1 Habit to Beat Cancer

By Steven Samblis and Cort Davies

Helping Cancer Suck Less: Daily Habits that Helped Incredible Cancer Thrivers Survive and Enjoy Life.

1 Habit To Beat Cancer is a simple, easily digestible book that shares the new habits that inspired these people to overcome their cancer as well as the bad habits they did away with on their journey.

This book will teach you ways to overcome stress, feelings of despair, and overwhelm to feel instead determined and empowered to live your greatest life, and often, it takes JUST 1 HABIT to change your life.

In November of 2017, Cort Davies was given just three years to live. He was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant paraganglioma, one of the rarest forms of cancer on the planet. After seven surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy, and experimental drugs, he felt like he was at the end of the road, but something changed him one night as he laid in a hospital bed.

He realized that his prognosis was simply a haunting opinion, and the true cause of his suffering was fear and the stress of the unknowns. Cort vowed to live from a place of love and to release fear, no matter the obstacle. He did so by incorporating new habits into his life that were utterly life-changing, many of which he discussed in his October 2019 TedX Talk.

From these habits and Cort’s experiences, hundreds of people started coming to him for advice on their own journey. He sensed something deeper was to be discovered and noticed a common thread amongst successful cancer thrivers.

He found that those who had incorporated a new mindset and practiced fulfilling and empowering daily Habits overcame the greatest odds. They often lived longer, made changes they had always been scared of, found spirituality, and ultimately aligned with who they were meant to be.

Cort’s mission is to share the daily Habits of these extraordinary humans, and teach the world how to make cancer suck a lot less.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 1 Habit Press
• Release date: Apr 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463487693

Steven Samblis

Steven Samblis is the creator of the 1 Habit book series.He is the founder of 1 Habit Press. Before creating Samblis Press, Steven had a meteoric career in business that saw him go from being ranked among the top 50 rookie stockbrokers at Dean Witter, to speaking before 250,000 people for The Investors Institute. He has spoken before congress on shareholder’s rights representing T Boone Pickens’ “United Shares Holders Association.”In 1989 he founded “The Reason For My Success”. which grew into one of the largest sellers of self-improvement programs in North America. The Company expanded into production where Steve collaborated with Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator Mark Victor Hansen on the audio program The program, called “The Worlds Greatest Marketing Tools”.As a consultant, Steve created a new name brand for a struggling gym in Dover New Hampshire called Coastal Fitness. He then created a $9.95 a month business model which helped to turn the single gym into one of the most successful fitness franchises in North America, Planet Fitness. In November of 2015 Planet Fitness went public with a 1.6 billion dollar market valuation.For six years, before launching 1 Habit Press, Steve was the on-air host and Editor in chief for Cinema Buzz, a website and syndicated television show in North America and the UK. On the show, Steve has interviewed over 1000 of the biggest actors and directors in entertainment one on one on camera.

Book preview

Introduction - What is 1 Habit To Beat Cancer?

November 30, 2017. This was the day my life changed forever.  This was the day I heard the words no one wants to hear, You have cancer.  It’s called Malignant Paraganglioma. This was one of those cancers that no one even knows how to pronounce much less treat. Of course, I thought. I would be the unique one to get the most unique kind of cancer. Lucky me. I remind myself, Cancer is not a competition. Cancer is just cancer.

I stare into the eyes of the doctor, and I see his pain. Then, I ask the next obvious question, How long do I have?  He says, Three years. Maybe more. All of a sudden, I feel like I am levitating out of my body, and I am watching myself from above as if this is not real.  My father is slumped over in his chair. I don’t even think he heard the prognosis. After the word cancer," everything went blank.  

After the official diagnosis, I was immediately thrown into a world of terrifying unknowns. On December 13, 2017, the doctors removed a baseball sized tumor from my bladder. On January 7, they removed a tumor from my T6 vertebrae. Somewhere in the middle, Christmas happened, and I spent the day in a foggy haze of painkillers and disbelief.  Perhaps it was all over, or at least the worst was behind me, but little did I know the crazy ride was just beginning.

As a stubborn human who is generally adverse to taking orders from authority figures, I decided to ignore doctors who suggested typical courses of action, and I decided to move back to San Diego to live with some of my friends in San Diego and recover in a holistic clinic in Mexico. We all make decisions based on our past experiences and for me, chemotherapy and radiation were out of the question because I witnessed my grandmother and grandfather succumb to the deadly effects of these kinds of cancer treatments.  

I was ALL IN on being all natural.  

After a few months of sun, some high doses of vitamin C injections, and a miracle concoction from the clinic in Mexico, I confidently went home thinking that -- I was this unique guy with this unique cancer that I had outsmarted with holistic care. Once again, my world was obliterated when I learned that the CT scans revealed more growth. 

This was going to harder than I anticipated. I felt defeated and defenseless, but I still believed that a positive mindset could help me shift things and put me into recovery. So, I increased my research efforts and made a commitment to find a long lasting solution that would actually work. And, since there was no standard of care for paraganglioma, I figured I might have to create one for myself. I became a voracious researcher and a thorn in the side of my doctors. 

As I continued to attempt both natural and traditional therapies, the cancer continued to progress. Over the course of 2.5 years, I had eight surgeries. One of them almost paralyzed me from the waist down because I had a tumor compressing my spinal cord.  I tried a plethora of options to increase my chances. Immunotherapy, radiation, chemotherapy, taking supplements, being vegan. Nothing seemed to work for me. What am I missing?, I would often ask myself.  

