Near-Death Experiences | Hal Elrod x Dave Asprey

You're kind of a pro at overcoming big stuff. And I mean, you and I both face some things, but you faced some near death things, both with a car accident when you were younger and then more recently with a pretty serious battle with cancer. So walk me through that just for listeners who haven't really heard the how story.

Yeah, so when I was 20 years old, I was driving home from giving a speech at a conference and hit head on by a drunk driver at 80 miles an hour. My car spun off. The drunk driver and the car behind me, not tailbone me, T bone me at 70 miles an hour. And the left side of my body was just crushed. I broke 11 bones instantaneously. My femur broke in two pieces, my pelvis broke in three places, my arm broke in half, my elbow shattered, my eye socket shattered and I was found dead at the scene. I was clinically dead for approximately six minutes. Airlifted to a hospital, they revived me on the helicopter, brought back to life, flatlined twice more while I was in a coma for six days and then came out of the coma, was told I would never walk again. And I had permanent brain damage. So that was my first bout with death, if you will. And then seven years ago, when I was 37 years old, I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive form of cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And this was way more difficult because the doctors, I was given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving. But the difference was now I had kids. I had a seven year old daughter and a four year old son. And, and to be told that there was a, you know, a 20 to 30% chance of living means there's a 70 to 80% chance that you're going to die. And when I went to the hospital, I found out a cancer because my heart was failing, my lung was failing and my kidneys were failing.

We talked like a week or two before you got diagnosed? Yeah, I think we rode to an airport together.

Yeah.

And I just remember thinking, man, like you were gray. I was like, something's wrong and I know, like you could just kind of feel like you were just barely putting one foot in front of the other.

Thanks for not saying anything, dude.

Well, no, I, I just thought you.

Could have saved me.

I thought you were tired. I was like, man, this guy's like depleted.

I mean, it was a Joe Polish event. The odds are we didn't get a lot of sleep.

Yeah, you always, you always, when you're with Joe Polish, there's so much excite. It's not that you're out drinking? No, it's just that you're talking. Right.

Totally good people.

I've been a member for like 10 years. So I, I just, I, I remember the, the change in your energy because you're a real high energy guy. And I was kind of like, you know, must, must be like life stress. But if you could go back now and kind of look at it with the wisdom. When was the first time that you knew something was wrong with the cancer?

I did not. Well, so I woke up one morning, like two in the morning, and just struggling to breathe. And, you know, my wife woke up hearing me wheeze, and she goes, what's wrong? I said, I can't breathe. And she sits me up, all these pillows behind my back. And the next day I went into the ER and urgent care and they misdiagnosed me. They saw the mass on my lung and they went, it looks like, I mean, literally the doctor's tone was, it looks like you have pneumonia, but if you don't get better in a few days, go get a second opinion. He was very unsure. And they gave me a Z pack of antibiotics, and every day I was breathing less and less and less. And I spent the next week and a half in the er. Every other day my lung was drained of about a liter and a half of fluid. And then it would fill back up, drain it again, fill back up, drain it again. And no one knew it was wrong. So now they sent me to this other hospital in Austin, St. David's and they tested me and they said, you have, it looks like you have cancer, but we want you to get a second opinion. Go to MD Anderson Cancer Hospital. And so I went. And then that's when the doctor said, you're going to die in the next week or two if you don't start chemo.

That is the best marketing ever, isn't it?

Yeah, well, and that's the thing is, I thought he was so, I, I, I was like, I don't, you know, I'm like, I don't trust what you're saying. So I said, let me go do my own, because imagine this, Dave. So here's what he's telling me. You have two choices. Don't do chemo, and you're gonna die in a week or two. Do chemo, and there's only a 20 to 30% chance that you're going to live. You know, it'd be like going to a financial advisor that's like, hey, give me all your money and trust me with your Life savings and I'm only gonna lose it 80% of the time.

It's an industry.

Yeah. And so I went home and I googled best holistic oncologists in the country. And I called a couple of them and they both said chemo is your best bet. This cancer that you have is so aggressive and fast acting, your organs are already failing. Your doctor was not actually lying to you that you're going to die in a week or two. Nothing we can do. So I'm like, well, if the best holistic oncologist in the country can't help me, damn it, what am I gonna do?

We did the right thing. And that's something for listeners, guys. There is no moral judgment on pharmaceutical chemo, radiation, cancer for, or even highly processed food. The only thing that matters is where are you now? What's your goal and what are the tools and what are the risks and rewards? And there's a sizable number of cancers where, huh, for that kind of cancer, all the things we have say chemo really works and maybe you should also stack it with acupuncture and affirmations.

And that's what I did. I did every holistic practice known to man in conjunction. Coffee, enemas, three days a week. I took 70 supplements a day. Lymphatic massage, acupuncture, ozone, sauna, you name it. And I think that's the biggest message, by the way, for anybody listening. Do not trust a doctor with your life because you're a number. They have very little skin in the game. They lose patience, big deal. No one's going to take responsibility for your life other than you. And that was. That's the mindset, man.

The doctors I know, they. They feel it when they lose someone.

Yeah.

It also depends if they're your regular doctor or are you just coming in for a specialist thing.

Sure.

But no, no doctor likes to lose people. But they, you're right, they don't have the same skin in the game, and they're trained to tolerate that.

And on my very. My second visit, when I went back to the doctor, I'm like, okay, I'll do chemo. I asked the oncologist, I said, hey, just. And this was my test for him. I said, what part does diet play in my recovery? And he said, it doesn't matter as long as you do the chemo. And I'm like, how can I. Fucking stupid, right? And so. And I was so angry. Not for me, but when I would go to the cafeteria and see his other patients dragging their iv chemistry, chemo tower around, eating pizza and ice cream and cake and soda and just so angry with the system that we're about right. I'm like, I can't change it. But I'm like, man, you're telling that person doesn't know any better. And that's where I actually felt a sense of responsibility that I owe it to the world to beat this cancer so that I can help other people on their healing journey that might not be blessed with the knowledge and the resources that I've been fortunate because I listen to Dave Asprey and read his books to come across.

You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.