I just wrapped up week number 5! It’s hard to believe… I’m really looking forward to getting back home to be with my family and begin healing from the radiation. I’m hoping my side effects clear up quickly. I can’t wait to feel better and eat real food again!
Somewhere on this journey, I believe it was after my diagnosis and before surgery, Annabel and I watched the movie Rush directed by Ron Howard. The movie tells the story of the intense rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1970’s and peaks during the 1976 Grand Prix season. Hunt was a notorious English playboy while Lauda was an extremely disciplined Austrian driver with a brilliant ability to set up a car. Their rivalry propels both of their driving abilities to new heights.
After trying to stop the 1976 German Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring because of safety concerns, Lauda suffers a fiery crash in which he receives significant burns to his face and lungs. It’s so bad a priest is brought in to read him his last rites. Lauda fights for his life while dealing with excruciating pain as he watches his rival Hunt win race after race, catching up to him in points for the World Championship. While the doctors are vacuuming his lungs Lauda turns his rivalry with Hunt into motivation and asks the doctors to clean his lungs a second time even though it is a brutally painful procedure. Soon he pushes through more intense pain to put his helmet on while his wife looks on in tears.
Lauda’s fierce determination puts him back behind the wheel competing a mere 6 weeks later! When Hunt approaches Lauda to express his guilt and apologize for pushing the race to go forward despite dangerous conditions Lauda tells him that although he holds Hunt responsible for the wreck he also holds him responsible for motivating him to survive and tells Hunt, “watching you win those races while I was fighting for my life, you were equally responsible for getting me back in the car.”
I was so inspired by the story I went and dug out the model of Mario Andretti’s John Player Special Lotus I bought in Disney World around 1976. I’ve kept it on my dresser since watching the movie. It gives me strength when I’m tired and unmotivated by reminding me of Niki Lauda’s incredible courage in the face of death and James Hunt’s passion for life living each day as though it may be his last.
