Excitement For ‘The Boys In The Boat’— Ultimate Underdog Movie From The Best Selling Book Teaches Us About Resilience In The Face of Cancer

The nine heroes in the boat consisted of Stroke Donald “Don” Hume, Joseph “Joe” Rantz, George “Shorty” Hunt, Jim “Stub” McMillin, John “Johnny” White, Gordon “Gordy” Adam, Charles “Chuck” Day, Bow Roger Morris, and Cox Robert “Bobby” Moch, all who have since passed away, worked together as one to beat the odds to win the gold medal.

Included among the eight-oared rowing crew, is the book’s main character Joseph “Joe” Rantz who dealt with the passing of his mom Nellie Maxwell from throat cancer when he was just four years old.

Rantz is the epitome of hard work and resilience through adversity as he came from nothing and was abandoned by his father, however, he still managed to win the olympics and lead a remarkable life. He lived a long life and passed away at age 93 from congestive heart failure in 2007.

A book review of Daniel James Brown’s “The Boys in the Boat,” by Hear The Boat Sing, explains, “All Americans love a tale about underdogs, especially if the underdogs are Americans, and at the center of this compelling story is Joe Rantz, one of the boys in the crew, whom Brown met at his neighbor Judy Willman’s house; Judy was Joe’s daughter, and when Joe was diagnosed with cancer, he lived with her his remaining days.”

“Listening to the old oarsman’s account, Brown realized that the story of these Olympians is not as commonly known as, for example, Jesse Owens’s, whose four golds at the Berlin Games gave the Nazis’ ideology of the Aryan race superiority a severe dent.”

The book review points out how Rantz and his fellow colleagues at the University of Washington were “the sons of farmers, fishermen, and lumberjacks” and not “privileged” as others who took part in the sport were.

“Although Brown’s narrative is about all the boys in the boat – their way from freshmen on Lake Washington to Olympians on Langer See, a three- to four-year voyage not always on an easy, straight course – it is the human story of young Joe’s struggling life of Dickensian dimensions during the Depression that grabs hold of the reader,” the review adds.

According to GradeSaver, a website that offers review on books, Chapter two of “The Boats in the Boat” reveals how Rantz’s dad left to Canada as he grieved his wife’s death, prompting him to send Rantz to live with his aunt in Pennsylvania at five years old, a trip he had to make alone.

Soon after, Rantz battled scarlet fever when he arrived at his aunts. Years later, he went to live with his brother Fred  and his new wife. His dad later returned from Canada and married Fred’s wife’s twin sister, and had Rantz come live with them.

Rantz has truly not been a stranger to hardship as his father struggled with his jobs, they were victims to a house fire, and his dad ultimately chose his stepmother over him. After being abandoned, Rantz chopped wood to sleep in a school house and worked for a cook in exchange for food.

It’s amazing how much Rantz had been through before enrolling at the University of Washington following him getting the attention of coach Al Ulbrickson, and joining the depression-era athletes who he competed with for the gold.

An inspirational quote from the book is as follows, “It’s not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it’s a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you.”

Another memorable line from the book reads, “The wood…taught us about survival, about overcoming difficulty, about prevailing over adversity, but it also taught us something about the underlying reason for surviving in the first place.

“Something about infinite beauty, about undying grace, about things larger and greater than ourselves. About the reasons we were all here.”

A book review by Notre Dame Magazine, recounts what happens in toward the miraculous end of the book, writing, “Rantz and his teammates capture this often-elusive perfection in the final Olympic competition. Their eight-man boat draws a poor lane placement, then suffers a slow start. On top of that, their stroke, Don Hume, the rower responsible for establishing the pace communicated by the crew’s coxswain, is so ill with pneumonia that he nearly passes out.

“Despite this, the teammates trust each other enough to pull together, pacing themselves and rowing in perfect sync. Near the end of the race, they finally make their move, together, overtaking the Italian and German boats in the final meters to claim the gold medal.”

“The final race provides a satisfying climax where everyone in the boat pushes themselves to their limits, losing themselves in an Herculean undertaking and finding they are, finally, the perfect team their coach had hoped they could become,” the review concluded.

It’s clear how the upcoming movie of “The Boys in the Boat” will inspire those watching it, showing how hardwork, dedication, and working together as a team can always reap the benefits.

The move is set for release on December 25, 2023.

Resilience Through Adversity

SurvivorNet specializes in covering the lives of people who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Often, seeing the positive helps them maintain their resilience.

Dr. Zuri Murrell, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, spoke to SurvivorNet about the role of a positive outlook on survival rates: “I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Resilience: Staying Positive Despite Adversity

Meanwhile, resilience is an important trait, but not the easiest to build. When building resilience, the ultimate goal is not to avoid tough times, but to be able to bounce back from them. And yet, when they are faced with an overwhelming, life-changing situation, how do people shift their view? How do they learn to see the problem as temporary, rather than permanent, and figure out a solution?

