a great ride begins with a dream
> about john boswell
I've always loved to drive the 101 Hollywood Freeway, passing by the Hollywood sign and winding around the hills and palm trees to the north and the historic entertainment district to the south. There's something about the creativity, freedom and energy of Hollywood where people come from all over the world with great passion and sacrifice to fulfill the visions and dreams of their lives.
My own Hollywood dream halted suddenly in 2007 when immediate cancer treatment outweighed the importance of career goals, with my own visions and dreams quickly blurred by the distance of time and the unknown outcome of a rapidly advancing case of stage 4 Burkitt's Lymphoma.
The greatest challenge I faced during my cancer battle was envisioning what life would be like on the other side of treatment. The physical battle was one thing, but how would I survive financially?
Through the miracles of modern medicine, the love of my partner, family & friends, and the many miracles from heaven, the chemotherapy and bone marrow stem cell transplant was a success, and I've somehow survived the financial storm of a catastrophic illness.
But I am one of the very fortunate ones who had a safety net of health insurance, access to some of the world's finest healthcare professionals and services, and the love and support necessary to beat the cancer battle. Throughout my health-related challenges, I could only keep thinking of the scores of other people out there who don't have a support system.
Not only had I lost my vision for my life, my physical exhaustion also left me spiritually weakened. After my bone marrow stem cell transplant, I began to search the roots of my faith more deeply and wanted to cut through religiosity and return to the simple principles which burned within my heart and helped me to trust God through all of the financial and health challenges.
Being compelled to do something, I set out on my own new ride... with the goal of helping people to get a vision for their lives and empowering them with the tools and resources to make things happen! The getavisionPROJECT.
> wealth redistribution...
The first step would be creating the getavisionFUND, a microfunding program which would get much needed cash into the hands of people facing health & financial challenges. With the encouragement of people like financial industry specialist Richard Roscher and others, it seemed like something that just HAD to be done.
>> the science of love...
The next step was to discover that I was not alone in my conviction that LOVE was integral to my cancer journey. In fact, the new "Science of Love & Health," pioneered over the past several decades by Dr. Stephen Post, provides the scientific validity of the healing nature of love. The Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics Department of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University, his research compelled me to push further for other solutions to healthcare crises.
>>> an economic paradigm shift...
Coming across the work of Dr. Edgar Cahn, the creator of Time Dollars and founder of TimeBanks USA, the community building elements of Time Banking and a global Barter Exchange seemed to be a very natural progression for people seeking physical and financial health for themselves, their friend, families, and communities.
Now, partnering numerous businesses and non-profits and supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the community of fellow cancer survivors and those living with HIV, I look forward to embarking on an exciting journey to draw together a "radically inclusive family" here locally and around the world.
Join us for the ride!
