicated to pediatric cancer in Ethiopia, and her mission to be accessible 24 hours per day, seven days a week! She is a godsend to our family. Listen in and be inspired – may we all approach our lives and careers to make the most meaningful difference we can.
I recently had a conversation with a friend in an MBA program who was advised by a classmate to lower the bar and focus more on soft skills. While I agree that real skills are critically important, I strongly disagree with the suggestion to lower the bar on learning. My twin brother Don and I are passionate about personal development and relentlessly encouraging others to bring their best selves to the world every day.
This commitment to excellence was solidified for me when my son Ryan was diagnosed with leukemia at age two in 1996. Dr. Aziza Shad, Ryan’s pediatric oncologist, came into our lives and guided us through an incredibly difficult journey. We had to completely trust Dr. Shad and her team to save Ryan’s life. A critical part of that trust was the expectation that she and everyone involved in Ryan’s care was dedicated to bringing their absolute best knowledge, judgment, and effort.
While most of us don’t hold others’ lives in our hands on a daily basis, I believe we should demand the same level of excellence from ourselves in whatever work we do. I owe this to Dr. Shad and the many professionals who exemplify this commitment. Ryan is thriving 27 years later thanks to their dedication and skill.
Dr. Shad’s example has inspired me to always strive to be my best and help others with the knowledge and skills I’ve gained over my lifetime. My wife Terri has also been moved by Dr. Shad’s encouragement to share our family’s story in her memoir. I hope others find inspiration in this message to never settle or get complacent, but to continually learn, prepare, and contribute your talents to the fullest. The world needs you at your best.
Full Original Writing
My twin Don and I embrace a theme in our careers and lives: “Take what you do seriously. Do not take yourself seriously.“
Recently, I had a conversation with a friend in an MBA program, and a classmate suggested, “You are taking the MBA too seriously. You should lower the bar and improve your soft skills.” This friend happens to be a spectacular human being with real (prefer term vs. “soft”) skills that I wish I possessed. I agree that we all must understand the critical importance of real skills, yet a suggestion to lower the bar on learning through the MBA curriculum content? NO.
Don and I are all-in on personal development, and we relentlessly encourage others to be serious about continually learning and bringing their best selves to the world every day. Please be serious and do your best with all learning opportunities you encounter. We must be our best and bring our learning and talents to the world!
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”
—Steve Prefontaine
“Lowering the bar” means accepting that we can get by and succeed with less effort. We don’t need to be at our best. This sounds crazy to contemplate, doesn’t it? In my world, I expect the best from myself and those I interact with. Let’s pull the thread on this idea to make a compelling and obvious point – in the medical profession, for example, are we accepting of a doctor who has lowered the bar and is not bringing her best talents to serve patients?
On October 17, 1996, our family’s life was forever changed when my son, Ryan, was diagnosed with cancer – Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the age of two years and two months. My wife Terri, and I, were stunned, scared, and had no concept of how we could move forward. On Saturday morning, October 19, 1996, Dr. Aziza Shad came into our lives carrying a protocol requiring our authorization for treatment to commence on Monday, October 21, 1996. Dr. Shad gently and caringly stepped through the protocol stages that would require three years and two months to complete and answered our questions. In order to save Ryan’s life, we had no option other than to accept and authorize the protocol.
We quickly understood a few core facts:
We had no control over a complicated childhood cancer world.
Dr. Shad and her team in the pediatric oncology world at Georgetown University Medical Center were our hope for saving Ryan’s life.
We had to trust Dr. Shad completely and partner with her while relentlessly advocating for Ryan.
Part of our trust in Dr. Shad and the medical community was our expectation that she and everyone involved in Ryan’s care was dedicated to staying current and relentlessly preparing to bring their best knowledge and judgment to Ryan and the countless patients whose lives depended on them. Let that sink in – isn’t this what you pray for when you put your trust in your doctors? While many of us are not saving lives on a daily basis, why would we accept less than our best when we live our lives personally and professionally? I have many limitations, but dedicating myself to continual learning, preparation, and bringing my best skills and effort to those counting on me is something I demand of myself. I owe this in honor of Dr. Shad and the many professionals who bring the same commitment to their lives every day.
We are blessed to have Ryan thriving now 27 years later, and Dr. Shad at his and our side guiding his follow-up care. Dr. Shad’s example of expertise, care, and compassion has solidified my determination to bring my best every day and help others with the skills and knowledge I have earned throughout my lifetime.
Terri Tomoff and Dr Aziza Shad – The Focused Fight
I will continue with future posts about Dr. Shad, where I will share the foreword from the book and other sentiments that speak to the incredible doctor and human being that she is.
To close this post, I hope you find inspiration to do everything in your power to be the best person and contributor you can be in your choice of work and how you carry yourself through each day of your life. Do not settle, get complacent, or “lower the bar.”The world needs your contribution!
