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