I admit up front that I have been known to occasionally “repurpose” the works of others although I prefer not to call myself a plagiarist – a powerful word that has been in the news lately.
I call it positive inspiration, and I will for years share stories from this book and claim many of these life lessons as my own.
My friend and former (now retired) client Mac Churchill has bravely fought the battle against a rare form of cancer, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, also known as MDS, over the past nine years. MDS picked the wrong guy to fight with because Mac is winning.
Just before Christmas, Mac published his book, “Happy Soxx” (available on Amazon as a paperback or on Kindle), which shares incidents from his interactions with doctors, nurses, medical staff, and even the hospital valet parkers and shuttle drivers.
Leave it to Mac to recognize the least prominent workers. That’s just who he is – someone who sees value in everyone around him.
Mac’s “trophy wife” Lu Jo describes him in the forward as the “Energizer Bunny” because of his boundless energy and ability to operate for so many years on five hours of sleep.
She has accurately called Mac a “Positive Spirit” because he has always found the positive potential in any situation, whether in owning and operating one of America’s top 10 Acura dealerships, serving in leadership positions on local nonprofits, traveling the world, or enjoying regular breakfasts or lunches with friends.
“Happy Soxx” shares their journey through his diagnosis and countless treatments, but the focus is on positivity and gratitude to everyone who has served on his medical team and the administrative team who check him in for medical appointments and procedures.
Mac relates that on his initial trips to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and his later treatments at U.T. Southwestern in Dallas, he noticed that all the patients and many of their accompanying family members were dressed in black or gray. In his words, they anticipated a bleak outcome and their dark attire reflected their fear, frustration, anger, and acceptance of bad news. Where they saw negativity, Mac chose to see hope. He decided to change the attitude of everyone he came into contact with inside the hospitals by bringing moments of positivity and joy while also adding color to his attire.
He reasoned that the medical staff was underappreciated and stressed because of the conditions they were treating and that they were serving patients often facing life-or-death conditions.
Mac began with funky socks, and learned from one nurse that she, too, wore what she called her “Happy Soxx.” She said she had to wear scrubs and her only attempt at any personalization was in her foot attire. Mac continued his attack on cancer and fashion with more and more Happy Soxx, and patients and family members began to notice. He started seeing smiles and glimmers of hope in others who had previously frowned.
His next step: Hawaiian-style shirts – at first a little conservative, and those grew into bursts of colorful vistas of palm trees, beaches, surfers, and pretty much anything you could imagine the late singer Jimmy Buffett wearing.
“Happy Soxx” lifts the spirits of the reader – it did for me – because of the light-hearted approach to the serious subject of cancer.
My favorite parts of the book include:
- Mac often refers to himself as George Clooney when checking in for an appointment just to see the reaction of other patients and family members in the waiting room.
- He shared some of the spontaneous humor with doctors that included shocking one doctor during an examination when Mac claimed he had a mild case of leprosy. The doctor jerked his hand away from Mac and then laughed as he realized he had just been “Mac-ed” – the victim of a Mac Churchill practical joke.
- He played with the valet cashier at the hospital. When she asked what kind of car he had driven, Mac gave a straight-faced delivery and claimed he had driven a yellow Rolls-Royce. During his many trips to the hospital, he and that cashier joked about that exotic car – which he, of course, did not drive.
- Lying scales: Mac told nurses weighing him that the scales lied and that he had weighed 40 pounds less when he weighed at home.
A nurse once told Mac, “Thanks, I needed that” when his humor lifted the spirits in an office that needed a positive moment.
Another nurse told Mac that they checked the patient schedule each day in hopes that he would be coming in because he lifted their spirits.
Now that’s what I call making a difference.
Along the way, Mac introduces some moments from his past that help you realize his background. For example, he was a member of the Paschal High School swimming team and won the Texas state championship in the breaststroke competition. You may insert all your witty comments here because he has used them all throughout the years!
Mac gives a lesson in sales about the simple technique that made one man the top-selling IBM typewriter salesman (yes, there was a time when we used typewriters instead of computers in America) year after year.
He even mentions his favorite high school teacher – recalling how history teacher Dean Cozine brought history to life.
This 102-page easy-to-read book concludes with a statement – in bold type: We cannot control what happens to us in life. We can only control how we react.
Very well done, Mac Churchill. Very well done!
John Fletcher is CEO/Founder of Fletcher Consulting Public Relations in Arlington, where he emphasizes the value of developing strong personal and business relationships. Contact him at john@thefletch.org