Don’t you just love inspiring stories?

Stories where someone looked defeat in the eye and said, “Not today”. We’ve all faced defeat and adversity. Sometimes it’s been a small stumbling block in our path. Other times it’s been like a sheer rock cliff with no end in site. To make it through this life you have to find a way of dealing with adversity. You need to learn how to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and forge ahead.

I draw a lot of inspiration from those around me who are dealing with adversity better than I might have.

I stand in awe of the brave and strong men and women doing things I cannot imagine doing. And when I need a good kick in the pants to set me straight and get me moving in a better direction I get a lot of motivation from those who are knocking adversity out of their way and moving forward. If you’re at all like me I know you’ll find this story very inspiring.

It’s a story about an incredible man and athlete that is taking defeat head on...and how we can help him.

Seven months ago, my best friend Jen held her mother’s hand as they watched her stepfather, Les, being wheeled into an operating room. There, in the Cleveland Clinic, more than a dozen highly skilled cardiac personnel cut open his chest, bypassed his heart, cooled the blood to his brain, replaced a heart valve, repaired heart arteries and an aortic root, and did a MAZE procedure on his heart.  Eight and a half hours later, the operation was over. It was successful, but the rebuilding was just beginning.

As I said, Jen’s stepfather Les is an incredible athlete. Over the years, he’d done a non-stop 77-hour adventure race, half-marathons, 10-K runs, and triathlons. He was very active and appeared completely healthy before a hidden heart defect (partly genetic) stopped him in his tracks. I tell you this because however hard we try to prevent illness, sometimes life throws us a curve ball. I know it was hard for Jen and her family to watch the person they love, someone who could run, paddle, and cycle continuously for three days, struggle to walk the length of a corridor.

This was after receiving the best surgery and care possible. Les is now is fully recovered, has a healthy heart, and wants take on his next challenge, a 300-kilometer Polar Expedition ending almost exactly 12 months to the day he had open-heart surgery. How inspiring is that?

I'm rooting for Les, because he believes in something I believe in:

When adversity strikes, and it almost always does in some form, we seek the best solutions. But in the end, it is up to us to reach out and grab life, to experience it to its core. Les’ drive to take all life has to offer and meet it head on is motivating and I want to help Les take on his next challenge.

I hope you’ll help Les too...all it takes is a simple vote.

You see, to go on the 300-kilometer Polar Expedition in 2018 Les has to receive the most votes in his region. Please visit this site, read his entry, watch his video (you will love his awesome Aussie accent—and his dog!), and vote for him. The voting closes December 14, 2017. He needs us and we need people like Les to remind us to live life with gusto! As Les says on his page,

“I'll bring out the best in all of us; I believe in us rather than me.”

VOTE HERE: http://polar.fjallraven.com/contestant/?id=2688&backpage=1&order=popular

More than ever... Keep thinking Big and living BOLD!