In this episode, I chat with Tom Bagnall.  A successful business owner from the UK, marathon runner and father of two young kids living in Amsterdam

At the beginning of the pandemic he was diagnosed with a stubborn Stage 3 melanoma cancer.  He  talks about his brutal journey of 7 months of 138 sessions of radiotherapy and immunotherapy and the feeling of helplessness that triggered the need to welcome help into his life. 

Some themes we cover are:

• How Team Tom naturally came together to be his help and support network.  This provided help on tap from people who simply didn’t take no for an answer.
• His surprising reaction to once being given the all clear, of feeling a big anti-climax, then anger about why me and then a few weeks later once the professional support stopped, quite severely anxious and depressed.  And it was during this time and not during the treatment, when he most needed help. 
• Tom talks very honestly about how a good friend help him get over his mental block of being a therapy-cynic to eventually seeking and benefitting from life-changing counselling and professional help.   
• How his instinct now is to offer help gives him energy, and has made it easier to ask for and accept help.
• We learn how Tom has taken these lessons and used them in way he hadn’t expected. 
• We talk about a hypothesis as to why middle-aged men are hard-wired to be resistant to asking for help due to the legacy from our 20s when we need to show we've got our shit together - to be seen as the alpha male and the best potential father for your kids!
• And finally we reveal some hacks about offering help to make it easier to accept.

I hope this conversation helps you as much as it did me. 

And that you may share it with a friend, family member or work colleague who may benefit from it too.  

You can contact me on:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Ashley Usiskin
Instagram: @gift_of_accepting_help_podcast
Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyusiskin/