Bishoy Tadros · 42 min
Diagnosed with leukaemia at three, surviving brain surgery at thirteen, and broke down alone at mile 40 of a triathlon, Bishoy Tadros turned every low point into a launchpad for extraordinary purpose.
Hear this story
Bishoy Tadros was born in Egypt with leukaemia at three years old. His father, a urologist and Coptic Orthodox priest, left everything he knew to take his family to California for treatment, then to Long Island, New York. Between ages three and thirteen, Bishoy battled not just cancer but isolation. He was slower than other children, unable to swim or compete, trapped by treatment he couldn't explain to himself. At thirteen, a venous angioma the size of a golf ball required brain surgery at NYU. Waking in the ICU swollen and immobile, he reached a breaking point so dark it became a turning point. In the recovery room, once he learned the mass was benign, Bishoy made a decision: whatever life throws at him, he will find a way to navigate it. He called this his life's mantra, Break Barriers.
His parents had woven three things into his childhood without knowing it: patience, perspective, and purpose. These became his tools for everything that followed. Bishoy applied them to high school, to college during the financial crisis, to a career at JP Morgan, to relationships. In his mid-twenties, he returned to fitness and eventually signed up for his first half-Ironman in June 2017. At mile 40 of the bike ride, completely dehydrated and alone in the heat, he broke down. That is when younger Bishoy spoke to older Bishoy. If the thirteen-year-old could survive brain surgery and leukaemia, the adult could finish thirty more miles by celebrating each one. He did. After that race, he ran the New York City Marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A mentor at JP Morgan challenged him to raise one hundred thousand dollars instead of three thousand. His story spread so fast that he became one of the top individual fundraisers that year and landed on national television. Seven years into banking and checked out, Bishoy Googled how to write a book, brought his laptop to lunch breaks, and wrote Break Barriers in three months. Since then, he has created the Mile 40 podcast to give others a safe space to tell their stories of hardship and rebuilding. The biggest compliment he has received is that he created a real safe space where people felt comfortable sharing their trauma for the first time.
“once I got out of that recovery room and I was given a clean bill of health after they realized it was benign I came up with my life's Mantra which is break barriers”
“I was an immigrant child assimilating battling cancer and between the ages of 3 and 13 nothing was going right whether it was my physical health whether it was my emotional well-being whether it was my ability to assimilate and make friends”
“I realized that I wasn't running for me anymore I realized now I was running for anyone and everyone who was impacted by a similar narrative”
The hero, today
Bishoy's father left medicine and the priesthood to give his 3-year-old son a chance at survival, moving the family from Egypt to California when his mother was 7 months pregnant with his sister. The three things Bishoy's parents instilled in him, patience, perspective, and purpose, shaped how he handled failure and adversity for the rest of his life, even though they didn't know they were teaching him. At mile 40 of his first half-Ironman, when Bishoy was completely broken and alone, he summoned his younger self who had survived leukemia and brain surgery, and that memory let him finish the race by celebrating each remaining mile instead of the whole distance. After his mentor at JP Morgan told him to raise $100,000 instead of $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Bishoy's story spread so fast that he became one of the top individual fundraisers that year and landed on national television. Bishoy wrote Break Barriers not to make money but to touch one person who needed to read it; anything after that was extra. The biggest compliment Bishoy has received from hosting his podcast is that he created a safe space where people felt comfortable sharing their trauma and their darkness for the first time.
Yes. Bishoy Tadros is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Bishoy's father left medicine and the priesthood to give his 3-year-old son a chance at survival, moving the family from Egypt to California when his mother was 7 months pregnant with his sister.
The three things Bishoy's parents instilled in him, patience, perspective, and purpose, shaped how he handled failure and adversity for the rest of his life, even though they didn't know they were teaching him.
At mile 40 of his first half-Ironman, when Bishoy was completely broken and alone, he summoned his younger self who had survived leukemia and brain surgery, and that memory let him finish the race by celebrating each remaining mile instead of the whole distance.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 00:00
Kintsugi Heroes acknowledges funding and was made possible with support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Find out more at cbf.org.au. Welcome to the Kintsugi Heroes podcast, where we share inspirational stories of everyday people going through different challenges and how they overcome them. Please be aware that the story you're about to hear may have moments of deeply felt emotions and personal experiences. If anything you hear has a triggering effect, please reach out to someone who can help keep you safe. If you love this conversation, we'd love you to like and share it with your friends so we can continue to share more inspiration and hope to as many people as possible. Now listen up for our next hero story. This guest is Bishoy Tadros. Wow, what an inspirational person. There are some people who are born with stuff they've got to overcome, and they didn't get a choice about it. And that journey of adversity is what creates their strength and resilience as they move forward and get over it. And Bishoy he lives and breathes this every day. He is actually from Egypt, he was born in Egypt. His family immigrated to the US when he was 3. He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and he underwent a lot of treatment for 10 years as a child. On his 13th birthday, he underwent brain surgery and to this day remains cancer-free. His story doesn't stop there. What he's done with that is turned it into a passion for inspiring others to be healthy, to go for their dreams, to set challenges for themselves and overcome them, to do things with their life that make them feel better. He's an Ironman, he's a 6-time marathoner, he's led campaigns, charities, raising money since 2017, and he's also created the Mile 40 podcast where other people come on and tell their stories. So he has this wonderful energy, an incredible story, and he's very inspirational. I invite you to sit back and enjoy this one with Bishoy Tadros. Hi, here we are. It's another episode. It's Kintsugi Heroes, and my hero today is Bishoy Tadros. How are you going, Bishoy?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 02:45
I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me today.
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After his mentor at JP Morgan told him to raise $100,000 instead of $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Bishoy's story spread so fast that he became one of the top individual fundraisers that year and landed on national television.
This conversation includes born in egypt with leukemia at 3, the boy who wanted to be normal, brain surgery at 13, a breaking point, break barriers becomes his mantra, three things his parents taught him without knowing and from unemployed in 2009 to jp morgan.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 02:48
Thank you for being here. And have I pronounced your name correctly?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 02:52
That is correct. It's Bashoy Tadros.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 02:54
I'm really excited to have you. And like I say to all my guests, it's an honor to meet you, to have you here in this space and give of your time to share your story for others' benefit. You know, it's— we learn by connection and by learning from others, and sharing your story is just so important.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 03:11
Thank you. It's a privilege to be here. I appreciate it.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 03:14
Well, let's get started. I'm going to hand the mic over to you and ask you to please take us back to the beginning. Where does your story begin? So start and take us away.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 03:24
My story began, I was born in Egypt. When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with leukemia. You know, growing up in Egypt, one of the things that also, besides the fact that I had a pretty severe cancer diagnosis at a young age, was My father was a Coptic Orthodox priest. And, you know, that's unique to the Egyptian community in the sense that, you know, generally speaking, especially back then in the '80s, you were one of two religions. You were either Christian or you were Muslim. And the Christian sect was a heavy minority that over time was persecuted, especially in the region. And so Being a priest in the Coptic community in Egypt, you're a figurehead of sorts, and, you know, it's not like having a local congregation here in New York where, you know, you might have at most a couple hundred families. There you're serving thousands of families, and you're kind of looked up to as someone whose house is generally open 24/7. You know, that was an element of the circumstances that I was born into. Prior to him becoming a priest, and this is important, he was actually a physician. He was a urologist and he left medicine in order to take on the priesthood. So when I got this diagnosis, it was 1990. At the time, healthcare was not up to par back in Egypt as it is here. And so, you know, given his background, he knew that they had to make a decision. And that decision was ultimately to leave everything that they ever knew in order to give me a chance at survival. And, you know, he left the career of medicine to pursue a life of service. And it's not like he had, you know, a lucrative job offer waiting for him in the States at the time. But, you know, in his mind, there was no other decision. And so they moved, they up and left. My mom was 7 months pregnant at the time with my sister, and they moved to the City of Hope in California. That's where I began treatment. I took on treatment there for a year. And then ultimately we moved to Long Island, New York, where my dad took over as the priest of the church in Woodbury on Long Island. He's been there now for well over 30 years. And I finished my treatment there. You know, the story wasn't just about the treatment. And as much as, you know, you might look at it and think from