A Wall Street Banker Turned to Comedy for Happiness and a Career Change
It all started one day when I had a cold and wasn’t feeling well. All was well that night, for a time. Next day, I woke up feeling sick. A couple of months down the road, I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe. My boss wanted me to go back to work, but I was sick. When I went in for an X-ray two days later, my doctor told me I had to cancel my surgery. When I returned to work, I thought I would throw up. On the way home, I passed out again. Then again. A few minutes later, I thought I was going to die.
I woke up to find my wife in bed with a strange man. My wife told me to go back to bed until I got better. There was no point in getting up. I returned to bed and continued to sleep, only to pass out again.
My wife woke me up the next day. My father-in-law told me to go to the hospital. A medical professional said I had suffered a stroke. A few days later I learned I had suffered a severe stroke and had just a little longer than a year to live.
I had been in a car accident that night, but I didn’t tell anyone. After I left the hospital my boss told me they were going to let me go back to work, but I was too sick to do my job. A few days later, I felt better and went to my job. I worked the next several days and went to work the night before my stroke was going to happen. I had a stroke, but I didn’t tell my doctor because he told me not to worry. I started back with my old job, but I was so sick that I became a nurse for the next month and a half. I was working twelve-hour shifts, and had a hard time keeping up with the work.
My boss encouraged me to give a talk on an employee appreciation night. The next morning I went to speak to the employees. I opened with a joke. Everyone laughed. “I just gave a talk and everyone laughed,” I said. A couple of days later, I went to speak to the doctors, and my first joke was met with a round of applause. I finished up with a joke
