I first met Jon in the late 1980’s. He was a top 10 achiever in the most successful MLM company in the UK .

Jon was always a speaker at the big meetings and was earning about £30-40,000 per month, which was a massive amount of money in those days.

Jon was one of those guys that had repeatedly made and lost fortunes, but seemed always able to find a way back no matter what happened.

Sadly the company, which sold ‘smell alike’, perfumes and after shaves, had grown too quickly and ended up in financial difficulty by opening up too many world markets at the same time.

Jon had lost his income when the company crashed. For him it was disaster, but he would rise again. He is built that way.

I kept in contact with Jon over the years since then, exchanging phone calls and later emails, when the internet came about, but Jon had hit bad times in his life after splitting from his partner and suffering from some illness that Doctors found hard at first to diagnose.

Eventually he moved back in with his aged parents and became slightly reclusive.

He remained cheerful as he always was, but he was certainly troubled by this mystery illness.

In  2006, he was finally told by the Doctors that he was suffering from Mesothelioma, a very rare form of cancer. It was not only incurable, but he was also told he would be very lucky to make it till Christmas as no one ever survives for long.

Amazingly Jon, who liked to gamble on various things, sent the details of his ailment to a well known UK bookmaker, who, after examining the contents allowed him to place a bet at 50-1, that he would not beat the world record for the longest surviving sufferer of his form of cancer.

On 8th June 2008, Jon collected his winnings and renewed the bet for a further 12 months and on June 8th 2009, Jon collected his second lot of winnings, again renewing the bet a double the odds this time.

Jon is giving a large percentage of his gain to cancer and animal charities.

Jon has now become a bit of a celebrity in the UK, with journalists and photographers knocking at his door with regularity. Even the US news agencies have become involved as you can see in the attachment I give.

I am sure that we would all wish Jon the very best in his quest for survival, and we could perhaps learn something from this tale.

Be grateful for what you have, not resentful for what you have not. Never give up the pursuit of your goals, hope is eternal. Believe that anything can be possible if you set goals and work toward them, Bring joy and hope to others.

CLICK THIS LINK for more information on Jon and his condition.

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Filed under: Mindset

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