Ep. 15 – Levi Felix
“I had been having migraines and I came out of a meeting for a book I’m working on and went blind in half my vision. I called Brooke, my partner, and told her, ‘I need you to pick me up and take me to urgent care, I think I’m having a stroke.’ When I got there they said, ‘You have a brain tumor, we have to operate immediately, and we’re going to take as much of it out as we can.’ So I said, ‘Let’s fucking do it!’ So…the book is on hold till after June.”
“I had surgery to remove the tumor and spent 7 days in the hospital. When I woke up I had to train my brain to use my body again. I opened up an orange for the first time and I was crying because the taste of the orange was so rich.”
“I finished radiation for my brain tumor yesterday and my last chemo treatment for a month is tonight. The whole thing is kind of a cosmic joke. I started Camp Grounded and Digital Detox because I was seeing the world not paying attention to their diets and not paying attention to their presence and their ability to be around people. But it took me getting a brain tumor to make sure I was eating regularly and getting enough sleep.”
“If you’re not well, then you can’t do anything else. Now I’m on a ketogenic diet, which is basically no sugar no carbs, that starves the cancer.”
“The truth is…I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without Brooke. She went to nutrition school for the last 2 years so she’s perfectly set up to help me. The community has been so supportive too. Over 600 people have given to my youcaring website to help me beat this cancer.”
https://www.youcaring.com/levi-felix-544636
“I can’t imagine going into a cancer experience with fear. It would just set the whole thing up for failure. So yeah…going into it was fun. It was scary, but all your friends are around you and it’s all going to work out.”
“Did you not feel fear in the course of this process?”
“There is fear. There are moments. You start to think, ‘This isn’t fair…and maybe this tumor, which I’ve had since I was born basically, made me who I am. Maybe it made me have different facilities and capacities than other people have had because I’m totally nuts.’ So pity turns into gratitude pretty quickly. And I have cries in the shower whenever I can remember to. It’s important to release, it’s getting stuck in the ruts that’s dangerous.”
“Did facing death help you to take stock of what you’ve accomplished in life and give you perspective on what you want to do with the rest of your life?”
“Definitely, I’m not interested in being famous. I’m interested in being someone who helps lend a voice. And I want to love life…all the time. I want to get to a place where it’s not even a story…everything becomes love. That’s the goal.”
Join me at camp and use the code “SoulsOfSociety” for $200 off any camp‘s full ticket price