the outside, you know, he was a young child diagnosed with cancer. What I really honed in on, you know, throughout my lifetime was the fact that I was an immigrant child assimilating, battling cancer, and between the ages of 3 and 13, nothing was going right. Whether it was my physical health, whether it was my emotional well-being, whether it was my ability to assimilate and make friends, you know, in the back of my mind, I just wanted to be like every other boy. Like, I just wanted to complete, compete, and play sports, and, you know, be able to be normal. But, you know, throughout that period in my life, there were tubes coming out of places they shouldn't be for a child. And, you know, I had a feeding tube during some of those years. And I remember not being able to swim when the other children were swimming. And then as I got a little bit older, I started to realize that despite the fact that, you know, I wanted to compete as much as the other boys, I was a lot slower and for no reason that I could explain to myself. Like, you know, in basketball they would make you run these suicide lines. And I was the first person at practice, last one there. I wanted it more than anyone else, but no matter what, I was always last on those lines. And at that point in my life, you know, no one could really explain to me that that was because of the chemo or the radiation that was slowing me down. And that was not something that I was able to digest at that period in my life. And so I remember it really bogged me down emotionally. And it crushed me. When I was 13 years old, I had a brain surgery. It's called a venous angioma. Initially, it was diagnosed a brain tumor, and I ended up doing surgery in New York at NYU. And after surgery, they studied the mass and they realized it was this benign blood clot, but it was the size of a golf ball. And for me, that was, you know, one of the major moments in my life, because when I got out of that surgery and I was in the recovery room, The unique thing about, about brain surgery is because it's so sensitive, when they put you in the recovery room, you're swollen all over, all over your entire body. There's not a single part of your body that isn't wrapped up heavily. And, you know, the slightest, the slightest feeling just spreads volumes across your body. And, you know, I talk about it, um, in my book, there was this one scene where I was in the pediatric ICU after the recovery and there was another child in there and, um, you know, I couldn't move. I couldn't see anything. I could, couldn't even move my head and I could just hear the noises. He was having a seizure. And I remember it was a dark moment for me because my, my, my mind went to, it's either going to be him or me. We're both not going to be able to last in this, in this ICU right now. That, that's kind of where I was in my life. Like, That kid's gotta go. Um, and, and it was a very dark moment, but anyway, it was so dark that it became one of a couple inflection points in my life because once I got out of that recovery room and I was given a clean bill of health after they realized it was benign, I came up with my life's mantra, which is break barriers, which is ultimately the title of the book. At that point, I made the decision that whatever life throws at me, I'm going to figure out a way to navigate. And, you know, I was hellbent. I mean, how much darker could life get at that point, right? Like, I was up until the age of 13, almost nothing went right. And there I was in a hospital room, you know, wishing something bad on another innocent child because, you know, basically brought to my pit. And, you know, I had decided, you know, I'm going to take ownership of life. And I took that mantra and I applied it through every element, whether it was, you know, my next level of schooling to my relationships with other people to my career and ultimately to athletics.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 09:48
Wow. It's certainly not your usual life events up to the age of 13. No, no. And, and the one thing that struck me after you, you shared all of that was you must have really had to grow up A lot.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 10:06
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I, I lean on 3 key tenors that my parents instilled in me as I was going through that, and I don't think they even knew they were instilling it at the time. But I talk about patience, perspective, and purpose, because when I was younger, there was a lot of things that I wanted to do, and there was a lot of things that I— results that I wanted to see. And I remember my, my parents you know, kind of instilled in the fact that just because it's not happening now doesn't mean it won't happen. That kind of helped me in my older life because it allowed me to accept that you don't always get the results you want when you want them. And that was applicable in various aspects of, of my career and, you know, and some of the pursuits that I had been taking. Um, and that ultimately gave me an advantage in life. Um, the idea of perspective and the notion that my parents instilled around the fact that I was dealt this deck of cards because I was built to handle it. And, you know, not everyone might agree with that, but they instilled that deeply in me. And it's something that I kind of took on throughout my life. And anytime a negative circumstance or a bad circumstance came my way, I was convinced that I was built to handle it. That was very helpful. And, and then lastly, the idea of purpose and understanding that sometimes in life it's those difficult moments. That reveal your true potential, that show what you're truly capable of, that show you how strong you are and the fortitude that you hold. That was something that I had gone through over and over again. And again, talk about it in the book, this one moment where my dad was receiving an award. And my dad is— my dad doesn't talk too much. I mean, he, he, he really doesn't. But he got this award and he was thanking the family, which again, he doesn't As much as he's in front of people, he's a man of few words. He's, he's got a big message that he can say in a few words, but he was up there and, and he talked about how proud he was of me for my strength. And I was like 20-something at the time. And I'll never forget it because never in my life did anyone call me strong or refer to me as strong. And that was not a word that was ever linked to me. And that for me will forever be a special moment because I don't think there's anyone that, that knew what I had gone through the way that, that he did. I think that that ties in, into purpose. Like, once you get that, for me, what was that ultimate compliment? I realized that those moments of discomfort, you know, are truly purposeful.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 12:37
