Ep. 117 - Jon Beck Navigating ALS with Acceptance & Gratitude

Welcome to the Main Thing Podcast, where every episode brings you a concise, high-impact wisdom lesson from one of the wisest people I know. Studying their wisdom and learning together, we all get just a little bit better at this thing called life.

Jon Beck Navigating ALS with Acceptance and Gratitude

If you were diagnosed with a serious, perhaps fatal, health condition, would you be able to approach it with acceptance—much less gratitude? I’m fairly certain I’d struggle to do so. Yet that’s exactly what has enabled Jon Beck to get to where he is today.

 

Unyielding Spirit in a Father’s Journey through Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Our special, wise guest is a new friend, a special human being with the most amazing spirit and attitude, and someone battling a fatal disease. Jon Beck is seven years into a battle with ALS. As you will hear in this powerful conversation, Jon is not defined by his disease. Though ALS will eventually take his life, he will not allow it to rob him of his joy.

In this uplifting episode, you will learn the three keys to navigating any challenge, to making it through any form of adversity.

 

More About Our Guest

Jon Beck, explored the Western United States, often by bicycle, in his younger years until one day he decided to enroll in physical therapy school at Emory University in Atlanta. While there, he met the love of his life, lisa. Shortly thereafter they got married and began having kids and raising a family.

 

Jon's nearly 20-year career as a physical therapist was ironically truncated by a physically debilitating disease ALS in 2017. Seven years later, Jon remains very active in his power wheelchair. He applies his background in biomechanics to good use every day. This despite the initial prognosis from doctors that he might only have two years to live.

 

Jon is the proud father of three adult children. They continue to provide tremendous inspiration to him, as does his wife, Lisa.

 

Jon Beck spoke with us from his home in St Albans, West Virginia, USA.

 

Resources

Connect with Jon on Facebook

Book recommended by Jon: “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck, MD

Find it in The Main Thing’s Book Shop online store or on Amazon

 

Credits

Editor + Technical Advisor Bob Hotchkiss

Brand + Strategy Advisor Andy Malinoski

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Episode Chapters

[0:04:05] - Fatherhood and life stages

[0:06:05] - Sensing something is not quite right; the onset of ALS

[0:07:00] - Daily life with ALS, symptoms, challenges and adaptations

[0:08:57] - How Skip and Jon are connected

[0:11:07] - Jon reveals his Main Thing wisdom

[0:13:02] - Goosebumps moment for Skip

[0:15:40] - The cornerstones of a spiritual life

[0:18:02] - Dealing with a daunting diagnosis; snapshot of a day in Cleveland

[0:20:22] - Truly understanding the principle of acceptance as courage, not cowardice

[0:23:18] - Why Landscape View is better than portrait mode