Eric Gilcris of Cancer Canknot: I Survived Cancer and Here Is How I Did It
An Interview With Savio P. Clemente
The first one for me would be, never wish away your days. Things can get hard along the way, but try not to wish away the day in hopes for a better one, because every day you have that you still get the chance to get up and move forward is a good day. And then when you get beyond that thing that you felt was hard, you will look back and feel pride in yourself for overcoming it. Soon after my diagnosis, I developed blood clots in my lungs after surgery, which then required me to have to give myself an injection in my stomach on a daily basis, which I really didn’t like. Early on, I can remember thinking “I can’t wait for this to be over” and just wishing for those days to be over, but now that I look back on it, that injection was such a small moment of my day, and really such a small portion of my life, that had I just wished those days away and focused on it to be over I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all the good that happened during that time.
Cancer is a horrible and terrifying disease. Yet millions of people have beaten the odds and beat cancer. Authority Magazine started a new series called “I Survived Cancer and Here Is How I Did It”. In this interview series, we are talking to cancer survivors to share their stories, in order to offer hope and provide strength to people who are being impacted by cancer today. As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Gilcris.
Eric Gilcris is a husband, father of two and a 10 year glioblastoma brain cancer (GBM) survivor. Now at 39 years old, Eric is considered an ‘extreme survivor,’ a term used to describe less than 1% of patients who have lived with GBM for 10 years or more. In 2014, Eric and his wife founded Cancer Canknot® to help fund cancer research and support cancer patients and their families. To date, their organization has donated close to $70k.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! We really appreciate the courage it takes to publicly share your story. Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your childhood backstory?
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my story. I grew up in a small, rural town in Southern Vermont with my parents and my younger brother. I look back now at my childhood and realize how lucky I was because I was always surrounded by family — my mom has four brothers and sisters, which meant there were many aunts, uncles and cousins to be around. Growing up, I also spent a lot of time with my grandparents since they lived right next door. My grandfather, Gramps as we called him, started a sawmill in the 1960’s, so as a kid I often got to work side-by-side with him and my dad as I was growing up. As I got older, I developed a huge passion for all sports, but primarily basketball. I played basketball as much as a I could growing up; in high school I had a goal of becoming a 1,000 point scorer, and by the end of my Senior year I did just that. When it came time to go to college, I knew it was important for me to stay close to home, so I attended Castleton State College and earned my degree in Accounting. After college, I made the hard decision to move away from the family sawmill business to the Burlington area (with my now wife — who I started dating in high school), where I have worked in the accounting/captive insurance industry since. After marrying, we were blessed with two beautiful, amazing children — Bryce and Erica.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Hmm, for me I am not sure it’s about any particular quote, but more so of a mindset. I have always been a “glass half full” kind of guy so a quote or mindset that I often base my days on is around “when you focus on the good, the good increases.” For me, this has been most relevant with my brain cancer diagnosis and the years following my treatment for cancer. There definitely have been days that I haven’t felt like my best self throughout these past 10 years, but instead of me getting down on myself for the things that I may not be able to do as well as I once could, I chose to focus on the good and the positive that have come out of the situation, mostly the fact that I am still a survivor, when my original prognosis was 6–12 months — and that definitely refocuses my attention to “what is good…”
Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about surviving cancer. Do you feel comfortable sharing with us the story surrounding how you found out that you had cancer?
Of course. In the end of November 2011 I started to feel a little “off” and by early December I developed severe headaches. As a healthy, active 29 year old guy, my doctor originally diagnosed me with migraines. However, what should have gotten better with medication, quickly became much worse and I was referred for a CAT scan — at which point a baseball sized tumor was discovered in my frontal lobe. Just given the size of the tumor, the doctors and surgeons knew it had to be removed, however no one really expected for it to be grade 4 brain cancer (also known as glioblastoma). Upon discovery of the tumor, my symptoms and condition worsened quickly and I was rushed into an emergency surgery; the tumor was so big that it was putting too much pressure on my brain stem which was severely impacting the ability for my body to regulate my breathing and heartrate. After a 6 hour surgery, they removed about 80% of the tumor. From there, I followed surgery with 6 weeks of radiation and a year of weekly oral chemotherapy treatments. And now 10 years later, I follow up with my oncologist every 6 months after my bi-annual MRI.
What was the scariest part of that event? What did you think was the worst thing that could happen to you?
For me, I think the scariest part of the event was just how quickly everything happened and progressed, as there was absolutely no time to prepare for a change that so significantly impacted me and my family. As far as the worst thing that could happen to me, I didn’t really think about that, I was really just focused on what I needed to do to overcome it.
How did you react in the short term?
To me, it’s always about the short term. I am someone who tries to take things day by day and not get too far out in front of myself. With glioblastoma there isn’t traditionally a great prognosis, so it was important for me to stay present in the moment and not worry about things too far in the future. To me, worrying is wasted energy, so if I can just focus on short term goals and where I am at in the present moment, I know they will eventually get me to where I want to be in the long-term.
After the dust settled, what coping mechanisms did you use? What did you do to cope physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually?
