Why

Why:

-Kyle Kostic
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Context

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I didn't want to write a book about cancer.

My life literally depended on it.

I didn't want to attempt to try to cure cancer.

My life literally depended on it.

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Everything I say below is with the intention of providing context.

I am supplying information that can be validated.

I am not supplying this information with the intention of sounding self-absorbed.

Everything I say below is with the intention of giving myself credibility.

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As a 4-year-old boy, my elementary school guidance counsellor wanted me to skip kindergarten and go directly into the 2^nd grade.

I was given a few entry-level intelligence tests, and the results indicated that I was gifted.

I earned my Bachelors Degree in Psychology at 33 years old.

I earned just about a 4.0 in my major.

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While in college, I took the Wechsler Adult Intelligence (WAIS IV) IQ test.

This test is the most widely used method of measuring intelligence in adults.

I earned a very high score.

With all of those things considered, it is fair to say that my childhood intelligence level, college performance, and adult intelligence measurements indicate that I am a relatively smart individual.

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In 2010 I self published a book entitled "A Collection of our Thoughts."

The book was a collection of essays that expressed a variety of my feelings in a variety of ways from a variety of different perspectives.

Some of the essays were linear.

Some of the essays were abstract.

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The book was used in the juvenile prison I worked at as motivational reading material.

The book was also used as part of high school curriculum.

The book received positive press from a variety of sources.

The book was well received by everyone who read it.

The children in the prison that I worked at often told me how my book inspired them.

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I was the commencement speaker at the graduation of the high school that used my book as part of their curriculum. Those students also told me that my book inspired them.

I did a few radio shows and a few interviews in reference to that book. My college alma mater wrote an article on their website centered around my book when I graduated.

I received an abundance of correspondence from a variety of different people telling me how they connected with a variety of the experiences I shared in my book.

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As part of the One book One Campus program at East Stroudsburg University my senior year, each student was encouraged to read the same book.

At the end of the year, each student was encouraged to enter a writing contest in reference to that same book. The objective of the contest was for the students to apply their own life experiences to the theme of the book.

I entered the contest. I won.

With all of those things considered, it is fair to say that my previous work indicates that I am a pretty good writer.
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I played football when I was young.

I started out playing offensive and defensive line.

I was arguably one of the toughest kids on the team.

Playing on the line helped me develop strength.

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As I got older, my athleticism increased.

I became a running back.

I became arguably one of the best running backs in the area.

Playing running back helped me develop creativity.

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As I got even older, my height increased.

I became a quarterback.

I was arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the area when I was in high school.

Playing quarterback helped me develop into a leader.

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I also played basketball.

Basketball is the combination of the linear and the abstract.

The game is practiced in a mostly linear fashion.

The game is played in both a linear and abstract way.

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There were times when the linear approach worked, and times when the abstract approach worked.

As a person who handled the basketball a lot, I often had to make the choice of taking the more linear or more abstract approach.

More times than not, I made the right choice.

Consistently making the right mental choices while simultaneously having collegiate level athleticism eventually earned me a partial college scholarship to play basketball at the Division 2 level.

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My success playing sports demonstrated my ability to make good mental and physical decisions in a relatively short period of time.

My success playing football and baseball demonstrated my ability to use a wide range of both abstract and linear principles.

My success playing basketball demonstrated my ability to use the combination of both abstract and linear principles.

With all of those things considered, it is fair to say that my athletic history has demonstrated my ability to be durable, linear, and abstract.

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When I entered college out of high school, my major was history.

I wanted to learn about culture, society, and the world.

Even though I was I loved history itself, I didn't really like school.

I dropped out of college after my junior year.

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I got a job.

I accepted an entry-level position doing customer service at a cell phone company. I quickly transitioned into technical support.

I got promoted 4 times in 9 years. I was consistently a top performer.

I accepted a severance package when the company I worked for consolidated their operations and closed the site I was based out of.

My success in the customer service/tech support role demonstrated my ability to successfully fix issues by using both a linear and abstract approach.

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I had to listen to an abstract explanation of the issue by the customer, conceptualize their problem, and then resolve their issue by using a documented linear solution.

If there was a problem that had no documented linear solution, I had the flexibility to take an abstract approach in an attempt to find, test, and create a new linear solution.

With all of those things considered, it is fair to say that my history working in customer service and technical support developed me into a person who can come up with creative solutions to a variety of issues.

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When I re-enrolled in college in 2012, I chose psychology as my major.

When I originally enrolled in college out of high school, I chose history as my major.

I chose history out of high school because I wanted to learn about culture, society, and the world.

As an adult I chose psychology because I understood that in order to learn about culture, society, and the world at their deepest levels, I first had to learn about humans and their behavior at their deepest level.

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This way of thought also applied to my cancer.

In order to heal, I had to understand why I got sick.

In order to cure my cancer, I had to understand why I got cancer.

I had to learn about cancer at the absolute deepest level in an effort to reverse engineer the process and attempt to cure myself.
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Stage IV Cancer was my original prognosis.

Chemotherapy and radiation failed.