I love these reflections of the journey, and you mentioned purpose, and it's one of your core principles. Would you say that those moments, and particularly that one when you're 20s, when your dad spoke about you, did that help define your purpose for being, or your reason for being, and what you were here to do?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 12:58
Um, I always felt like I had a story to tell, right? Especially right after, you know, I got out of that brain surgery and I was going through high school. Because once I accepted this new mantra, I realized that there was going to be some failure along the way, that I was going to have to accept the fact that Just because I want to be everybody's friend doesn't mean everyone's going to want to be my friend, or just because I want to achieve certain goals doesn't mean that I'm going to get them right away. And I talk about the ups and downs and, and how that, that kind of played out. And I failed numerous times at certain things that I wanted to do, but I knew that was going to be part of the process. And so I felt like I had a leg up, right? Like I wasn't broken by all the failures. I realized the failures were going to continue to refine me. And so I always knew there was going to be a moment. When I shared it, but I didn't know when. That moment with my father was special for me, but I wouldn't say it was an inflection point because it led to a little bit of confusion because I, again, like I said, I, I wasn't used to hearing strong and bishoy in the same sentence. And so I needed a long time to reflect on it. But eventually a couple of years later, uh, when I started putting pen to paper, and I'm sure we'll touch on how we even got there. That moment came back to me and the moment that, you know, I realized that in the moment, although it was a little confusing, it maybe kept me going when I needed it.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 14:21
Hmm. Your book is called Break Barriers, and you've obviously been through a lot in your young years, but it takes a bit of some life experience. And like you say, journeys, hard knocks, falling down, getting back up, you know, this, this, this experience, this life experience to be able to then provide that wisdom and the insight and perspective to others. So you've obviously been through a bit before you wrote the book, on top of the, the surgeries and, and the health crisis journey you went on. Tell me about the journey then between then and writing this book.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 14:55
So when I wrote the book, I wrote it with the objective of helping readers channel the mindset to overcome obstacles, whether they be personal, professional, or on the playing field. And that was really important to me. I didn't want this book to be focused on one specific segment of the community. I didn't want it to focus on people battling cancer. I didn't want it to be focused on people who want to run marathons. I didn't want it to be focused on just immigrants assimilating. I wanted someone to be able to pick up this book and to be able to say that no matter who I am or what I'm going through, here is my tool guide to overcoming obstacles. And so for me, of course, I dove into my childhood and the difficulties of that, But it didn't stop there. You know, when I, when I went to high school, I talk about trying out for the same team 3 times, the team that doesn't really cut anybody and how I, you know, I came back that 3rd time and finally made it. I talk about how I graduated college and, uh, I was unemployed in the middle of the financial crisis. I graduated in 2009 and all I wanted to do was work in banking, uh, in the middle of the financial crisis. Then I talk about how I applied those lessons from childhood to navigate myself to JP Morgan, you know, the biggest investment bank. In the world at the time. And, um, you know, I don't talk about this in the book because the story wasn't complete at that point, but my wife and I dated and broke up 3 times before we finally got back together. Um, and, and, and now we have a child and, um, you know, are, are married and very happily married. And, and so the formula was tried and true in every element of my life. Where it came full circle was in my mid-20s, I started to reapproach my fitness and my love for being an athlete. And, you know, I recalled all the difficulties I had with my childhood, but I was a little bit more mature in the sense that I was able to put a lot of, you know, the adversity of my childhood behind me and just look forward and just focus on being better today than I was yesterday. And the way that it started was through my local community, I had met a group of young athletes my age who all of them were athletes growing up, whether they played collegiately or even professionally. And what I realized around surrounding myself with them was all they cared about was just being better today than they were yesterday. You know, they weren't living in their glory days. They weren't basking, you know, really good athletes in really good shape. They were just focused on what was right in front of them. And they welcomed me in and A lot of people could have been intimidated by that. But again, when we talk about my mindset, my mindset was used to accepting failure. I knew I wasn't going to compete with them. I knew all I knew was I had to stay quiet and just keep around them and just kind of soak it in. So a couple of years went by and started doing some smaller races, ultimately signed up for my first half marathon, which then led to a few more races. And this same group of people started dipping into the triathlon circuit. So I did. One or two triathlons with them, and, and then they decided they wanted