Private Air New York Magazine
Issue link: https://privateair.uberflip.com/i/1462390
www.privateairny.com Private Air | Spring 2022 88 PHILANTHROPY Hope and purpose: e combo that makes all the difference Hope is the key, both in battling illness and living a meaningful life. It adds to your quality of life and helped me as a cancer patient to fuel my determination and keep despair at bay. Many experts agree that hope plays a significant role in how cancer patients engage in their care, and potentially how they respond to treatment. Now add purpose. When Anne and I felt the impact that helping others had on our lives, we felt a singular leading as to how we wanted to spend the rest of our time on Earth. We wanted to make an impact. Adversity is a natural part of life. While we can't avoid life's difficult moments, we can try to view them through a larger lens, focused on a larger purpose, one filled with meaning. Don't wait for time to run out. Do something extraordinary now. We all have the desire to do something great, to help make a change. But, we often run out of time before we have the chance to do something about it. Life gets in the way and those dreams get pushed to the back burner. Illness changes that. It forces us to answer "what would you do?" question sooner than we might have ever expected. is awakening changed the course of my life. My journey through darkness and recovering from multiple cancers has led me to an ever-expanding circle of giving to exciting programs. is is deeply rewarding and gives me the gift of perspective. What I want to tell you is this. Even if you're fortunate enough to go through life without facing frightening health issues, don't put off doing something extraordinary. It is always the right time to be selfless. While our time is finite, there's no limit to the benefits that you will reap by lending a hand. ABOUT Mike Armstrong is the former Chairman and CEO of Comcast, AT&T, and Hughes Electronics. He began his career at IBM, where he spent more than three decades rising through the ranks to become one of IBMs top executives in charge of the company's operations in Europe, Africa, and the Soviet Union. Having battled leukemia, prostate cancer, and related serious illnesses throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he became an active supporter of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its associated hospitals after retiring from the corporate world in 2002. In 2005, he was named chairman of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Now fully retired, Armstrong is on a mission to share his story as a two-time cancer survivor to help others on the cancer journey find hope. He and his wife Anne are donating most of their net worth to projects that advance medicine, help the disadvantaged, and make this world a better place. Connect with Mike at https://cmikearmstrong.com.