A Stage Four Diagnosis

He was unprepared to die because he’d never really figured out how to live.

Q: “I’ve just been told that I have a life-threatening disease. I’ve heard that knowing your life purpose can help during difficult times. Well, this is a VERY difficult time. Can someone explain how knowing my life purpose might help me cope with the physical and emotional challenges of this diagnosis?”

A: When faced with a life-threatening diagnosis, knowing your life purpose acts as an emotional anchor, providing meaning that transcends physical suffering, clarity for difficult decisions, and a compelling reason to fight. It transforms you from a victim of circumstances into someone with unfinished business—and that shift changes everything.

Picture this: You’re sitting in a sterile medical office, fluorescent lights humming overhead, when three words shatter your world like a sledgehammer through glass. “You have cancer.” It’s “a stage four diagnosis.” Maybe “six months remaining.”

In that moment, everything you thought you knew about your life gets turned upside down. The grocery list on your phone suddenly seems absurd. Your mortgage payments feel meaningless. That argument with your neighbour about the fence? Laughably trivial.

But here’s what the doctors don’t tell you in those first devastating moments: while they’re focused on treating your body, you’re about to embark on the most profound journey of meaning-making you’ve ever experienced. And whether you emerge from this journey bruised but not broken or shattered in a million pieces often depends on one crucial factor—knowing why you’re here.

Jason’s Story: When Your Life Purpose Becomes Your Life Line

Jason Morrison was the kind of guy who collected problems like some people collect stamps. At 47, he was juggling a failing marriage, a job that sucked his soul dry, and three teenagers who seemed determined to test every boundary known to humanity. And then some. He lived in what he called “the gray zone”—not happy, not sad, just… there.

Then came the phone call that changed everything.

“Mr. Morrison, I’m afraid the tests show you have ALS—Lou Gehrig’s disease. Given the progression we’re seeing, we’re looking at perhaps two to three years.”

Jason sat in his Honda Civic in the hospital parking lot for two hours, staring at nothing. Two to three years. The words echoed in his head like a broken record. He thought about all the things he’d never done, all the dreams he’d shelved, all the conversations he’d avoided. But mostly, he thought about how utterly unprepared he was to die because he’d never really figured out how to live.

The first few weeks were a blur of medical appointments, second opinions, and well-meaning casseroles from neighbours. But it was during a sleepless night, scrolling through his phone at 3 AM, that Jason stumbled upon an article about Viktor Frankl, the Holocaust survivor who wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning.” One quote stopped him cold:

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how.'”

Something clicked. Jason realised he’d been living his entire life without a “why.” He’d been checking boxes—graduate college, get married, buy a house, have kids, climb the corporate ladder—but he’d never asked himself the fundamental question: What am I here for?

That realisation sparked what Jason would later call his “purpose quest.” He started with the obvious question: If I only had two years left, what would I want to accomplish? But as he dug deeper, he discovered something profound. His purpose wasn’t about what he wanted to do—it was about who he was meant to be.

Jason had always been the guy people came to with their problems. Friends, colleagues, even strangers seemed drawn to share their struggles with him. He’d dismissed this as just being a good listener, but now he saw it differently. What if his purpose was to help others navigate their darkest moments? What if his own journey through this medical crisis was preparation for something bigger?

The transformation was remarkable. Jason started a support group for people facing terminal diagnoses. He began writing about his experience, sharing the raw, honest, sometimes hilariously inappropriate thoughts that come with confronting mortality. He launched a podcast called “Dying to Live” where he interviewed others facing their own mortality about what really matters.

Most surprisingly, Jason found that knowing his purpose didn’t make the physical symptoms easier—the muscle weakness, the difficulty speaking, the progressive loss of independence were all still there. But something fundamental had shifted. He wasn’t just a man dying of ALS anymore. He was a man living with ALS while fulfilling his purpose of helping others find meaning in their darkest hours.

“The weird thing,” Jason told me during one of our conversations, “is that I’m more alive now than I ever was when I was healthy. I spent 47 years sleepwalking through life, and it took a death sentence to wake me up. The irony isn’t lost on me—I had to face dying to learn how to live.”

Jason’s story illustrates something powerful about purpose: it doesn’t eliminate suffering, but it transforms it. When you know why you’re here, pain becomes meaningful. Struggle becomes sacred. Even death becomes a teacher rather than just an ending.

Eighteen months after his diagnosis, Jason was still exceeding his prognosis. His marriage had transformed from surviving to thriving. His kids, witnessing their father’s courage, had become his biggest supporters and advocates. His support group had grown to over 200 members across three cities.

“I don’t know how much time I have left,” Jason reflected, “but I know I’m not wasting it anymore. Every day I wake up and ask myself: How can I use whatever time I have left to serve my purpose? It’s made all the difference.”

Five Key Takeaways: Purpose as Medicine

1. Purpose Provides Emotional Resilience

When you know your “why,” you develop what psychologists call “meaning-making capacity”—the ability to find significance in suffering. This doesn’t minimise the pain, but it contextualises it within a larger story where you’re not just a victim but a protagonist with important work to do.

