Navy SEAL Veteran Gets Wake Up Call From Worst Fear | Admiral McRaven

✪ Admiral McRaven, 36-year Navy SEAL veteran of "Make Your Bed" fame, faces down one of life's worst fears.
✪ Navy SEAL Veteran Gets Wake Up Call From Worst Fear | Admiral McRaven | Goalcast Speech

Video Script:: 

I've been a Navy SEAL for 36 years I saw the worst of humanity one man healed me of my greatest malady fear five years ago I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia the initial assessment was that I needed to return to the States to have my spleen removed and began chemotherapy the doctor who detected the cancer made it clear to me that my life was about to change that I should accept my fate and prepare for life outside the military a life of painful chemo hair loss and fatigue she gave me no hope that things would be better my wife came to Texas and met with a world-class oncologist the door swung open and a loud boisterous ruddy-faced man walked in and hugged me and I am NOT a hugger she asked the doctor should he eat more fruits and vegetables no he said well should he exercise more no not really well should he drink less alcohol oh god no he sat down and quickly told my wife that she didn't need to get a new boyfriend something else will kill him before this does he told her in light of the early diagnosis my wife was stunned by the proclamation I quickly jumped in and said can I go back to Afghanistan and he said as long as you don't get shot soon after the visit I did go back to Afghanistan and spent the next five years continuing to serve in the military I like to think that in that time my service resulted in hundreds of lives saved all because one man gave me hope because one man healed me of my greatest malady fear even under the most dire of conditions hope can heal it is on Wednesday of Hell week that's a paddle down in the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive this freezing cold to me basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months because you were cold and wet and miserable in a sea flight there was no hope in sight the mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads it was still over eight hours till the Sun came up eight more hours of bone-chilling cold and then one voice began to echo through the night one voice raised and saw and destructors come up they start yelling hey you stop singing stop singing but then another kid started singing and another and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing and somehow the mud seemed a little warmer and the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far away and he gave us hope at that point in time and that's what seal training was all about it was finding out where you can find hope in the midst of being neck deep in mud hope surpasses all our understanding hope is the medicine that gives smiles to the forlorn faith to the disenchanted and life to the dying and my nearly six decades of life as with many in the audience I have seen or experienced just about every ailment disease trauma or heartbreak there is the note during the wars in the past 13 years I have seen combat hospitals filled with amputees burn and blast victims and I have seen many a good men die on operating tables but the end of the day the good I have seen in this world far outweighs the evil I have also seen disease eradicated the crippled walk again the heartless given new life and the hopeless cured if I have learned anything in my time traveling the world it is the power of hope the power of one person the Washington a Lincoln King Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan Malala one person can change the world by giving people hope you will all have an opportunity to inspire someone around you never ever miss that opportunity