Family has always been important to me. As I mentioned earlier, I grew up surrounded by family, and so even though I received my cancer diagnosis as a young adult, I knew that being around them and allowing them to help would allow me to cope. From a mental standpoint, I gave myself permission to rest. I would watch movies, take naps and just listen to my body. If there were days that I was tired- I would rest more, and if there were days I had more energy, I would take advantage of that energy by getting out and going for a walk. Having a young son at the time also really helped. When I was diagnosed, he was 3 years old, and so his energy helped to keep me going and constantly give me the perspective on the importance to keep fighting.
Is there a particular person you are grateful towards who helped you learn to cope and heal? Can you share a story about that?
I am so grateful and thankful for a lot of people who helped me cope and heal, but I am most grateful for my wife and my mom as they were there for me every single day. My mom came and lived with us during the entire 6 weeks of my radiation, attended every doctor’s visit with me and my wife and she stayed with me during the day so I wouldn’t be alone on the days my wife needed to work. My wife also prioritized keeping things as normal as possible for our son, and I am grateful she was able to keep things going as normal as could be. Their caring and attentiveness brought me such a high level of comfort during that time and truly showed me that I would never be alone on this journey, which allowed me to relax and heal.
In my own cancer struggle, I sometimes used the idea of embodiment to help me cope. Let’s take a minute to look at cancer from an embodiment perspective. If your cancer had a message for you, what do you think it would want or say? That is such a great way to think of it. If my cancer had a message for me, I think it would tell me to take advantage of every single day and not let the little things in life become a priority. So many people at my age are prioritizing careers over family — but for me, cancer has shown me what is important in life. Family is what is important, going to my kid’s games are important and having a healthy work life balance is important. Prior to my cancer diagnosis I’d put things off, like taking a vacation or call someone I hadn’t talked to in a while, assuming I could do it at a later date. Cancer has taught me that no one’s time is guaranteed so if you have the chance to do it, do it — take advantage of the time you have. Make the memories while you can, follow your dreams and do the things that you want to do. The other thing cancer has given me is the perspective of how insignificant the “little things” are. A bad day at work, is just that, a bad day at work. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter. As long as my family and friends are healthy and happy, then life is good.
What did you learn about yourself from this very difficult experience? How has cancer shaped your worldview? What has it taught you that you might never have considered before? Can you please explain with a story or example?
I have learned so much about myself from my cancer experience. I’ve always thought of myself as a strong-willed person, but now 10 years beyond my diagnosis I learned and believe it to be true. Even when the odds were stacked against me, I was able and am still able to find it in myself to keep going — even as I continue to navigate post cancer and treatment effects on my body. And I am proud of myself for that. Before being faced with a difficult situation, we all have thoughts and ideas on how we think we will handle it, however we never really know how we will navigate it until we are actually in it. Ultimately, I think I have realized that I am more resilient than I even thought I could be over these past 10 years. I’ve also realized that my story, especially my outcome, is so different from many others with glioblastoma. As a 10 year survivor, I am in a category of less than 1% of patients who have lived this long post GBM diagnosis, and I’ve learned that I want to change the story for the other 99% of people with GBM. My cancer diagnosis made me realize that I have a passion and a purpose to help others navigate their prognosis, raise awareness for brain cancer and brain cancer research and hopefully, if not ultimately, give others hope.
How have you used your experience to bring goodness to the world?
Both my wife and I truly believe that cancer has given us more than it has taken away. It has given us the perspective of how both precious and fragile life can be. When I was diagnosed, one of the first things my wife asked me was “why you”…and my response was “why not me”…I honestly and truly believe that I was given this diagnosis to help other people. In 2014 my wife and I founded Cancer Canknot. Our logo is a cancer ribbon with a knot in the middle to symbolize everything cancer Canknot do. Just like a knot, Cancer can be the symbol of your strength. Whether you are a Cancer Survivor, a patient, or someone part of a support system for the person fighting, we believe it can make us stronger, and for me, that started with an optimistic mindset. Using our Cancer Canknot platform we have written a children’s book for kids whose parents have cancer, designed some Cancer Canknot jewelry and merchandise so people can wear and be reminded of what Cancer Canknot do, and we also host an annual charity golf tournament to raise money for cancer research. We are about to host our 7th tournament, and so far we have donated nearly $70,000 — which we are so proud of. It was important for me to do something good with something that was originally thought of being so bad.
What are a few of the biggest misconceptions and myths out there about fighting cancer that you would like to dispel? Just based on my own experience, a misconception I realized is related to the weight that is sometimes placed on statistics and outcomes. Even though the odds were stacked against me, and my prognosis was 6–12 months, just because that is what I was told, doesn’t mean that is what it has to be. Early on I realized that I am an individual on this journey who isn’t going to have the same exact journey and path as someone else — no matter what the statistics say. So, while those statistics can help to guide conversations and treatment plans, it doesn’t mean it has to be as grim as what was previously known, and I (and you) always have a choice in the mindset we chose along the journey.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experiences and knowledge, what advice would you give to others who have recently been diagnosed with cancer? What are your “5 Things You Need To Beat Cancer? Please share a story or example for each.
