Meet Michael Cramer

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Cramer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I got my resilience from losing my father to cancer at 14 years old and then getting diagnosed with Cancer myself at 19 years old. I had to face a similar disease that killed my father. I was only 19. I had no choice but to fight for my life and push forward. I could not let my Mom, my brother, my sister and my family lose someone else to this disease. I did everything in my power to survive. I took all the treatments and all the pain head on. There were times I begged my family to let me quit and stop all treatment because of how hard it all was, but they supported me and somehow I reached deep within and found that heart and spirit to keep going. I have now been in treatment for 5 years. My cancer is in remission but I live with a Chronic disease due to the cancer. This chronic disease affects my life in many ways and I am even on a clinical trial right now because of it. But I continue on, not just for me, but for my dad and family.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am huge into advocacy. I love advocating in the cancer and rare disease space. I also love social media, being able to share my story of hope with others has been extremely therapeutic to me. Since I have been through, chemo, radiation, a bone marrow transplant, a total knee replacement, a chronic illness a clinical trial and more I have found purpose in sharing my story of hope with others. My mom and I started a podcast together called ”michael and mom talk cancer” where we interview other cancer patients and survivors. We also speak together and she has been my caregiver through the whole journey. I am grateful to have her by my side. We have merch we sell as well!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Resilience, patience, and gratitude. Those 3 helped me the most. My advice for others in their journey would be to just find things to be grateful for and really appreciate them. Appreciate the small things, the little victories in each day. Also be patient, journeys like cancer or a chronic illness are long term and it takes time to heal, recover and feel good. So be easy on yourself and continue on. You also have to find a source of resilience, find something that really motivates you to keep going. Whether it is a goal in the future or something you are working towards every day, waking up with purpose in each day builds resilience.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I would spend that decade volunteering at hospitals and helping people who are sick. I would also spend a lot of time with my family and make sure they know how much I love them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://michaelandmomtalkcancer.com
• Instagram: michaelreidcramer
• Linkedin: michael cramer
• Youtube: michaelcramerdoesthings