Erasing Excuses

 

When focusing on The Death of the Moth this week in class, we took a moment to capture how Woolf called the moth “little or nothing but life” when it flew into the corner of the windowpane before its death. I didn’t think too much about this statement, it just sounded pretty and poetic at first glance, but something I had seen today changed my perspective.

If you hadn’t seen him on social media already, Iain Ward, more commonly known as “The King of Chemo” was unfortunately diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at the age of only 31 and given just five years to live. Knowing that his life would end very soon, he didn’t choose to step away and let himself fade into the background like countless others would. He shouted “F*** you” to cancer instead.

Coming across his content, I was undoubtedly amused by what this man had done. He had literally every excuse to call it a day, pack his bags, and stay hidden. But he chose to make the most out of his life and is still actively working towards breaking a vital world record today (the most money raised by a marathon runner). He has managed to run an astounding 25 half marathons in just 25 days. He has biked all over the United States. And now he is just shy of 10 million followers on social media.  And it truly hits hard when you find out he isn’t doing this for himself, but every penny of his nearly 1 million euros raised is going straight towards cancer research. There is no illusion that this hard work will somehow save Iain, but he won’t spend a second feeling bad for himself.

We all complain and that’s the truth. Stress, hardships, and being scared of what our next test score is are real feelings, but they’re also excuses. People like Iain don’t want to rely on these excuses and have proven he’ll make the absolute best of the life he has.

Comments

  1. Una DomazetApril 12, 2026 at 9:07 AM

    I love this blog, Anthony! You did a really nice job connecting a line from text we read in class to a real world example, and this story was extremely heartfelt and captivative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul LeiApril 12, 2026 at 10:59 AM

    i read this and had a sense of conviction. no more excuses salem. i expect that A in calc very soon

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lily AulApril 12, 2026 at 7:37 PM

    This is a really inspirational blog. I liked how you connected the themes and emotions of Woolf's piece to a modern inspiration of how death is not greater than the person. Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aadhav PillaiApril 13, 2026 at 5:26 AM

    I found this blog very different from the ones I usually read. Good job connecting to the broader context!

    ReplyDelete

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