Terri Tomoff’s passion for quilting took flight in 1989 after taking a class in Ohio. Over the past 35 years, I’ve witnessed her quilting expertise evolve from hand stitching to using a long-arm machine. Terri’s primary love is creating one-of-a-kind “treasured keepsakes” t-shirt quilts.
Her dedication to quilting and sharing joy with others soared when she joined the Southern Comforters Quilt Guild in 1998. Terri’s colorful creations took center stage as the guild’s featured quilter in 2012. Quilting provided solace during our son Ryan’s battle with leukemia, a time she refers to as “Manufacturing Sunshine.”
Inspired by a quilt Ryan received during his 2004 bone marrow transplant, Terri spearheaded an initiative for the guild to donate lap quilts to childhood cancer patients. The beneficiaries now span from Georgetown University Medical Center to hospitals in Baltimore, Ethiopia, Puerto Rico, and even families affected by the 2023 Maui fires. Terri has also created quilts to raise funds for charities supporting children with cancer.
Beyond her charitable work, Terri generously gifts quilts to family and friends. Olivia, Ryan, and I treasure the t-shirt quilts she’s made, commemorating special moments in our lives. Terri’s commitment to continuous learning and finding better ways to create her quilted works of art is awe-inspiring.
I marvel at the extensive “body of work” Terri has built through quilting, just one facet of her multi-talented life. Her tireless dedication to family, friends, and passions is superhuman. Terri, thank you for manufacturing sunshine and generously sharing your gifts with the world.
Full Original Writing
Terri Tomoff loves quilting and everything that goes along with it…the hunt for beautiful fabric, learning continuously, the creative art of quilting, and the camaraderie of sharing her love of the craft with like-minded people. In 1989, she took a quilting class in North Olmsted, Ohio, and the fuse was lit. Over the past 35 years, I have had the gift of having a front-row seat to witness the development and refinement of her quilting work.
Today, her primary quilting love is creating one-of-a-kind “treasured keepsakes” t-shirt quilts for family, friends, and customers. Her quilting expertise has evolved from hand quilting in the 1990s to using a full long-arm quilting machine to accelerate her work once the creative design is completed. Yet, her quilting passion goes far beyond the business side of her efforts. Her love of quilting and sharing the joy with others took off in 1998 when she joined the Southern Comforters Quilt Guild in Bowie, Maryland.
“Quilting consumes me.” Quote from Terri when the local newspaper featured her after she was selected as the Featured Quilter for the 2012 Southern Comforters Quilt Show. The text of the article:
March 8, 2012
Crofton-West County Gazette
Quilting Woman’s Passion
“Inspired by Betsy Ross and the bicentennial, Terri Tomoff took on her first fabric project in junior high, when she crocheted an outline of the original 13 colonies for a school project.
She was instantly intrigued by the material arts and has since created more than 200 quilts.
As the featured quilter for the Southern Comforters Annual Quilt Show, Terri’s colorful creations will take center stage at the show, which will be held March 24 and 25 at C. Elizabeth Rieg School in Bowie.
Terri started quilting as a young adult after taking a sampler quilt class in her home state of Ohio but put her hobby aside to focus on her marriage, children and career. Soon after moving to Crofton in 1996, Terri’s 2-year-old son Ryan was diagnosed with cancer and that altered her course even further. When Ryan was able to start pre-school, Terri met a fellow mom who was a member of the Southern Comforters Quilt Guild and invited her to join.
“That was in 1998 and I haven’t missed too many meetings since then,” said Terri. “Quilts consume me.” The quilting guild gets together twice a month to hone their skills, share ideas and serve the community.
Terri said that during her son’s nine-year battle with leukemia, she started making and donating quilts to sup-port cancer research and the medical centers that treated Ryan. “Instead of donating money, I made quilts that were then raffled off,” she said.
Terri also made more than 200 quilt bags gifting them to everyone from the doctors and hospital staff to the parking attendants.
At the upcoming quilt show, 30 to 40 of Terri’s quilts will be on display.
One of her favorites, which will be featured at the show, combines varying shades of solid pink and yellow fabrics and a complementary floral fabric.
“I love that quilts have a dual purpose since they are designed for both beauty and comfort,” said Terri. “I also love to see the joy in people’s faces when they receive a hand-made quilt and I think it is an honor to receive one. They are a labor of love – you just can’t knock one out.”
Terri said that she was humbled to be selected as the featured quilter for this year’s annual show and that she looks forward to continuing to color the world with her quilts.”
March 8, 2012 – Terri Tomoff Featured Quilter – Article in Crofton-West County Gazette
Terri embraced the quilting community and her love of quilting with fervor. Everyone should have the gift in their life of a hobby or passion that brings out their creativity and desire to improve and add value to the world. Terri found this with quilting. Her dedication and growth in the world of quilting is inspiring to all who know her. She wants to contribute to bringing joy and comfort to others with each lovingly created quilt.
