Page 64 - Tracy Anderson Magazine – Summer 2020

“I THINK THAT What a great question. In a way, this whole
I recently got the chance to sit down with my brother
through social distancing and ask him about his latest CANCER IS THE
project.
STORY OF HOPE.
Anneclaire: You wrote a book!
Davey: I did! Well, I started writing a blog when I got HOW COULD IT
diagnosed, and people seemed to like it. So I have taken
some of those blogs and essays and other writings I’ve NOT BE?”
done during this crazy time and that has become Hope in
the Time of Chemo. –David Lee Nelson
I find it so interesting and inspiring that you put the
word “hope” in the title of a book about cancer. In fact,
it’s the first word you use. Why was that important to In order to truly feel hope, you have to recognize the
you, and how have you been able to cultivate hope fear and danger on the other side. This isn’t limited to
during this time? cancer and other health issues. I’m sure you see it in
your world all the time. It’s scary to start a new workout
I think that cancer is the story of hope. How could it not routine! It takes guts to get up early and to do virtual
be? When we get it, the first thing we do is hope it goes classes and meet with a trainer. When people face that
away. That’s why we show up for the infusions and the fear, when they throw off the covers of their super comfy
trials and the tests. That’s why we deal with the fatigue bed, when they put on gym clothes and start to work out
and the side effects and the scans and all the other joyful despite having every reason not to—that’s hope! They’re
things that come when you attempt to fix these mutated facing the fear and doing it anyway. That’s what I tried
cells with minds of their own. But I also think that hope to do. With the massive help of my wife, Jaimie, and my
can be a dangerous word. We have to be careful with it. family and friends, of course. You all helped me trust the
idea that when fear knocks and faith answers, nothing is
Why is that? ever there. No matter how big the fear. That’s what I’ve
tried ever so imperfectly to bring to my treatment, to
I think it’s counterproductive when people glibly throw bring to the book.
around the word without honoring the fear, the very
real fear that is on the other side. “You just have to have I’ve noticed that you’ve chosen to face your diagnosis
hope!” OK, but what does that mean when my cells are artistically. How has your art shaped your view of what
trying to kill me? has happened?
I’ve never been more thankful to be a writer during
this time. I started the blog as a way for people to keep
track of what was happening—so I wouldn’t have to tell
the same story over and over again. But then people
started reading it every day and following it, so it gave
me a platform to try to make sense of this thing that was
dropped into my lap. Thinking about it artistically also
gave everything a frame. Bad news became less scary,
because now it was just something more dramatic to
write about.
One of the things people love about the book is how
funny it is. Like, it’s really funny. Why have you chosen
to use humor as a way to explore this diagnosis?
Well, the first 10 years of my writing life was as a stand-
up comedian, so looking for the humor in whatever I’m
going through is deeply embedded in my process.
I also think there is a deep misconception about humor.
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thing has made me trust my body less.
When I first met my oncologist, he told me
that my tumor had been growing for years,
but I had only been showing symptoms for
six weeks before I had surgery. That made
me so mad. How could it not have told
me sooner? When I have a cold my body
coughs and sneezes, basically shuts down.
But with a tumor in my large intestine—
something that can kill me—I get nothing
until the very end?
Another thing happened early in my
treatment—I met a guy my age and he
had stage 4 colon cancer as well. He was
on treatment #11. I bombarded him with
questions, and one of the things he told me
was that he tried to exercise every day that
he could. Even if he felt horrible and could
only muster a trip to the mailbox.
I took that to heart and have been very
physically active. I’ve run, I’ve done hot
yoga, I’ve walked, I’ve stretched. It’s
helped both physically and psychologically.
There is one thing though—I listen to my
body. I am gentle with myself. There were
times during treatment when I could run
six miles a day. There were times when I
could do hot yoga five times a week. Then
there were times when all I could do was
walk down my stairs. So please let your
body be your guide.
People often think that if you are laughing at something
that you are somehow taking it less seriously. I don’t How do you stay present in the moment, and also plan
think that is the case at all. How many times in life do for the future? How do you measure success?
people laugh in the middle of crying. Or vice versa?
When my surgeon, Dr. Carla Haack, which can we ad-
Also, think about why people laugh. We laugh to break mit is a slightly unfortunate name for a surgeon? When
tension. What is more tense than cancer? We also laugh she first broke the news, she said two things. She said,
when we recognize a shared experience. Unfortunately, “Anyone can get hit by a bus at any time.” And then she
cancer is a very shared experience. Comedy and trag- said, “It’s not the time we have, it’s what we do with that
edy are simply two sides of the same coin, and often time.”
laughter is our last line of defense against things we are
unequipped to handle. That was exactly what I needed to hear at that time.
None of us know what is coming next—which is thrilling,
So I think the book is funny because it is an unflinching and horrifying, and human. It’s the one thing all of us
look at a tense, shared experience that I and everyone have in common. If that’s the case, then there’s only one
who gets it is unequipped to handle. way to measure success, and that is one day at a time. If
I stay in the moment, then I’m not worried about the fu-
One of my mottos as a trainer is “Move a muscle, ture. If I’m not worried about the future, I’m not worried
change a thought.” How have you used your body about the disease or what I can and cannot do. I’m as
during this time of healing? Has your relationship with here as anyone else. Sounds pretty successful to me.
your body changed?
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