Clearwater Beach Neighborhood News
LOCAL CANCER SURVIVOR WRITES A HOW-TO BOOK ABOUT CANCER
Many people know Bill Potts from his time as Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where he was BFFs with Hope the dolphin, who he played hide and seek with each morning before the aquarium opened. In 2019, Bill was the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce Tourism Person of the Year. While at CMA, Bill helped create the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach CMA themed hotel rooms plus the amazing Winter the Dolphin Beach Club hotel, an eco-friendly themed hotel, also right on Clearwater Beach. Bill’s favorite floors at the Winter the Dolphin Beach Club Hotel are the dolphin themed floor and the seahorse themed floor (remember Cheeto the Lucky Seahorse?). You may even still see Allegiant’s Winter the Dolphin themed jet landing at PIE. Needless to say, Bill loves marine life.
Bill left the aquarium in September of 2020 to start his own marketing agency - Remedy 365, which counts as a client Whimstay, a tourism company that provides travelers deals on last minute vacation rentals throughout the U.S. and Canada!
Two weeks after leaving the aquarium, Bill was diagnosed – for the fifth time - with cancer. He had surgery on September of 2020 to remove a cancerous tumor at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. After surgery, while still in the recovery room, Bill committed to Mayo staff he would write a book to help others along their cancer journey, to turn his cancer pain into purpose. He not only beat cancer again, he wrote the book, too. On September 13, 2022, the book “Up for the Fight, How
to Advocate for Yourself as You Battle Cancer, from a Five-Time Survivor” will ship globally. It is available in the U.S. at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Target, Indigo, Bookshop and local bookstores. It will also be available as an Audiobook.
Endorsed by the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Mayo Clinic, and MD Anderson, the book is like “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” – but for cancer. The book teaches cancer patients how to advocate for themselves, how to make treatment days more comfortable, how to manage side effects, and how to understand test results. In addition, the book provides tips for mental and physical wellness, facing and making peace with death, and recalibrating priorities to get the most out of the life you have now. Bill’s favorite chapter is the one written by his wife and kids, providing advice to families going through the journey with a loved one.
“This is the book I wish someone else had written before I started my journey twenty years ago,” says Bill. “With 18 million people being diagnosed with cancer each year worldwide, my goal now is to get it into the hands of as many cancer patients as possible. I am 100% certain each patient will find value in it, and it will improve their journey.”
Bill is proud of the book, and if one cancer patient benefits from it, to quote Bill “the effort was worth it.” To learn more about Bill, go to www.BillCPotts.com.