Jake Bailey: What Cancer Taught Me

'None of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious, and be grateful for the opportunities you have.' Jake Bailey's inspirational end-of-year speech as Head Boy at Christchurch Boys' High School was delivered from a wheelchair and grabbed headlines around the world. Just one week earlier Jake had been diagnosed with the most aggressive type of cancer, Burkitt's non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He didn't know whether he would have the strength to deliver the words he wrote before receiving the shocking news of his illness. And he had no idea of the significance his speech would assume as he lay in hospital fighting to stay alive. Jake's cancer, and that speech, became the start of a bigger journey that continues today. In this remarkably honest account of his illness, treatment and recovery, Jake shares all that the experience has taught him. Confronting death has led this teenager to re-evaluate all that he took for granted in life. His book is an uplifting call to action for people of all ages.