Ever since I was a child, I’ve been practising a lot of sports. I don’t care whether they’re about agility, strategy, etc. I like them all! They allow you to jump higher and further, take and give bigger blows, and run faster and for longer periods of time. In January 2015, I got the opportunity to practise a sport I didn’t think I’d be able to practise in my native Quebec. There was no warm wind and no beaches. I had never trained for it and had no gear. But I started surfing.

My kind of surfing wasn’t as concrete as the sport you practise with a surfboard. My wave wasn’t made of water. It was a disease. My surfboard wasn’t made of fibres. It was made of courage, will, love, and passion. When I got the results of my biopsy, the first wave hit me really hard. I didn’t know how to react at all. I was so disoriented and stunned that I don’t even remember what the doctor told me back then. I just wanted to leave the hospital and go see my friends.

The week after that, I remember telling myself that I had only two choices. Either I was trying to hold on to what I had and waited for the next waves to hit me, or I was getting on my surfboard and tried to stand up for as long as I could. I chose the second option. I found it easier to have more fun during this ordeal with every appointment I went to. I focused on everything that was positive and ignored everything that was negative, useless, or beyond my control. Because I was thinking like this, I didn’t waste any energy on wondering if everything was going to be okay, or if I was going to make it. Plus, it gave me a lot of energy and confidence.

After five weeks of treatment, I had two months “off”. I had lost around 30 pounds, and I wanted to use this time off to gain it back, which was quite the challenge. I also took this as an opportunity to do as many activities as I could. It bore fruits, because I achieved my goal before my surgery. I worked hard on my mental while doing physical activities. I was trying to stay positive, despite being hit by the tsunami called “ileostomy”. Since then, a lot of things have changed, and the way I view hardships is really different. I now see them as opportunities to grow and become better, so they have no chance of coming back.

The sea will definitely keep sending waves your way, so you know what you have to do: get on your surfboard and have fun.

Samuel

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