It’s complicated, because building resilience is more about your mental and emotional fortitude than anything else.According to the American Psychological Association, “the resources and skills associated with more positive adaptation (i.e., greater resilience) can be cultivated and practiced.” In other words, resilience is not something you’re born with, which should be encouraging. Instead, after every challenge in your life, you build more and more resilience to those hard times.

Building resilience is down in the same way you build muscle, through patience and steady exercise of the skill.

Some lessons learned from other cancer warriors SurvivorNet has covered include being willing to learn, spending time with people who inspire you, allowing yourself to grieve, being flexible, and leaning in to your community for support.

Overcoming Adversity

Overcoming adversity can seem daunting. Many people think reciting upbeat mottos or pretending to be cheerful will help, but these solutions can make someone feel even more dejected than before. Instead, pay attention to the following steps to make meaningful change.

1. Set a goal. No matter what the situation, create a new goal for yourself. If you have just been diagnosed with cancer or a chronic illness, perhaps one goal would be to educate yourself about the disease and the possible treatments as much as possible.

Adversity And The Art of Happiness: How Hardship Makes You Even Stronger

2. Make a plan. How will you achieve this goal? Your plan will help you focus on that goal. Dr. Siddhartha Ganguly refers to this determined, focused mindset as “the eye of the tiger,” which can help people dealing with health problems, such as lymphoma and other cancers. “You have to have the eye of the tiger to go through this grueling process that is necessary these days to get rid of these virulent and aggressive cancers,” Dr. Ganguly, a cancer specialist at Houston Methodist, told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

3. Rely on others. Spend time with people who show you unconditional support and encouragement. They will alleviate your stress and help you remember that you’re not alone in this! Dr. Samantha Boardman, a psychiatrist and author, previously told SurvivorNet that one “coping strategy that can be productive is reaching out and talking to others. Having support we know is really critical in the healing process.”

4. Use positive self-talk. Leave messages with affirmations in places you frequent. Put notes around your mirror or the computer screen that say “You got this! or “Keep going!” Cut out inspirational quotes from people you admire and surround yourself with their words. Dr. Boardman explained to SurvivorNet that “Positive emotions have unique benefits above and beyond managing negative emotions.”

Facing Cancer: How to Turn Stress into Strength

If you’ve been through a difficult health challenge or any type of adversity throughout your live,  Dr. Boardman told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview that one way to get your mental health back in check after a diagnosis is to try to play up your strengths.

“I sometimes will ask patients, tell me about yourself when you were at your best,” she explained. “Using that story, trying to figure out what strengths come to mind. Is it patience? Is it appreciation of beauty? It is perseverance? [Then we can] use those strengths in constructive ways to navigate their cancer journey.”

Dr. Boardman says another way to approach harnessing the strength you already have is by tapping into your values. This could be family, close friendships, spirituality, or commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

Reminding yourself of what your values are and how you are living accordingly is another way to unleash that inner strength.

Lastly, patients shouldn’t underestimate the value of simply opening up, Dr. Boardman says. This could mean speaking to a close family member or friend, or it could mean seeking support in other ways by finding a therapist that meets your needs or looking into joining a support group.

Having negative feelings throughout your cancer journey is to be expected, however, doctors will tell you that people who find a way to work through the emotions and stay positive tend to have better outcomes.

Stay Positive, It Matters

“A positive attitude is really important,” says Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patients are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Coping After Losing A Parent To Cancer

Everyone goes through the stages of grief at their own pace. When you lose a parent to cancer, especially if it happens at a young age like Joe Rantz experienced, that feeling of loss and sadness can really linger. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Camila Legaspi lost her mom to breast cancer when she was in high school, and told previously told SurvivorNet that the tragedy of losing a parent as a teenager kind of defined her high school experience.

Sadness Isn’t Always a Bad Thing: Learning How To Cope With Grief

However, after she went off to college, she was able to turn that immense sense of loss that she felt into inspiration for creating.

“I actually took this sadness and let it motivate me,” Camila, 23, told SurvivorNet. “I learned that it’s OK to be sad sometimes. It’s OK to carry sadness with you … it’s not always a bad thing. It makes you who you are and it gives you a story to tell and it helps you teach other people to cope with their sadness.”

Camila, who is one of four siblings, said that her mother was a very creative person. She said she turned to writing as an outlet, and used her mother’s creativity as a motivator. Camila went to Princeton University, and got involved with the school’s magazine. She explained that instead of thinking of the loss of her mother as something terrible that happened to her family, she has let it serve as inspiration for poetry, fiction, or whatever else she may be inspired to write.

“I’ve learned to have it impact me in a positive way, and have it not just be a sad story … instead, I’m using it for a better purpose,” Camila said.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

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