Ever since I was a little boy, I can remember always having the desire to give to others. Whether it was giving helpful advice, giving gifts on Christmas, giving physical labor to those who needed help, or even giving someone my jacket if they were cold.
I can attribute this to my family, mostly my parents, and grandparents. My father is a big part of this. He has always been the type of guy who will give you the shirt off his back, and not tell a soul about it. He was the Dad who would silently dig a hole into debt, so that you could have the things you needed in order to get by. He is the kind of guy who would spend his only day off, helping someone move. My dad is a Giver.
I can remember Christmas’s over my childhood years. I remember us kids (siblings, and cousins) doing “Secret Santa” for each other. My parents would give us money, and we would be assigned one sibling or cousin to shop for. I remember being so excited to watch the person open the gift I had gotten them! My parents would also get us children some gifts of course. I can also remember seeing their excitement watching us open the gifts they had gotten us. However – there is one thing I don’t remember. I don’t ever remember seeing my parents exchange gifts to each other.
As time went on, they silently dug a debt hole that got deeper. The “Secret Santa” game for the kids went away. The parents still got presents for the kids, but the amount began to dwindle. However, our family was still persistent on getting together and enjoying each other’s company. It was through these years I had realized that giving wasn’t always about “Presents” – it’s also about “Presence”.
Fast forward to 2018. Now, there is a family who wants nothing BUT Presence for Christmas.
Chris Fickbohm is 46 years old, a husband, and a Father of 5 children. About a year ago, the doctor told Chris his kidneys were getting bad. As of this Thanksgiving 2018, his kidneys were operating at 11%. I am eternally grateful for every day I have my father with us on this earth. I could not imagine how my life would be, had he passed away when I was a child. It breaks my heart to even entertain that thought.
Although I am personally working on getting the funds to get to Minnesota at this time, as I am on my own journey of starting my own mindset coaching business, I have stayed on the side of faith. I am emotionally fused with this desire. I have the kidney Chris needs; therefore I know that all the other needs will be attracted to us to make this happen.
Now Chris is in the ICU, fighting for his life! His family has been praying and asking for a kidney donation for quite some time now. They feel like no one is hearing them. His kidneys are now operating at 5%, and he was just put on dialysis. Which means he has a machine operating his kidneys for him. The hospital hopes to keep Chris around through Christmas for his family. Our ultimate hope is to get Chris the kidney he needs, and save his life!
Chris’s son was asked to make his Christmas list as he does every year. This year, instead of asking for all the things he normally asks for, he asked for one thing. He asked Santa for a kidney for his Dad.
My name is Nick Courteau. I’ve always loved to give, just like my Dad. As I grew older, I began to allow the appearances of life control my actions. I grew up living in poverty. With all the stigma about where I lived, and what I “didn’t have”, I adopted the mentality of being a Go-Getter.
I used to mow lawns, shovel driveways, etc. I did whatever I could to earn the money I needed for things. Heck, I even tried going door-to-door selling sugar ice cream cones filled with kool-aid when I was 8 years old. That didn’t work out so well. The point is I was adamant on getting ahead in life so I could “Get” more.
What happened was, I ended up finding myself in a very lackful state. I had dug my own hole of debt. I almost lost my house twice before I ended up selling it. I couldn’t even stay caught up, let alone get ahead.
Then, I found a book written by Bob Proctor. “The Art of Living”. I walked by it about a dozen times before I decided to pick it up and read the back. Then I put it back down. I began allowing my paradigms to talk me out of buying it.
I started thinking, “Don’t waste the money on that. You won’t read it. You can’t even fill one hand counting the amount of books you’ve read in your life.”
Although I kept thinking these disempowering beliefs, I couldn’t help walking past that book another dozen times or so. Something inside was telling me, “You need this book”. I finally made the decision, and bought it.
That book changed my life! It opened my eyes to the world of personal development. More importantly, it opened my eyes to Bob Proctor’s work. I began following Bob from then on. Learning as much as I could from his You-tube videos, etc.
Eventually, I won a live stream ticket to the Paradigm Shift. After that, I was approached by Scott Haug. Six months later, I finally invested in myself and enrolled in the Thinking Into Results program. Thanks to TIR, and Scott Haug, I finally re-aligned with my purpose. I finally realized, that instead of being focused on “Getting”, I need to focus on what I always used to focus on, giving.
So now I am focusing on helping as many people as I can through these teachings. As I work on building my Mindset Coaching business, I can’t think of any better way to give, then to give the gift of life to another man. To give his wife more years with her husband, and to give those five children more years with their Dad.
Nick Courteau
Nick is a guy who worked his way up the corporate ladder into Management, and Marketing Management. He then decided he wanted to pursue a different field, with a higher ceiling. So he became an Electrician. Once he learned what Bob Proctor teaches, he realized that there wasn’t any “ceiling”! He found his true calling, to spread these teachings to as many people as possible. So Nick is now the founder of “Circle of Influence with Nick Courteau”. He is currently working on building his Mindset Coaching Business, and helping people Realize AND Utilize their true potential. This story isn’t about Nick, it is about Giving. It is about giving five young children more priceless time with their father. They have set a goal of $10,000. However; the medical bills are estimated to be up to $500,000.
Please go to: https://kstp.com/news/kidney-transpant-chris-fickbohm-santa-christmas-list/5153366/ to donate-anything that can help.