The first one for me would be, never wish away your days. Things can get hard along the way, but try not to wish away the day in hopes for a better one, because every day you have that you still get the chance to get up and move forward is a good day. And then when you get beyond that thing that you felt was hard, you will look back and feel pride in yourself for overcoming it. Soon after my diagnosis, I developed blood clots in my lungs after surgery, which then required me to have to give myself an injection in my stomach on a daily basis, which I really didn’t like. Early on, I can remember thinking “I can’t wait for this to be over” and just wishing for those days to be over, but now that I look back on it, that injection was such a small moment of my day, and really such a small portion of my life, that had I just wished those days away and focused on it to be over I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all the good that happened during that time.
A second thing for me would be to not waste energy on worrying. There can be so much to worry about with a cancer diagnosis, but if you worry too much into the future, it will take away from your present. The present moment is all you can control.
My third thing feels somewhat cliché, but I do think helped me, is trying to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle as much as possible. Certainly, it’s important to follow the advice of your doctor, but during the time of your treatment, your body will be going through a lot, so if there is anything you can do to keep your immune system healthy, then do it as much as possible. It is important to put yourself first during this time — and that starts with ensuring you are caring for you, first. Make sure you are taking care of your body and your mind. Even if you aren’t able to get out for a walk, try and get outside for some fresh air to refresh your mind.
A fourth thing is to listen to your body, and speak up if something doesn’t feel right, and ask questions. Physician’s, nurses and your care team are responsible for so many patients and only you are responsible for yourself. If something doesn’t feel right or normal for you, then it is important to advocate for yourself, speak up and ask questions. If you aren’t comfortable asking questions or speaking up for yourself, then have someone with you who can. I was very lucky to have my wife with me along the way, so when I wasn’t feeling well or completely able to speak up for myself, I had someone who could. I mentioned above that early on I was diagnosed with blood clots, however had I not spoken up to the doctor about the pain I was experiencing, then I likely wouldn’t have receive the necessary treatment I needed because I didn’t know what I needed, but she did.
All of this leads me to my last thing, which is about mindset. For me, mindset is everything, and I think probably the number one thing that has helped me on my cancer journey. Even on my worst days, I tried to focus on the good, even if it was something small. Celebrate the small wins, because no matter how small, it all adds up to something big. Also, rather than thinking about the big goal of being finished with treatment, set yourself small milestones and celebrate those along the way. Something that also helped me was rather than saying “I have to do…I changed it to “I get to do…” as this was an easy way to shift my mindset from negative to something more positive. So rather than saying “I have to go to radiation”…say “I get to go to radiation” — it just changes the mindset and makes me feel more grateful that I am in the position to be able to get radiation as there are some people who aren’t able to. Also, when I talk about mindset, it doesn’t have to necessarily be that you have to be positive all the time, for me it is more so about optimism and truly believing that things will get better than the hard moment you are experiencing. Ultimately, prove to yourself, everything that Cancer Canknot do…it canknot stop you from believing, it can’t stop you from giving up hope, it canknot stop you from living and enjoying life!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be?
Wow, that’s a hard question, if I could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people…it would be something around inspiring others that something good can come out of something bad. I know during our interview we’ve talked about my experience with cancer, and it starting as something bad, but the most important thing for me that I really want to share is all of the good that has come out of it. So whether it is cancer or something else, I think we all can benefit in feeling inspired by someone else’s story, and how they brought good to the world, from something that started out as bad.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them. :-)
It would definitely be Shaquille O’Neil! He’s always been my favorite basketball player. I’d love to sit down and listen to him talk about his basketball days and share with him some of my favorite moments of him as I watched him play and how I used to pretend to be him when I played basketball with friends growing up. I’ve even passed my love of him on to my kids as my 8 year old daughter can rap the lyrics to one of his songs and me and me and my son love to watch the movie Blue Chips that he starred in together!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I’d love for people to follow along. Readers can do so by going to: www.cancercanknot.com or social media: @cancercanknot
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About The Interviewer: Savio P. Clemente coaches cancer survivors to overcome the confusion and gain the clarity needed to get busy living in mind, body, and spirit. He inspires health and wellness seekers to find meaning in the “why” and to cultivate resilience in their mindset. Savio is a Board Certified wellness coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), stage 3 cancer survivor, podcaster, writer, and founder of The Human Resolve LLC.
Savio pens a weekly newsletter at thehumanresolve.com where he delves into secrets from living smarter to feeding your “three brains” — head 🧠, heart 💓, and gut 🤰 — in hopes of connecting the dots to those sticky parts in our nature that matter.
He has been featured on Fox News, and has collaborated with Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, Food Network, WW, and Bloomberg. His mission is to offer clients, listeners, and viewers alike tangible takeaways in living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle.
Savio lives in the suburbs of Westchester County, New York and continues to follow his boundless curiosity. He hopes to one day live out a childhood fantasy and explore outer space.
