Triple crown of adversity:
sports, addiction, and cancer.
Michael Bugary’s Story resonates with all audiences. In what he calls the “triple crown of adversity” — sports, addiction, and cancer impact all our lives either directly or indirectly. He has personally been through the extremes of all three, and he shares his powerful message with passion, authenticity, and a refreshing sense of self-awareness.
Michael meets the audience where they are, facing the inevitable challenges of living life on life’s terms. Facing his mortality more than once, Michael doesn’t necessarily believe in creating an extravagant bucket list, but rather to creating meaningful moments every day by being present and helping others. -
While he can’t offer you 10 steps for this or 5 steps for that, what he does have is a compelling story. In his darkest times, it was always the stories of others who overcame surmounting odds that helped him. He hopes that his story, “The Disease of Me,” can help and inspire others facing challenging times in whatever walk of life they find themselves in.
MICHAEL BUGARY SPEAKING TOPICS
THE DISEASE OF ME
The Disease of Me is a cautionary tale of how self-seeking behavior led to a life of pain and isolation. Michael catalogs his journey through baseball, addiction, and brain cancer. How prioritizing superficial desires led to a life of isolation, pain, and loss.
To change, he had to lose everything, all material possessions, any sense of dignity or self-worth, his physical appearance, and the respect and trust of anyone who cared about him. Something he calls the price of authenticity. Overcoming his selfishness had to start with honesty, but more importantly, he had to turn outward, to learn to be of service to others without any expectation of something in return. In the me-centric society we find ourselves in,
Michael’s message is more relevant than ever. With the prevalence of drugs like fentanyl, one poor choice can have deadly consequences. Our choices impact not only ourselves but the people around us. “The Disease of Me,” is Michael’s journey to self-discovery. With the help of his therapy dog, Lingo, it is his story of how he learns each day to positively impact the environment around him.
CANCER
To those facing or struggling through serious health issues, Michael shares his experience. How he was able to cope with the uncertainty of his cancer potentially returning. Strategies he used to manage his pain and the power of movement, how exercise and being physically active saved his life. Most of all, he shares how suffering through his trauma gave him a new appreciation for life, gratitude, and a change of perspective.
Wherever Michael speaks, his message is always the same: how helping others helps him. Finding a spiritual connection, the belief in a power greater than himself, as well as his connection to other people, is the remedy for his disease. Our worth should come internally through our actions and shouldn’t be determined by likes or the approval of others.
How can we gain the courage to unashamedly stare our ignorance in the face and accept the imperfect beings that we are? By showing up and trying our best, we can get through the challenging times in our lives, and more importantly, we can come out stronger and more capable on the other side!
ADDICTION
Michael chronicles the evolution of his addiction. From his need for attention and validation baseball gave him, to his dependence on substances starting with alcohol and marijuana, then to Adderall and painkillers, eventually graduating to heroin.
At Schools, he shares the importance of making good choices and learning to ask for help. At treatment centers and prisons, he shares what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now. That our past and our mistakes don’t define us, it is what we do now, in the moment, that matters.
SPORTS
To schools, athletes, coaches, and parents, Michael shares his experience as a top prospect in high school, Division-1, and pro athlete. How overemphasizing his identity as an athlete led to poor choices and a turbulent transition to life after sports. He discusses the importance of surrounding yourself around the right people and the strengths and lessons sports can teach us when we face the inevitable challenges of life.