The Recording of My Life
a few years ago
i fulfilled a lifelong dream of
recording a song i wrote
with members of bob marley’s band the
whalers
unfortunately it took a diagnosis with
an awful disease
for me to make this happen on november
27
2014 after 10 incredibly difficult days
in the hospital
i sat in front of a doctor and he told
me i have a stage 4 lung cancer
which has spread to multiple locations
is inoperable
and considered terminal from their
experience
the best they can do is try to control
it
so i can prolong my life
a complete numbness blanketed me as i
was discharged from internal medicine
and admitted to oncology that night
i went home and i googled nsclc4
survival rates and for the second time
that day
i received a tremendous shock an average
of six months
it is at this point time stood still and
my world changed radically forever
we all know life is finite and we all
have experienced our share of losses
however
at 46 married with two young kids
and a new job i found this knowledge
overwhelming
staring death directly in the face
it is then that i decided as best as i
can
and despite the cancer i’m going to live
life as fully as possible on my
terms it is a long list of unpleasant
things that must be endured as a cancer
patient
but i think the hardest part is to try
to put them aside
and keep busy living life
much of 2016 was not a good time with my
treatments
my medicines were failing and i found
myself in and out of the hospital
all too often from one procedure to
another the rest of the time
at home lying in bed unable to do much
words cannot express the desperation i
felt
unable to do much with my family looking
on helplessly
fortunately a new medicine was released
to the market
and slowly but surely i found myself
back in a stable condition
it is then that i decided i’m going to
take my guitar
and get on a plane fly from tel aviv to
new york
and try out for america’s got talent why
not
i know i can do this and i’ve always
wanted to so off i went to new york
and spent a wonderful week visiting with
family and friends
some who i hadn’t seen since college at
the end of the week i went to the
audition
and i played a bob marley in the whaler
song waiting in vain
once you start going after your dreams
you never know where the adventure may
lead
no i didn’t get onto the show however
the motivation to come down and try was
enough for me
it inspired me to wake up and live to
take a chance
and that is everything it also opened up
a new door
as it happens one of my friends who was
helping me through the week
works in the music industry one night
while hanging out
i played for him a demo of a song i’d
written many years before
a reggae song called ja light my friend
asked me what do you want to do with
this i said
to play it record it properly hear a
band performing it
to give it life a few weeks later my
friend called and said that the whalers
while on a tour break in miami may be
interested in recording my song
you can imagine my surprise and
excitement the whalers
the song i wrote i asked if i’m up to it
and i can do it
can i come and see this a few more weeks
later it was confirmed
and i bought a ticket to miami and off i
went
a couple of nights later i went to meet
the band
and to see a live show a huge honor and
treat
the next day we went to the recording
studio
and the whalers their families and
friends opened up their hearts
led me into their lives to record a song
i wrote
ja light
a song inspired many years before by one
of my favorite bands
theirs so you see you never know what
amazing things may be right
around this corner in this crazy
miraculous life
we are all gifted ever so briefly with
this wonderful thing called life
i encourage you to live it now dream big
work hard and chase after your passions
don’t wait 25 years or for something
terrible to happen along the way
thank you