JB-  Let's go back to when you were 11.

EM-  Sure. 

JB-  And you lost your… well, you tell me the story.

EM-  I was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma when I was 11-years-old.  It's a rare bone disease found in only like 400 kids a year in the U.S.  I got to be one of those lucky 400 and it was in my left knee and it spread up to about mid-thigh.  And then it was going to threaten to go to the rest of my body and kill me.  So they amputated a leg at high thigh.  They took the leg off and right after they took the leg off I felt pretty good.  I had to go through another year and a half of chemotherapy, so I went ahead and did that and then stabilized when I was about 12 and a half.  Then I started playing wheelchair basketball when I was 13.  And that was an amazing experience for me.  I started playing with an adult team on Long Island.  Things went great, I did real well.  I was asked to play for a team out of Arkansas where I travelled the country with them.  I got exposure and ultimately went on to play for the USA team.  Eventually that led into my full scholarship to the University of Texas.  I still play wheelchair basketball today and I coach kids.  I really like it.

JB-  I wanted to ask you what growing up was like.  You were an athlete before this all happened, did you think this would be the end of it?

EM-  No.  You know what broke my heart the most was originally when they said they found the cancer in my knee they were going to take the infected bone out and replace it with a piece of titanium steel.  I'd have two legs, but I'd have a metal rod in my leg.  They said I couldn't play football no more, I couldn't run no more, couldn't ride my dirt bikes anymore.  I couldn't do anything - I could walk and sleep and that's it.  And that was just heartbreaking for me, it really was.  And after they cut the leg off they were like, "Ah, you could do whatever you want."  I feel lucky.  I feel very, very lucky.  Very lucky to be alive and lucky to be able to do what I do.

JB-  That's great.  Now there's a statistic here in Canada that one in three people is going to be affected some way by cancer.

EM-  Oh wow.

JB-  Either we know somebody or eventually we will get it.  And then they said that in a few years it's projected that one in two - half of us - will be affected.  That's a pretty scary thought.

EM-  No shit.  Yeah it is.

JB- So what would you say to someone who has just learned that they have it or doesn't know what to think and believes that life is over?

EM-  That's a good question.  I've gone to a couple hospitals and spoken to some people but nothing more than a friend of a friend type of deal to go talk to somebody and get them out of a funk.  The only thing I tell them is… for me, I can't really speak for anyone else, for me, I know I lucked out.  I have a wonderful, wonderful family and I had a few really good friends that stuck behind me.  Suck it up, man.  Stick in there.  Do what you can do.  You know, fight as hard as you can fight.  And if you come out, God forbid you lose an arm or a leg or something like that, with any disability, there is life after a disability.  With someone facing cancer that's tough - old or young, guy or girl.  It really is tough.  I think a lot of the battle is in your mind.  If you give up in your mind you're going to give up totally.  So I say, keep fighting, suck it up and fight back even harder.  If you surround yourself with good people you'll be all right when the shit hits the fan. 

JB-  Have you always felt that way?  Even when you were going through it when you were younger?

EM-  Yeah.  I wasn't allowed to think any other way.  My parents would have killed me.  They would have killed me.  Being sick was nothing new to me.  I was born two-and-a-half months premature.  They didn't think I was going to live.  They ended up baptizing me the day I was born because they thought I was going to die that night.  I ended up lucking out and beating them there.  And then I had asthma real bad growing up.  A couple of times I went to the hospital and they didn't think I was going to make it.  And then I outgrew all that (stuff) when I was about eight.  I was doing fine at eight, nine, 10.  And, boom, hit cancer at 11(-years-old).

JB- We see all these big charity events to raise money to do research and stuff.  Money is one thing to help out.  What are some things that could also help out?

EM-  I get a lot of people, especially being a cancer survivor, a lot of cancer organizations try grab me and tack me onto their organization.  Don't get me wring, I think a lot of organizations out there are great.  But for me, one thing I'd like to do is start an organization and raise money for people with cancer.  I'd rather start an organization where X amount of dollars are raised and then personally walk around and hand cheques to families with sick kids.  If your kid's got cancer, I go and cut you a cheque.  "Here's a thousand dollars, you gotta pay the rent?  You gotta pay the old phone bill?  You gotta pay for gas or parking to go see your kid in the hospital?  Here's a thousand dollars.  You do what you gotta do."  Nobody likes to look in between the lines there.

JB- What motivates you?

EM-  What motivates me?  Good f***ing question!  I've been living 27 years and I don't know!  I don't know what motivates me, man.  I want to be the best that I can be at whatever I attempt.  I guess at the end of it all I want to look back and smile and relive it a second time, you know what I'm saying?  I'm looking back on the first 27 years and I'm smiling, I'm doing OK.  30 years from now I want to be able to look back and look at these next 30 and be OK.  I want to live a good, honest, hardworking life and have a lot of wrinkles on my face from laughing hard and smiling a lot and just enjoying life.  That's what I really want.  Ultimately I've got this production company and things look great right now.  I want to go to bed happy Sunday night, excited about going to work on Monday morning.

JB-  This might be a stupid question, but if you could get your leg back would you want it?

EM-  That's a good question.  Yeah, I'd like to have it back but if you say it came at a price and take 10 years off my life or I'd have to give up something, then no it wouldn't be worth it.  I'm happy with who I am.  I'm comfortable with who I am.  I get around and do what I gotta do as who I am.  Like a lot of people ask me, "Why don't you wear a prosthetic?"  Physically, my amputation being high, and literally it's a pain in the ass, it's just… and this is my own thing, I prefer to walk on crutches because what you see is what you get.  Take it or leave it, this is who I am.  But if I wear a prosthetic I kind of feel like I'm being somebody I'm not.  But if given the opportunity, if you said, "Hey, we got a leg off a guy in a car accident.  Do you want it?"  Yeah, man!  I'd like to be whole like that again, but I'm comfortable with who I am.  It makes me unique.  It makes me different.  That was a good question, by the way. 

JB- Thanks.  Cheesy question now…

EM-  (laughing)  Shitty question to a cheesy question!

JB-  Hey, why set the bar high?  (laughing)

EM-  All right, let's go!

JB-  What are you thankful for?

EM-  My family and my friends.  No doubt about it.  It all goes back to them.  I believe in them a lot.  That's what I'm thankful for.