Bishoy Tadros ‘09 (pictured above) hosted a Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development Professional Development event on March 14. Tadros overcame cancer at a young age and now devotes his energy into running marathons and participating in Iron Man races (Courtesy of Bishoy Tadros ‘09).
Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development Professional Development event titled “Resilience and Persistence in Careers” on March 14 during which he discussed his youth as an Egyptian immigrant with cancer and how it influenced his outlook on life.
The event was centered around the theme of overcoming obstacles and Tadros began by telling an anecdote that occurred for him following graduation. After navigating his career, he began considering other hobbies to utilize his time and made his health a priority. In 2015, Tadros signed up and successfully completed a half marathon, which fueled his passion for races of this nature.
“That half marathon eventually culminated into 12 half marathons and then a triathlon, and then I had a group of friends reach out to me and asked me to run a half Iron Man,” Tadros said. “That’s a 70 mile race; a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13 mile run.”
During the biking portion of the race, Tadros encountered a dilemma which ultimately changed his entire perspective.
“Right around mile 40, I had a defunct bike and I had a moment where I looked down, it was 93 degrees in Maryland and there was salt all over my skin. I was completely dehydrated. I had this moment of, ‘how did you end up here?” Tadros said. “I spent five months training for this race and everybody kept asking me why I was doing it, but I pulled myself together and forced myself to finish that race.”
Completing the rigorous race motivated him to continue challenging himself. In 2017, Tadros decided to run the New York City Marathon which he had two options of enrolling in: getting chosen through a lottery or raising a minimum of $3,000 for a charity of his choice. After not being selected through the lottery, Tadros took matters into his own hands.
“I decided for the very first time to write down my personal story, to talk about what I went through as a child and the lessons I learned. I sat on it and I didn’t share,” Tadros said. “I got nervous because I thought, ‘what if people don’t donate, and if they don’t donate, I’m going to feel silly for putting it all out there.’”
Before publicizing his story, Tadros consulted a senior mentor for feedback. After reading his story, the mentor urged him to raise his goal higher than $3,000 and handed him his first donation in the form of a $1,000 check.
“I all of a sudden felt a fire ignite in me, that, ‘oh my god, someone believes in me,’ so I took the story to the next level,” Tadros said.
After raising his goal to $5,000, Tadros shared his story with his community and it was quickly spread. NASDAQ heard about the story and invited him to ring the Closing Bell.
“The story was focused very much so just on the messaging of overcoming obstacles. I didn’t really want to focus on cancer,” Tadros said. “I didn’t want to focus on the charity. I wanted to focus on the positive message of: obstacles are put in your life to dare you and not to define you.”
Tadros ended up being the top fundraiser for the Leukemia Lymphoma society for the 2017 New York City Marathon, raising over $50,000.
Tadros is currently an Internal Client Advisor at the JP Morgan office located in New York City. Following graduation, Tadros was unemployed and struggled finding work due to the 2007 financial recession. His resilience, however, allowed him to overcome these challenges and discover his true passions.
“Remember, someone can take the cards you’ve been dealt and figure out how to win with them,” Tadros said. “It’s important to remember when you find yourself in a rut, channel back to that mindset that someone can take the cards you’ve been dealt and win with them. So why don’t you win with them? I think that’s a great mindset to have.”