I began to research and learn more about how others had handled their cancer journey. There wasn’t much information on people suffering with paraganglioma, so I just learned all I could about all cancers.  Then, I came upon a concept that shifted my studies dramatically. 

I learned about stress chemicals in our body and how they affect us. I discovered that many cancers can be sped up with stress.  The cancer in my body, in particular, is neuroendocrine and it creates noradrenaline and dopamine in bucket loads to the point where my levels were sometimes one hundred times higher than normal. In this discovery, I came to realize that I was a walking ball of stress hormones. There I was, several surgeries in, thousands of dollars of medical debt, unable to work, unable to sleep, in a constant awareness of the unknowns. I was basically in a constant state of stress all the time.  Something needed to change, or I was not going to survive. 

The stress topic really intrigued me.  I start asking around and talking to former cancer patients and I begin to realize how prevalent and rampant stress was amongst those that had cancer. I went a step further and started reading articles on stress and communicating with well-known researchers and professors that study the effects of stress on the human body and how it relates to disease.  I became so obsessed with the topic that I did a TedX Talk in Sugarland Texas on October 26, 2019 on how stress affects cancer.   (To check it out simply search Cort Davies Ted Talk)

I look for ways to alleviate stress and the one that stands out as the most effective and intriguing to me is meditation.  Meditation, as it turns out, has the ability to actually change the way our genes function. Meditation can take our body out of the high levels of stress and help restore it to homeostasis, the state in which the body is supposed to naturally reside.  

Meditation is my 1 Habit almost overnight, and I haven’t missed a day in over a year. 

Meditation teaches me more than anything has in my life.  We have the ability to control our pain levels and our state of being.  We have the ability to delve deep into our operating system and change things about ourselves that help us move toward health.  We even have the ability to make changes in our brains and get more areas of the brain speaking to one another. This helps create more communication throughout our cells and throughout our body, something EVERY cancer patient desperately needs. 

I tell you this not to sell you on meditation, although I do believe you have a lot to gain from trying it. The reason I tell you this is because this habit is the one thing that gives me more hope, more happiness, and more peace of mind than anything else on my journey.  

I come to you now as a late stage cancer patient, but I don’t feel like a patient. I feel like a THRIVER.  I see a patient as someone that is fearful and helpless, but I see a Thriver as someone that is empowered and hopeful.  My habit of meditation, along with some other positive habits in my life transformed me from a patient to a thriver. 

Here is a quick exercise.  Close your eyes and visualize what a cancer patient looks like. How do they act? How do they live? Now, do the same thing but visualize what a cancer thriver looks like and how they live.  Do you see and feel a difference? Which one do you want to be?

This book, 1 Habit To Beat Cancer was initially a project to give myself more hope and learn what other, successful cancer thrivers had used to get through their journey.  When I started talking to dozens and dozens of people that had amazing stories, some given days, weeks, months to live only to be here decades later, I realized this was not only for myself, this was for the thousands and thousands of people starting their cancer journey each day.

What I learned from both my research and speaking to hundreds of cancer thrivers, is that everyone's journey is different, everyone's cancer is different, and everyone’s solution is different. We are all unique fingerprints and our cancer journey is a major wake up call for us. Yet, one thing that really stood out amongst those that really beat some incredible odds was their resolve to live and their unwavering commitment to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to live.  This is the cornerstone to becoming a cancer thriver.

In getting an incredible group of cancer thrivers together and asking them one simple question, what one habit helped you most on your journey, answers varied greatly which really made me realize just how unique we are.  As I read through the entries I was in tears for each and every one, because I saw and felt what this habit had meant to them, and how critical it was to their survival.

Throughout the entries, you will see many that fall into categories such as nutrition and lifestyle, support systems, and mindset changes.  Others talk about meditation and visualization, faith, journaling, and gratitude. Interestingly enough, and right in line with my TedX, all of these thrivers incorporated a habit that alleviates stress in one way or another.  All of these habits empowered them to feel more hope and more love for life. Isn’t that what you want for your life and for your own journey?

1 Habit To Beat Cancer is a compilation from true cancer thrivers of the stories and the habits they used to help them be here today, many of them against incredible odds. The point of this book isn’t to point you in the direction of 40+ new habits. The point is to help you uncover one, two, maybe three new habits that could have a profound effect on your life and on your journey. To transform you from a cancer patient to a cancer THRIVER. 

November 30,2017 was indeed a day that changed my life forever, but it wasn’t my worst day. It was my game changer day. This was the day where I was given an opportunity to step into a new version of myself—to choose peace over stress, to become a thriver, not just a survivor. Through new habits and a new appreciation for life, I am a changed man.  I don’t have time for BS. Cancer allowed me to become the man I was always supposed to be, but was too afraid to be. This time is your opportunity to shine. What are you waiting for? It takes just 1 Habit to change your life. We can do it together.  

Welcome to the next chapter of your journey. Welcome to a new you.

How to Get the Most Out of This Book

We want you to get the most out of this book and be able to incorporate some of your new favorite Habits into your life. Below is a step by step process to maximize your ability to form a new life-changing Habit. Remember, these things take time and that you must be patient with yourself. One of these new Habits can literally change your life, so make sure you set aside just a few minutes a day to reinforce