to do a half Ironman, which is a 70-mile race. Uh, it's a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13-mile run. And, you know, childhood Bishoy would've told you you're absolutely out of your mind to think that this was something that he'd even remotely consider because running wasn't even any part of my childhood background. I wasn't a runner at all. I mean, I just wanted to play regular team sports at the time, uh, let alone, You know, a 56-mile bike ride and a swim. I had made this decision in December of 2016. The race was June of 2017, 6 months to go before race day. And the crazy thing about this is you pay a lot of money and you sign up for this torture, but something clicked in the back of my mind that said, I'm going to do this and I'm going to take this really seriously. So I basically cut off my social life. Not, I mean, I was, I was having fun. I was living in New York City in my twenties at the time, so I completely completely cut out alcohol. I, you know, started to watch my diet. Um, I was working out twice a day. Um, it was a little out of character for me at that point in my life. And, you know, I remember going home at the time and my mom sitting around the brunch table being like, you know, shouldn't you maybe be going out on dates a little bit more and less so worried about working out 2, 3 times a day? And, and I, I couldn't answer the question because many people had asked me like, why, why are you doing this? And I really didn't have an answer for them because anyone that knew me growing up knew this was not like me to be doing something like this. So anyway, I trained through those 6 months. I get to race day. For me, the hardest part was the swim. So I went in easy and I made it out in like an hour and 8 minutes, which is normal time. It's nothing crazy, nothing special. And then I transferred, transitioned to the bike ride. And now for anyone listening to this podcast who knows anything about bikes and I'm certainly no expert. That week there was the New York City Bike Tour and the company who I rented the bike from sent me a hybrid instead of a road bike. And what that means essentially is instead of getting a Ferrari, I got a beat up minivan. And so here I am, I have to pedal at this thing for 56 miles in 93-degree weather. And, you know, questioning everything that led me to this moment. And, you know, I talk about how there was one biker next to me who, who got a flat tire. And so I pulled over and I knew I couldn't help him. I don't know how to put a tire back. I didn't, I didn't have any tools. I didn't have anything. I could tell I was just annoying him by pulling over and pretending I can, I can help when there's absolutely nothing that I could do. And, um, you know, I could barely even be moral support at that point because he was like trying to really, really compete. And, uh, I just took that break because I needed to stop. Riding because I was, I was exhausted. I got back on and then, um, right around mile 40, I, I completely broke down. I, I realized that everyone had flown past me. There was no such thing as a time goal at this moment. There was salt all over my skin. I was completely dehydrated. And this was the very first time in my adult life where I had then asked myself, like, why are you doing this? Like this? The last 6 months, people are asking you that question. You can't answer it. And now here you are asking it to yourself. It's like, what did— what, like, how crazy are you? What made you even think to get here? Like, why would you ever consider doing something so outside of the scope of your comfort zone? And what are you trying to prove? And it was in that moment, and this was a very special moment for me, and this is the first time it ever happened where like older Bishoy transcended time and soaked in the energy of younger Bishoy. And, and I, and I thought to myself in that moment, and I never thought about this through my adult life, if he did what, what he did and he overcame what he overcame, you can finish the last 30 miles of this race. And immediately that's when I summoned those, those tenors that we spoke about earlier, and I realized that when I was younger, you know, we used to celebrate small wins. And so Instead of running 30 miles or finishing the last 30 miles, I was going to run 1 mile 30 times. And I was just going to celebrate every mile. And like, I didn't care at that point. Like I was just going to celebrate each mile and that's how I was going to get to the finish. And it worked and I made it to the finish. And I remember when I made it to the finish, you know, people were like ecstatic and celebrating and my parents were overjoyed and kind of like terrified. At how long it took, but in the back of my mind, I realized that I unleashed a new level. Like, I realized that, like, I could do anything. Like, there's, there's absolutely nothing that life can put in front of me that, that I can't do. And Mile 40 became such an important inflection point for me that, you know, it's actually now the name of my podcast, uh, because I talk about that Mile 40 moment about being You know, the, the most important pit that I had in my life. We talked about the recovery room earlier, but I, that's why I didn't say it was the only pit. Mile 40 was the true inflection in my point where emotionally I was broken. Physically, I was alone, literally in the wilderness because everyone had flown past me and I had no choice. It was after that, that I, that I came to terms with, with my story.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 23:24
Sorry for the interruption.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 23:26
This is Ian Westmoreland, the founder of Katsuki Heroes, and thank you for listening to this story from one of our amazing heroes. Our mission is for these stories to provide hope and inspiration to people experiencing life challenges and to also educate the broader community on how best to provide support. If you would like to help us to continue to produce more hero stories and cover more adversity themes, we would welcome all donations. These can be made via our website, kintsugiheroes.com.au. The donate function is at the bottom of the homepage. We'd also welcome any feedback. You can email me direct using ian@kintsugiheroes.com.au. Now let's get back to the story.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 24:17
