“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
March, 1995
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Roland Redmon both said, “I’ll be back.”
Chances are you’ve heard of Arnold but you may not have heard about Roland.
Arnold made his promise in a movie called, The Terminator.
Roland made his promise from a hospital room.
I met Roland and his family when I joined a group called, Team in Training. They raise money for Leukemia research and patient aid. As part of this program, athletes are introduced to one of their patients and run a 26.2 mile marathon in their honor.
Roland told me his hero was Arnold Schwarzenegger. My home town of Columbus, Ohio is not only home to a great marathon race but each Spring a fitness expo and bodybuilding championship hosted by Arnold. When I tracked down the promoters of the event, they requested a letter detailing Roland’s struggle. It would be forwarded to Arnold.
Roland’s mother wrote:
“Dear Arnold,
My son Roland is a great fan of yours. He thinks you’re the greatest.
You don’t know it but you helped him through a difficult time in his young life. He had surgery on December 25, 1991, and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He started high dose intensive chemotherapy on New Year’s eve. He was the first child at Children’s Hospital in Columbus to receive high dose chemo. He spent the next six months in the hospital except for a few home visits. He had all kinds of life threatening side effects and lots of uncertainty about the outcome. He spent a lot of time in protective isolation with me at his side. He got visits from his Daddy, Brother (Danny) and Sister (Rusti). He watched a lot of movies and most of them were yours. He always said he was going to come through all of this and be strong like you. He would even do muscle poses in bed for me and the nurses.
There is one incident that everyone still talks about. He had a pair of sunglasses like the ones in “Terminator 1 and 2 that you wore. I had to go out of his isolation room and talk to one of his nurses about his lab work. He was laying in bed watching “Terminator” when I left the room. We were at the nurse’s station when his door opened. He stood there with his sunglasses on and said, “I’ll be back.” we all lost it laughing, but then panicked because the kid had gotten out of bed and moved three IV poles with nine pumps of fluid all by himself.
Then there was a period of two weeks where we had to call him, “Uncle Bob” because you were called that once in “Terminator 2.’ He used to wear his sunglasses in bed even when it was dark. That’s how he lost them because they accidentally got thrown down the laundry shoot during the night. He was awful upset and cried for days.
We would really love to meet you. He said he was going to be like you and fight. He did and he won. He is now six years old and considered cured after three years of treatment. Christmas is even more special to all of us now.
I would like to thank you for helping us. I have always been a fan of you and your movies. I wish you a lifetime of happiness and success in all that you do. Enjoy your family because they’re special.
We enjoy and treasure every little thing now.
Sincerely,
Tammy Redmon”
In the Spring of 1995, Roland Redmond met Arnold Schwarzenegger. A picture of them together hangs in the Redmon home. All the doctors and nurses who treated Roland did a wonderful job. As a role model, so did Arnold. By imitating Arnold’s muscle man behavior in standing up to adversity, Roland proved what any psychologist will tell you. – the most important part of reaching your goal is believing you can.
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