Inspiration

a quote from "There are survivors: The Michael Cuccione Story"

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inspiration n *A divine influence or action on a person held to qualify him to recieve and communicate secret revelation, The act of influencing or suggesting opinions

"My name is Michael Cuccione. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, July, 1994, when I was nine years old. Six months of chemotherapy treatments followed. I was believed to be cured but six months later, the cancer returned. Worse yet, it metasized to my lungs. I would need massive, strong doses of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and twelve radiation treatments around my heart and lungs, with no guarantee of survival. Somehow, I did survive. August 1, 1996, I celebrated being cancer-free for a year."

-Michael Cuccione

"I want to send a message. You see when I was bald I was teased. When I did sports, I couldn't keep up. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable because some kids might laugh. They have to understand what the other kid is going through or even when they're in a wheelchair. We shouldn't be treated differently.

Feelings should be taken into consideration and we have to see that there are more awkward people than 'normal' people.

What is normal anyway?

When you have an illness or a disability, it's 20 times worse when you face others making fun of you.

Maybe I can build up someones self-esteem.
Maybe I can help."

- Michael Cuccione

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When I think of what a real inspiration is, I think of someone or something that makes me want to be better. In this case, it is Michael Cuccione. When I started learning about him and all of what he did and the pain he endured when he was happy just putting a smile on peoples faces and a song in everyones heart it was so amazing to me. I felt very blessed that I am healthy and if he can do that and have hard core health trouble on the side then why can't I do something to help. I know I am one person and maybe I can't save the world but I think that doing my share in saving lives is considered helping it. I think that you can be inspired more than once but when you are truly inspired and motivated to do something then you should follow you heart and go for it because you don't know when your next case of inspiration will hit.

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-Here is the journal entry Nigel Dick wrote on the day he found out about Michael's death. This is very touching to read. I pulled this off of Nigel Dick's website at http://www.nigeldick.com/

1/16/01 4:45:31 PM
From: nigel dick
Q.T.
Kevin Farley rang me to tell me that Michael Cuccione had passed away...

If you never met Michael you couldnt even begin to know what a life force this guy was. From the moment he walked into that casting session in Vancouver I was blown away by him. I wanted to be him: 15, handsome as heck, girls going nuts for him and everything the world had to offer in front of him...he could sing too. We were looking for someone just like this for our movie to play the part of a terminally ill kid who was Bob Busss final master-stroke. Then came the kicker...Coreen the casting director said to Michael Perhaps youd like to tell Nigel your own life story. And, with a smile on his face like he was telling me about some holiday trip hed taken, he told me about his fight against cancer (not once but twice), the book hed written, the album hed made and the half million dollars hed raised for cancer research - he left out all the insignificant details such as meeting the Pope and hanging out with Pamela Anderson Lee!

Having seen him no-one else stood a chance in the casting session. He was Q.T. no question.

In the weeks that followed Alan, Evan, Noah, Alex, Kevin and I all became big fans of Michael. The surgeries and treatments that hed received in his fight against cancer had left Michael with a fraction of his normal lung capacity. I suppose it was difficult for Michael to do the things we all took for granted, but he never asked for special attention, never presumed he deserved special treatment, never sought pity.

As the 2gether movie carried on through the rains and darkness of a Vancouver winter I came to realize that Michael was a much wiser man than I, his attitude was so positive. Rather condescendingly I insisted he read Nevil Shutes On The Beach as some preparation for his part. I felt that the way the characters pressed on with their lives, planting gardens for a spring they would never see, learning languages they would never get to speak, was a good indication of how Q.T. lived his life positively in the face of constant danger. Michael smiled and read the book. Only later did I realize what a fool Id been. How could I suggest to one who had already been through so much that he had something to learn about suffering and positive thinking? It was I who needed to learn from him.

There was a time when I wanted to say that the best thing about making 2gether was meeting Michael. I never wrote those words for fear of them being trite and overly sentimental but I believe that meeting Michael was a gift. All of us who spent time with him will be effected by his passing. All of us will stop for a minute and realize the denial in which we all exist in believing that we are indestructible. Michaels attitude was my life is fantastic - what is there to complain about? And life is fantastic.

Im glad that we picked Michael, Im so happy he got to meet Britney and his other idols, Im glad he got to do what he wanted to do so badly - to sing and act and to spread his message. Though Michael was not so fortunate Q.T. will live forever.

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"And I'd give up forever to touch you

'Cause I know that you feel me somehow

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be

And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment

And all I can breathe is your life

'Cause sooner or later it's over

I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies

When everything feels like the movies

And you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am"

Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"