I remember when we talked before this podcast about the Mile 40, it came back to me then, and I love that, that term. It's just so perfect. You know, it's not only reflective or descriptive of the moment that you have that insight or the knowledge or that, you know, the higher self coming in and telling the current self where, what, why. But it also reflects and shows that there's been a journey. You know, we've got to go on the journey to get to that point. And it's— the journey is so important because without the journey, we wouldn't get to that Mile 40.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 24:55
Absolutely.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 24:56
I'm fascinated by the fact that you had this determination. Your parents instilled in you that sense from a young age that you've been given all this, all these challenges, but it's because you can handle it. Did you ever doubt that message or did you simply believe it? It was a message from your dad, from spirit, from faith. Yeah.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 25:18
I mean, I'd be lying to you if I, if I said there weren't moments where I was doubting it and, you know, like any other child that was extremely frustrated, but you know, the message was so clear to them, like they had such conviction in it that as my mind began to evolve and mature. I began to understand it a little bit more, you know, as a child, it was, it was definitely tough to grasp, but as an adult, I couldn't see it any other way now. Yeah. That's a big element. You know, I talked about my dad earlier and kind of how he had a unique role like that, that played a part of it too, because from a social aspect of things, I had to explain, like, my dad doesn't have a normal job. Like, you know, like, you know, I was going to a Catholic school on Long Island. Like, it wasn't like, And everyone was the same and I, I wasn't. Ultimately, that helped me navigate, you know, my, my adult life and in my career. And, you know, a lot of times you are in a room with people where for many reasons you're just not the same. And, and, and, and that was a big thing too.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 26:20
So you finished the race and how did that change things for you? What did that give you for the next part of the journey?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 26:27
I finished the race and I remember feeling so empowered and emboldened and, and hyped up, and at the same time keeping a straight face. Like, in my mind, I knew I had something. On the outside, you didn't know, and, and nobody knew. And so I said to myself, what do I have to lose by sharing this story that I've been holding on to? Because the truth of the matter is most people didn't know what I had gone through as a child, the people around me, like outside of my family, and You know, now I got to a point where I could say, hey, like, I'm an Ironman. Like, I, I, I did something, you know, a feat. Like, I have, I have something to be proud of. Like, I had other things to be proud of, but like, inside I felt like I had something to be proud of. So I decided that year that I was gonna run the New York City Marathon. It was my first ever marathon. I had never run, run one before. And training for a marathon is different than training for a triathlon or, or an Ironman, just cuz it's so much pounding on the feet. In order to run the race, I had to raise money for charity in order to get the bib. And so I decided to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And I didn't think anything of it. I actually didn't have a relationship with them. Uh, I just thought I had leukemia. It would just make sense. So I reached out to them, they had extra bibs and I had to raise a minimum of $3,000 or $3,500 at the time. So I wrote down my story on a piece of paper and I ended up ultimately shoving it in a drawer because I got vulnerable. And I said to myself, If nobody donates, I'm going to look really silly here. Even though I just got, you know, this huge moment coming off of mile 40, I sat on it for a couple of weeks and I ultimately decided to share it with a mentor of mine, um, at JP Morgan. So at that point he was just a professional mentor. We hadn't really talked about, you know, my personal life too much. I was in a conference room with him and I remember showing it to him, the piece of paper, and he looked at it and he laughed and he goes, Bashoy, why is your goal just $3,000? I'm looking at him like, like, I, I don't know. He goes, you need to make your goal $100,000. And he gave me $1,000 and he said, go. And from that point on, it was, it was game time. And so I started sharing my story just via text message to some friends, and then I put it on social media, and $1,000 turned into $5,000, turned into $10,000, turned into $20,000 and $30,000. And I, I was absolutely blown away because I couldn't believe this was happening. Like, I, like, this all happened so quick. This was just a matter of a few months since mile 40. And all of a sudden I got a call from NASDAQ here in New York and they said, hey, we got ahold of your story. We want to invite you to come ring the closing bell. So now all of a sudden, like, I went from completely broken at mile 40 to national TV and, you know, leading a campaign that was doing something historical because I had never in my life envisioned it. And at the same time, I think I was the number one fundraiser for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society individually as a runner in that year, at least. And I couldn't believe it. Like, I was absolutely mind-blown that this was happening, but I started to feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility. And I realized that I wasn't running for me anymore. I realized now I was running for anyone and everyone who was impacted by a similar narrative. And I started getting outreach from random people talking about different people who had diagnoses. People— someone reached out to me and said that because they saw my story, they just randomly drove to a hospital and dropped off a gift for a young girl battling cancer. And I couldn't believe it, but I was so, you know, my heart was so warm because of all this. And