If I had a magic wand, (and I am not saying that I do...yet, if I did), what would you wish for?
I have asked this question thousands of times to people I have been honored to serve as they face a life-altering, serious or life-threatening illness. They have never answered what I would expect. They have never asked that I rid them of their disease. Not once. While the answers have been as varied as the individuals' lives, all of the responses have had one thing in common: they are immediate.
When we are aware of our own mortality, what is essential becomes magnified and everything else begins to melt away. And while none of us know when or how we will die, by practicing how to uncover what is most important to us, while we are well, we give ourselves the best possible opportunity to live life fully through our final exhale.
My aim is to inspire each of us to stay in a constant state of discovery about what is uniquely essential to us, to talk about it with the people we love, and to relentlessly pursue a healthcare system that is equally interested and curious to discover what these things are—to ensure that care that matters is the only thing delivered.