Magpie 52/ Make the greatest impact you can in the time that you have
I don't want to write this email. My friend Mark Laabs passed away from Cnacer.
I met Mark a long time ago in Shanghai, when I did not have my shit together, and he, most certainly, had his shit together. Over our friendship I saw a real leader, thinker and compassionate human that was constantly creating immense value everywhere he went. I took a lot of inspiration from him and he gave me advice that shaped who I am.
I was with Mark the day he learned he had cancer the first time. He called me after the diagnosis and I headed over to his flat in the back alleys of the former French Concession. I remember it very clearly, we were feverishly working every angle to get him in touch with one specific doctor in Philadelphia, and we were periodically catatonic with shock. It came in waves. I drank a lot of his booze, he did not.
At some point that night he reminded me of his core principle, which he phrased at the time "Make the greatest impact you can in the time that you have." He was grappling with the idea that his timeline might be a lot shorter than he ever thought possible. It was heavy.
We got Mark in touch with that doctor and put him on a plane the next day.
Here's what made Mark a 1 of 1. A real original.
In the months during and after his treatment and remission, he put his own principles to work:
1/ he talked to all the doctors and researchers who were studying his form of cancer
2/ He learned about the challenges that face people researching rare cancers
3/ He widened his view and found dozens of similar rare cancer types - unrelated to his own - and found that the researchers passionate about those cancers had the same challenges as the ones studying his cancer
4/ He started the RARE CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION, which raises money specifically to address the challenges all rare cancer researchers face.
5/ Then he hired a staff to run it and went off to change the world a few more times in the renewable energy field.
Just one moment of Mark being Mark and putting his principles to work. There were so many more.