Empowering Lives Through Experience

Joe Akpan is a prostate cancer survivor who inspires others through his journey. As an author and speaker, he revitalizes those facing challenges with hope and motivation.

Our Mission

Join Our Journey

We aim to empower survivors and those starting anew by sharing stories of resilience and strength. Together, we can overcome obstacles and ignite a passion for life.

About The Author

Early Childhood

In the heart of West Africa, Joe Akpan’s life began as the third of ten children in a lively, middle-class home filled with mischief and laughter. His father, Edward Akpan Senior, left policing for photography and later a bookstore, making books constant companions in Joe’s youth. Though Joe loved novels, technology was his true passion. “Back in grade school, I was hooked on electronics and gadgets,” he recalled. Curiosity led him to take things apart—reassembling them was another story—and his father wasn’t thrilled.

Early Faith

Joe’s youth also held deep spiritual roots. His grandfather, a devout deacon, kept a small home altar that made Joe feel divinely connected during morning and evening Mass. Joe’s Sundays glowed with warmth, marked by gentle walks to church with his mother. She would press a coin into his palm for the offering, and young Joe imagined the pastor sending the money soaring toward heaven. The simplicity of these moments shaped his early sense of faith.

Early Hobbies

Beyond faith and technology, Joe’s grade-school years shaped how he saw the world. With his brother Ed, he ventured through Boy Scouts; in choir, his voice blended with his sister Anieama; and in the school band, his flute carried graceful melodies. These experiences became soft brushstrokes on his childhood. “Our days were steep in discipline,” he said, “yet there was liberation through the rigor. Each misstep earned a physical pop, but even that now feels like a lesson wrapped in fondness.”

Falling in Love in America

As adolescence ended, Joe dreamed of life in the United States, leaning on courage drawn from Ed’s success there. When he arrived in Michigan, he fell in love twice. First was with computers—“I had studied them back home but never seen one until the day Ed took me to the lab,” he said. “It was captivating—like a new language between man and machine.” The second love was Marie, whom he met in college. At nineteen, she carried both wisdom and enchantment. “I wanted a bond blessed by God,” Joe said. “Marie felt the same. She was beautiful serendipity wrapped in flesh.” Their marriage blossomed through love, faith, and timing.

Trouble in Paradise

Under a once-sunny sky, Joe’s life shifted in August 2022 when stage 4 cancer intruded silently and violently. “The pain felt like thunder in my veins,” he shared. Forced into early retirement, he faced the loss of his 25-year career—a bitter end that redrew his life’s blueprint. Through the struggle, he uncovered a deep truth: life’s mystery demands resilience and the ability to adapt when the script changes without warning. “Cancer may have taken my career,” he affirmed, “but I refuse to let it steal my passion.”

After retiring, Joe poured his energy into cancer awareness and inspirational content so others might overcome adversity as he did.