Ultimately, I finished the New York City Marathon that year. We raised $50,000. To date, I've committed to raise $1 million for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, and we're at over $125,000 right now. But what happened after that was cool. I got back to work after the marathon and after these 3 months of just absolute up and down emotions and Uh, I realized that like, I could never work my regular job again because like there was so much purpose to be found in this world that I just uncovered. I got a call from a competitor bank a couple of months later and they said, hey, we saw your story. We want to invite you to come speak to our people. And we want you to talk about translating the success of fundraising and telling a story to succeeding in a sales organization. So now all of a sudden I'm getting paid to go speak to a competitor bank. About my story, not even about like, you know, anything that's relative to the industry. And I thought that was really cool. And so I started, you know, seeking out opportunities like that. And it was a couple of months later that I was sitting at my desk. And at that point I was 7 years into banking. I was checked out. I knew what I was doing inside and out. I wasn't being challenged anymore. My boss was in Houston. I was in New York and I just Googled how to write a book. And I also Googled how many words you need to write to reach 100 pages, just because I thought that was just a respectable amount of pages. And it was 20,000 words. And I started bringing my laptop to work and I was taking these lunch breaks. And in 3 months I wrote 100 pages and it was just a very long Word document. And I had no idea how to write a book and I had no idea how to put this, turn it into a book. I had reached out to a friend who, uh, had went to Harvard and I said to him, you've got to know somebody who's published a book. And he did. And so that person looked at my Word document and he said, this is, this is very good. Can I give you my editor? And I was like, yeah, you give me— I was like, and you know, I learned it all. I had no idea how much it was going to cost. I had no idea how to like turn it into a book. But fortunately, that editor was a lifeline and he really helped me turn it into what it is today.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 32:22
Great story. And I love that moment at your desk where you're like, There's got to be more. I know there's more. I've just proven there's more, and it's time to do more. Another inflection point.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 32:34
I mean, you know, the fact of the matter was I said to myself, what do you have to lose right now, right? Like, most people around you are living their lives, you know, while they have their own journeys. Everyone has their own book, but I don't know that everybody has it figured out enough to put it to paper. I said to myself, you have it. Like, you you have it, you have the narrative. You know, truth be told, I wasn't writing a book to make money. That was not my goal. My goal when I wrote Break Barriers was to just touch that one person who needed to read the story. You know, I said to myself, anything after that is extra. After writing the book, I figured out ways to turn it into a platform. But when the book was written and the actual objective of the book was never to sell. It was more so to do outreach and to inspire.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 33:26
That's brilliant. And how long has the book been published for?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 33:31
So, the book was published in 2019. So, from the Google search to when it was written was just 9 months, which is extremely fast for writing a book. But it's a testimony to how, you know, how focused I was on the project. It was something that just meant— and I was carrying this weight for 30 years. And I was begging to just throw it down on paper somewhere. Uh, so it was a very cathartic experience. And like my therapist, I joke around with him. He, I'm sorry, not my therapist, my editor. I joke around with him, was like my therapist because, you know, we'd be on the phone until like 2 in the morning running page by page and just going through the, you know, the manuscript and, you know, talking about what needs to be in there and what needs to get taken out. And it, it was an extremely cathartic experience that I'm really grateful for. So it was. Wrote in 2019. It had exceeded all of my expectations in terms of sales and in terms of the attention that it got and distribution. After, well, last year was 2022. My wife and I were expecting our, our daughter last year. I had said to myself, okay, it's been 3 years of talking about this book and sharing the story and generally, you know, talking about myself. I want to make sure that my platform allows other people to tell their stories. And that's where the idea of the Mile 40 Podcast was born. So it was taken out of the chapter in the book. And I said to myself, Mile 40 reflected— was, was the inflection point. Anyone out there has their moments in life where they bottom out, but let's use this as an opportunity to expand the platform.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 34:59
I love that. What have you learned since launching the podcast? What's been some of the key insights of new learnings from that?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 35:10
