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Back in the Game
I was in a full downward spiral after getting news I had been blocked from a groundbreaking optogenetics clinical trial that could give me back my eyesight. Then I received a text message from former NFL Coach Golden Pat Ruel admonishing me to put on my hurdle-jumping shoes. “Remember that it’s often the second mouse that gets the cheese,” he added. “NO weakness. March forward.” A minute later he was on the phone, coaching me through a game plan.
“You might have lost the first quarter, but there’s still a whole game to be played,” he stressed. “Now’s the time to dig deep and give it all your effort.” Before hanging up, the offensive line coach who helped march the Seahawks to their 2014 Super Bowl win offered to help me assemble a team and lead the charge.
In the year since I’ve been coaching this giant of a coach on his soon-to-be-finished memoir, I’ve learned a lot about his motivational techniques, his gratitude mindset, and the heart-based approach that has won him the loyalty and respect of his players and helped elevate them to greatness.
But it’s one thing to hear about it, and another thing entirely to experience it. Coach Ruel was like a manager in a boxing ring after watching his boxer get obliterated in the first round. He gave me some water and cleaned up my wounds. Then he laid down an action plan, refueled my determination and fire, and sent me back out into the ring. Only he did one better: he offered to be my back up.
Since then, others have stepped in to help: my daughter, Sydney, who dropped everything to be by my side. My high school friend, Sugata, who alerted me to the FDA’s compassionate use policy. My girlfriend, Nicole, who whisked me away for fish tacos and wine. My sister-in-law, Leslie, who sent over an e-book and song on revolutionary love. There were also so many others — both close friends and people I had never met — who offered up their prayers, love, and support.
Thanks to Coach Ruel and all of you who have directed your energy my way, I am back on my feet and back in the game — prepared to go the distance and give whatever effort it takes to obtain the vision-restoring therapy that will enable me, and the thousands of others out there like me, to see part of our worlds again.
I’m so grateful to all of you for being there for me. It’s such a huge reminder of the power of love, of teamwork, and of taking action to lift people to their feet when they’ve been flattened by life. I know I’m not the only one facing what feels like insurmountable hurdles. But what I do know for certain is that they are much easier to tackle as a team. We all need each other and it’s when we come together that the magic happens and the impossible becomes possible.
Maybe this is what revolutionary love is all about.
