Australian Michael Crossland Inspires Locals

“We can all make a difference each and every day just by striving to be a better human being and by striving to make a difference in someone else’s life,” said Australian native Michael Crossland as he opened a speech on his story of survival, perseverance and sacrifice at the RE/MAX Advantage Resource Center in Redlands on July 1. Crossland’s journey began with a fateful embrace when he was around 11 months old, and still lived in Australia. Crossland, who was raised in Australia, was visiting a doctor with his mother and sister, who had a minor ear infection. When he went to hug the doctor, his knee brushed against Crossland’s stomach and the doctor noticed a peculiar swelling and hardness and decided to run some tests to find the cause. A tumor was discovered in his abdomen and Crossland was soon diagnosed with a hyper-aggressive cancer of the central nervous system called neuroblastoma. Michael started chemotherapy around his first birthday. He was undergoing a rigorous pattern of five days on and then two days off until his fourth birthday. Unfortunately, the cancer began to develop a resistance to the treatment and surgery became unavoidable. With a very weak immune system as a result of his treatment, Crossland had to go into isolation for nearly four months before being eligible for surgery to remove the tumor in his abdomen. When the time had finally come for the surgery, a total of six hours was spent removing the tumor, but they were not able to remove it all. Crossland’s family was told to say their goodbyes and that there was nothing more that could be done for him. “I hadn’t seen my dad and three sisters for six months and I hadn’t held my mom for three and a half months … it was a great day for me because I finally got to say hello, but it was a terrible day for them, because they had to say good-bye.” Crossland’s already slim chances of survival seemed to be shrinking even more. A doctor overseeing Crossland’s case gave Crossland’s mother another option: to try an experimental drug. The drug dacarbazine (DTIC) was given to a total of 25 subjects, all of whom were children. Within 24 hours of the initial treatment, they were all transferred from the Oncology Unit to the Burn Unit. The drug caused serious side-effects. Within a month of the start of the treatment, 20 of the 25 initial patients treated with DTIC unfortunately passed. Within the next two months, Michael was the only patient left. He lost the function of one of his lungs, had a damaged liver and kidney, and his heart began to deteriorate as a result of the experimental drug. Despite the odds against him, Michael survived the trials and the cancer. Since most of his time was spent in the hospital growing up, he watched a lot of television. One of the shows he watched the most was an American program called Major League Baseball. As time went on, Crossland grew a passion for the sport and wanted to be able to live a normal life: he went to school, played baseball, and spent time with his family. His mother bought him a Velcro ball and glove to play catch with while he was in the hospital. He and other patients would spend hours tossing it back and forth through the hospital and Michael recalls them often being scolded by staff. Crossland’s disease progressed and a point came where the doctors could no longer do anything for his condition. His mother was told to take him home and let him live out his life comfortably and that it would be a miracle if Crossland made it to his teenage years. Knowing that Michael desired to live a normal life above all else, his mother enrolled him in school the following week. He would eventually go on to represent Australia by playing baseball in the United States through a baseball program called the Australia Expos and Australian Baseball Tour of Redlands. Although his health would ultimately prevent him from continuing to play baseball through the teenage years that his doctors thought he would never live, Crossland was able to hold his head high knowing that despite his challenges, he traveled to America to play baseball and was even offered a scholarship to play for a school in the States. Crossland is now a world-renowned inspirational speaker who has presented in over seven different countries and serves as an inspiration of hope for anyone who hears his story, and is particularly active here in the Inland Empire. He is also the current Head Coach for the Australia Expo Baseball Program that he participated in in his younger years, and uses his struggles and the life lessons he has learned as inspiration for the team. This season the Australia Expo played in San Bernardino and Redlands; July 3 marked the final game of their season here in America. Their record stood at 3 losses and 1 win on Tuesday, July 2 against the San Bernardino 909ers in the fourth game at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino with a score of 9–4, as a featured event of the San Bernardino Market Night. On top of his inspirational speaking and coaching, Crossland is extremely active in Haiti and has contributed to the reconstruction of an orphanage and continues to work and speak on their behalf. Crossland spends long periods of time in Haiti at an orphanage and continues to look for ways to contribute to the earthquake victims. Even though he still faces challenges with his health today, he continues to travel and speak. He emphasizes the importance of ownership of your circumstances, personal accountability, and responsibility while striving to be a better person each day. By utilizing these three, Crossland believes that anyone can become the “navigator” of their own life.