Stephenville -
Mark Black, a best selling author, transplant recipient and three-time marathoner captivated his audience with his topic "Live Life From the Heart" on Saturday.
He spoke to more than 100 delegates who had gathered in Stephenville Saturday for the annual general meeting of the Community Education Network.
Black told his stories from all real-life experiences that started with congenital heart disease and open-heart surgery as a baby up, to his life-altering heart and double-lung transplant at 23.
He challenged audience members to think of what they'd do if told by a doctor they only had one year to live. He said it was after hearing those words from his doctor he made one fundamental change in his life.
"We have to stop living life from what is in our head to what is in our heart," he said.
"It was at that point that I thought I would rather die trying to live than not living at all," he said. "It's because of the donation of body organs I am alive today, so organ donations do work and a single donor can help the lives of 40 other people.
Black had some advice for his audience when it comes to goals in your life.
"Always choose to focus on the positives. There will always be negatives in life but you can always choose how you react. It's about what you focus on - the good things or the bad things," he said.
He said despite the turmoil in his life he had a lot to be thankful for and learned to focus on the good things, like always having family around him when he needed them the most.
His greatest piece of advice is to refuse to quit.
"Never ever quit. My doctors gave me all the reasons why I shouldn't be here but here I am and look what I've achieved despite them telling me the most I could expect would be to work a part time job," he said. "If you refuse to quit, you cannot fail."