2. Purpose Clarifies Priorities Instantly

A life-threatening diagnosis forces you to confront what truly matters. When you know your purpose, this brutal prioritisation becomes less overwhelming. You’re not just cutting things out—you’re focusing on what aligns with your deeper calling.

3. Purpose Transforms Your Relationship with Time

Instead of feeling like time is being taken from you, purpose helps you see the time you have as a gift to be stewarded. Every moment becomes precious not because it might be your last, but because it’s an opportunity to fulfil your purpose.

4. Purpose Connects You to Something Greater

Medical crises can feel isolating, but purpose connects you to a larger story. Whether it’s helping others, creating beauty, or advancing knowledge, purpose reminds you that your life has meaning beyond your individual experience.

5. Purpose Becomes Your Compass for Difficult Decisions

From treatment choices to end-of-life planning, purpose provides a framework for making decisions that feel authentic and aligned rather than just reactive to fear.

Powerful Exercises for Purpose Discovery

The Legacy Letter Exercise

Write a letter to be opened 100 years from now. What would you want future generations to know about how you spent your precious time on earth? What impact did you have? What mattered most to you? This exercise often reveals purpose themes that aren’t immediately obvious.

The Deathbed Clarity Prompt

Imagine you’re at the end of your life, surrounded by loved ones. What would you need to have accomplished, experienced, or contributed to feel like your life was well-lived? What would you regret not doing? This morbid but powerful exercise cuts through the noise to reveal what truly matters.

The Values Excavation

List your top five values (not what you think they should be, but what they actually are based on how you spend your time and energy). Then ask: How can I express these values in service to others? Purpose often emerges at the intersection of your values and the world’s needs.

The Narrative Journaling Prompt

Write about a time when you felt most alive, most yourself, most connected to something greater than yourself. What were you doing? Who were you with? What values were you expressing? These peak experiences often contain clues about your deeper purpose.

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What if I’m too sick or overwhelmed to think about purpose right now? A: That’s completely understandable and normal. Purpose discovery isn’t about adding pressure—it’s about finding peace. Start small. Even asking “What brought me joy today?” can be a first step. Purpose work can be done in whatever increments you can manage.

Q: What if I discover my purpose but don’t have time to fulfil it? A: Purpose isn’t always about grand gestures or lengthy projects. Sometimes it’s about embodying certain qualities—courage, compassion, authenticity—in whatever time you have. The man who faces his diagnosis with grace and helps one person feel less alone has fulfilled a profound purpose.

Q: How is this different from just “positive thinking”? A: Purpose isn’t about pretending everything is fine or forcing optimism. It’s about finding authentic meaning in your actual circumstances, including the difficult ones. It’s about mattering, not just feeling better.

Q: What if my purpose feels too big for my current circumstances? A: Purpose scales. If your purpose is to help others heal but you’re bedridden, maybe it’s through writing, or phone calls, or even just how you treat your caregivers. Purpose finds a way to express itself within whatever constraints exist.

Q: Can purpose really make a difference in medical outcomes? A: While purpose isn’t a cure, research shows that people with a strong sense of purpose often have better treatment compliance, stronger immune responses, and improved quality of life. It’s not magic—it’s the power of having something meaningful to live for.

The Path Forward: Your Purpose Awaits

Whether you’re facing a health crisis yourself or supporting someone who is, remember this: your life has meaning that transcends your circumstances. That meaning—your purpose—is waiting to be discovered or rediscovered.

If you’re just beginning this journey of purpose discovery, my Purpose Pursuit Protocol provides a structured, compassionate approach to uncovering what you’re truly here for. It’s designed for people who’ve never done this work before, meeting you exactly where you are.

If you once knew your purpose but life has thrown you off course, the Purpose Pivot Protocol helps you recalibrate and realign with what matters most. Sometimes our purposes evolve, and that’s not just okay—it’s necessary.

Both programs understand that purpose work during a health crisis isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity. They’re designed to be gentle, flexible, and deeply practical for people navigating medical challenges.

Conclusion: The Treatment You Didn’t Know You Needed

Viktor Frankl, writing from his experience in Nazi concentration camps, observed that “suffering ceases to be suffering in some way the moment it finds meaning.” This isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending pain doesn’t hurt. It’s about the profound human capacity to find significance in even the most difficult circumstances.

When you know your purpose, you don’t just survive a medical crisis—you meet it with clarity, courage, and a sense of mission that transforms the entire experience. You discover that while you can’t always control what happens to your body, you retain authorship over the meaning of your life.

Your diagnosis may have changed your timeline, but it doesn’t have to diminish your significance. In fact, it might be the catalyst that helps you discover what you’re truly here for. And that discovery, my friend, might just be the most powerful medicine of all.

The Bottom Line

A life-threatening diagnosis strips away illusions and forces you to confront what truly matters. When you know your life purpose, you face this challenge not as a victim of random misfortune, but as someone with meaningful work to do in whatever time you have. Purpose doesn’t eliminate suffering, but it transforms it from meaningless pain into a sacred journey of becoming who you were always meant to be. And sometimes, that transformation is the most profound healing of all.