Ideas are Born
Manufacturing Sunshine
Terri often tells how the quilting process helped soothe her and brighten her days at Georgetown Hospital when Ryan was an inpatient for his leukemia treatment protocols. Many long days and weeks were spent in the hospital from late 1996 through 2004. A makeshift station would be set up in Ryan’s hospital room, and when she could, Terri let her mind work with the creative side of piecing together fabrics that involved bright colors. Years later in 2017, she would reflect back and refer to those times that she was “Manufacturing Sunshine.” This is now the title of her website blog page and a theme we hold close to our hearts in our family.
March 2017 – Ryan and Terri Tomoff with her Manufacturing Sunshine Quilt
Community Quilts Bringing Comfort to Childhood Cancer Children
In late October 2004, when Ryan was admitted to the PBMT floor 5200 at Duke University to begin his bone marrow transplant process, he received a quilt incorporating blank green and blue blocks for nurses, family, and others to write notes to Ryan. I remember discussing with Terri, “This quilt is a tremendous gift for the patient and the family. They are being seen and know that people care.” The act of this gift of a lap quilt brought comfort during a time of extreme concern and stress.
March 21, 2024 – 29-year-old Ryan Tomoff with Quilt provided at Transplant in November 2004
When we returned to Maryland in 2005, Terri inquired about the possibility of the Southern Comforters Community Quilts charitable initiative, including lap quilts to Georgetown Hospital (where Ryan was treated when we were home in Maryland) to be given to newly diagnosed childhood cancer children. The idea was warmly embraced, and Terri was leading the effort of providing quilts to the Georgetown Pediatric Oncology Clinic! A beautiful idea noted at Duke University inspired a movement in the Washington DC region. In 2015, Terri discovered and shared with me the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth. Terri shared this in her blog from 2019. We were excited to have a defined term for our emotions and desire to make a difference for others chosen to travel the path Ryan, and our family were on.
The Soothing Power of a Quilt Expands
In addition to donating quilts to Georgetown Hospital, Terri led the Southern Comforters to share the comfort internationally. She knew firsthand the comfort of a thoughtful gift that a lap quilt could bring to a child fighting cancer and their families. She was a force of nature determined to leverage her love of quilting to help others.
The beneficiaries of Terri’s and The Southern Comforters Quilt Guild efforts, over almost 20 years, now include:
A touching moment happened with a quilt recipient from a family who lost their home in the Lahaina fire, as noted in point 5 above. A donated quilt had the quilter’s name on the back of the quilt, and the recipient sent the following lovely message via Facebook Messenger. Terri shared in her blog:
“After our guild meeting this past week, Joan approached me with a big smile and told me she had something special to share. Her quilt pictured below was given to a family that found her through Facebook and recently wrote her this lovely message:
“Wanted to say Hi and Aloha! I lost my home in the Lahaina fire on Maui. I was fortunate to pick out your quilt (UFO Challenge), and I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you!””
In addition to the quilt donation efforts above, Terri has also created quilts for auction or has raffled quilts to benefit charities focused on efforts in the fight against childhood cancer. Charities benefited include:
Coordinating her t-shirt quilt business and the incredible charity initiatives shared above, can she make other efforts to spread her talents and love of quilts into the world? The answer is a resounding YES! Oliva, Ryan, and I have been the recipients of t-shirt quilts that we treasure, countless “baby quilts” have been gifted, and then she completes special projects for gifts (i.e., Tote Bags) and even tackles unique customer projects that showcase her broad spectrum of talent and creativity in the quilting world!
Terri is a continual learner and embraces “finding a better way” to be more effective with her quilting efforts. Her mission is to build space for the creative aspect of quilting, which she loves. Whether contemplating a collection of t-shirts, a charitable effort, or other unique projects, she experiences joy in creating a work of art that can be a lifetime gift to someone. The recipients of her art are often stunned at the beautiful work she delivers!
Within our family, Olivia, Ryan, and I all have t-shirt quilts that Terri lovingly made for us from activities that have defined a memorable aspect of our lives. My two quilts embrace my love of sports and competitive distance running memories. Olivia has a collection of memories from her competitive soccer years, and Ryan has a Special Love Camp Fantastic theme and sports memories.
June 2020 – Ohio University, Distance Running, and Other Sports Memories
I am thrilled that Terri found the art of quilting and savor the joy, purpose, and fulfillment it has brought to her life and the lives of others. Her talents are a gift to the world and she shares generously!
While writing this #CelebratingOthers, I marvel at the “body of work” that Terri has built with her quilting. Then, reflecting more broadly, I remind myself her quilting is only one aspect of her full, robust life. Terri is a sister, spouse, Mom, a dear friend to many, and is talented and dedicated to her life passions. The same commitment she brings to her quilting goes into everything she does. The tireless dedication to her family, supporting my efforts, and caring for Olivia and Ryan are superhuman! She is also the author ofThe Focused Fight, a memoir of Ryan’s wars with 3x childhood cancer and 2x adult cancers over the past 27+ years.
Terri, thank you for all you do for me, our family, and everyone you come in contact with through your quilting, writing, and sharing your passions with the world. Indeed, you are “Manufacturing Sunshine” for yourself and others!