Oh man, I've learned so much and it's been so special. You really don't know what other people are going through and what they've been through in their lives, even some of the most successful people, you know. And, you know, I've brought on CEOs, I've brought on founders, I brought on professional athletes, and, you know, on the outside it's really easy to presume that they must have been like that their whole lives. But the truth of the matter is, many times, and more often than not, that's not how they got there. I've heard some gut-wrenching stories in terms of some of the things people had gone through. But the beauty in it is that they always talk about how they put the pieces together and came back. Another thing that was interesting to me is that a lot of times, especially in the podcasting world, people look for names they recognize and then maybe celebrities or people with stature. I've had on more than one occurrence the person with no following have an episode go straight to the top, and it's because of the power of their narrative. Um, and that for me was really special because then I realized again there was another responsibility here. Now, so-and-so came on my podcast, talked about their life for the very first time, shared their trauma, um, and, and talked about, uh, the darkness of whatever period of life they had been gone through. And their story is clearly incredibly powerful based on just the results of the downloads, it was a really humbling place to be for me to realize that I gave this person the opportunity and the comfort to share their story. And I think that, that goes a long way, especially, you know, the, the comfort aspect of it. I think that's my— the biggest compliment that I've received from hosting the podcast isn't, you know, you're a really good host, or you ask really good questions, or, you know, you really know how to you know, get the answer out of the guest. It's more so the— you created a real safe space and you made this person feel comfortable. That for me is very special.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 37:11
I, I can relate to that for sure. And I know how heartwarming it is to get that feedback. I love how you've been able to continually face these challenges, these events, these moments in your life, but extract all of the— your learnings, your journey and use it for good, for helping others, you know, being purposeful. And you've got a very calm, warm, loving energy, which is just beautiful. I can, I could see how you would create that space for your guests. And this is all about giving back, isn't it? You've been to hell and back, you know, a couple of times or more. And yet here you are and everything's fine and you're resilient. You've seen the You've experienced all of it, which is beautiful.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 37:57
Thank you.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 37:58
You're welcome. It's been an absolute pleasure to speak with you today, Bishoy, and hear from you. And I know that the listeners to this are going to get a lot from this conversation. For me personally, feel, you know, encouraged and inspired. And that message that, you know, you can overachieve anything. The book obviously goes into your story in more detail. So I encourage people to check that book out. We'll have the links in the, in the show notes as well. I have a final question for you, and that is for people listening to this. If though anyone has resonated or has gone through something similar or feels like they're also, you know, coming up to these real challenges and they can relate to any part of your story, what would you like to share with them or say to them right now?
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 38:45
Don't underestimate the power of that first step, right? That Google search. Or, you know, in, in my case, when I was younger, trying out for that team, knowing that failure is part of the process. Like, it's all about taking those steps. And that first step, although it's the hardest, is undoubtedly the most important step. And I, I take that very seriously with anything that I want to do or accomplish in life. And, you know, I think since I was young, I had huge aspirations despite the fact that I had a lot of limitations. And it took me a while to accept the fact that you just got to take one step in that direction and let that step lead you to the next step. And it might take you longer than it might take someone else, but accept the fact that you are where you're meant to be. And once you make peace with that, it'll take you a very long way. I also want to make sure that I follow that up with, you may see a book cover or you may, you know, see some of the things out there and think that there's, there's something special. I truly don't believe there's anything special. Like I wasn't gifted athletically. I wasn't gifted academically. I had great parents, which I will say was an advantage for me. But in terms of some of the things that I've accomplished, whether it's the marathons, whether it's the book, whether it's the podcast, whatever it may be. I wasn't gifted or talented in any one of those arenas. I just took that step. And so I want you, if you're listening to this out there and you think that, you know, he must be something just gifted or, or something out there, that he must have something that I don't have, that's really, really far from true. And so I, I say that to give everyone out there the nod of, you know, don't hesitate, take that first step, We're all in it together.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 40:38
That's brilliant. Such, such wise words. And, you know, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Vishoy, for you sharing and spending your time with me today, sharing with all of our listeners. And I know that your, your story will inspire them and, uh, as it's inspired me. So I'm really grateful for you. Thank you.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 40:58
Thank you so much for having me.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 41:05
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Katsugi Heroes. Please like and share the show to your friends so we can get this out to even more people. If you have a story you'd like to share with us, please reach out using the contact details below. And join us next week for our next heroes' story. Until then, keep being you, and remember that we are all heroes in our own unique way.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 41:32
Only when it's broken. Only when it's broken.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 41:41
When it hits you in the middle of the night and the truth burns so bright.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 41:49
Only when it's broken.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 41:54
Only when it's broken.
Bishoy Tadros (Guest) · 41:54
When it's broken. Take pride in those cries, it's only for tonight, and then you rise. Only when you're broken. Only when you're broken. Only when you're broken.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
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