The cancer metastasized to my lung and throughout my bloodstream.

I was given a terminal diagnosis.

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After letting my circumstances digest, I changed the perspective of my circumstances.

Even though I didn't want to write a book about cancer, I now had the opportunity to.

Even though I didn't want to attempt to try to cure cancer, I now had the opportunity to.

After letting my circumstances digest, I let the perspective of my circumstances challenge, motivate, and empower me.
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This is why my elementary school guidance counselor wanted me to skip kindergarten and the 1st grade.

This is why my mother and I were given free food from the food bank.

This is why I was in a program for at risk children with potential in high school.

This is why I graduated from college.

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Our purpose as humans is to synthesize old information with new information, in an attempt to create new information that will improve, sustain, and lengthen the lives of future generations.

Today humanity has more information, tools, and technology than at any point in human history.

With all of these resources at humanities disposal, humanity should be curing cancer at this point in human history.

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This experience has serendipitously become my purpose, and simultaneously become my attempt at making history. 

This book is the culmination of my cancer journey, and the culmination of my old life.

I want the world to use my experience in an effort to both heal and prevent people from feeling the pain that I felt during this cancer journey.

I whole-heartedly believe that this method provides other people who were in my situation both emotionally and physically with a legitimate option.

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I was tough enough to endure this regimen.

I was disciplined enough to document the duration of this experience.

I was knowledgeable enough to conceptualize, synthesize, and articulate my experiences.

I was desperate enough to try literally anything in an attempt to heal.

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You don’t have to be a doctor, psychologist, or shaman to understand the information I present in this book.

I made this book as short and as easy to read as possible

I wanted the conceptualization of this method to be as short, clear, and concise as possible.

Anyone with a relatively basic level of comprehension skills should have the ability to understand this information.

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If you are a doctor, psychologist, or shaman and you do understand this information, I can go into more detail about the information and experiences I provide.

When I was diagnosed in 2015, I had no choice but to become a subject matter expert in reference to anything and everything that pertained to cancer.

All of my time was spent using my resources to acquire analyze, and synthesize information in an effort to save my own life.

If you are a doctor, psychologist, or shaman and want me to elaborate on anything I mention in this book, I feel like I have the ability to do so at your level of comprehension.

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You do not have to be a doctor, psychologist, or shaman to interpret my results.

I was literally in the worst physical shape of my life during my cancer treatment.

I was given a terminal diagnosis

Today I am in no pain, I have no symptoms, and I am in literally the best shape of my life.

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In October of 2015, I remember sitting in my at my kitchen table in the middle of the night.

I was looking down at a feeding tube that was surgically inserted in my stomach.

I couldn’t eat, drink, or sleep because my body was in so much pain.

That is the moment when things got real.

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I had endured a lot in my life up until that point.

I endured not having a father, growing up in poverty, and becoming a teen parent myself.

While enduring those challenges was empowering, this was different.

This was cancer.

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I had all of the resources of the history of the world at my disposal.

I had the mental, physical, and creative capacity to make something happen.

I had the fight of my life on my hands.

I also had some extremely powerful sources of inspiration at my disposal.

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Koi, you make me proud.

You are a high school graduate, a great big brother, and a respectful young man.

You are a great athlete, handsome young man, and an overall great person.

You are everything I ever wanted to be, and the son I always wanted.

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Maecee, you are my heart.

You gave me a love that I never knew existed.

Even though I am your father, it was you that gave me life.

You are the daughter I always wanted.

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An abundance of other people collectively got me through this journey.

I was homeless. I was hungry.

I was broke. I was alone.

An abundance of people collectively helped me through some very tough times.

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To all of the people who sent me a random text, gave me a spontaneous call, or showed me heartfelt love…

Thank you <3

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In October of 2015, I was laying in my bed.

I had a feeding tube in my stomach. My throat was black on the outside and inside due to the effect of the radiation treatment.

I was extremely depressed. I had an extreme amount of anxiety. I was losing my mind.

I was dying.

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Every day felt like a living hell.

I wasn’t getting better.

I was getting worse.

I wanted to give up.

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I was extremely suicidal.

I had a plan.

I had too much pain.

I felt like it was the only option.

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Up until that point in my life, I was an atheist.

On that morning, I got on my knees and prayed.

I was crying.

I begged GOD to show compassion, to give me a chance, or at least help me understand my purpose in life.
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GOD eventually showed compassion.

GOD eventually gave me a chance. 

GOD eventually helped me understand my purpose.

GOD eventually helped me understand it.

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I am no longer an atheist.

I still pray.

I still cry.

I still believe.

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I am just a vessel.

GOD is the energy inside of me. GOD is the energy inside of you.

Our bodies just process that energy.

While my name is on the book, this is really GOD’s work.

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Everything I said above was with the intention of providing context.

All of the information can be validated.

The information was not supplied with the intention of sounding self-absorbed.

All of the information supplied was with the intention of showing my credibility.

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My goal in life was not to write a book about cancer

The context I provided above articulated why I wrote this book.

My goal in life was not to attempt to cure cancer.

This book was the articulation of how I did it.