Lars Amend is not only a true role model professionally, but also privately. When he meets the terminally ill Daniel at the children's hospice, he decides to help him. He wants to give the 15-year-old a reason to fight again. Lars Amend: "The doctors said Daniel only had one birthday left. I said, let's not think about death, let's think about life. I'm here now to fulfill your dreams. You can't die without experiencing the most beautiful things there are in the world."
Lars Amend and Daniel made a list of things that Daniel should definitely experience. These included, for example, falling in love, being the coolest person in school for once, staying in a five-star hotel, driving through the city in a limousine - being happy. Lars Amend: "Actually, these are just normal dreams of a teenager. We worked through this list and experienced everything together. Our motto was. Let's do it, every day counts!"
Daniel's attitude has made a strong impression on Lars Amend: "When Daniel has strength in the morning, the day belongs to him. He doesn't know if he will wake up the next day, that's why he only has this one day. And if you think about it, we all only have that one day. And just because you have a bad day doesn't mean you have a bad life. Tomorrow you can try again. A lot of people say I saved that kid's life. But the truth is Daniel saved my life and helped me out of a crisis."
Daniel is still alive. And he has not only celebrated another birthday, but seven more birthdays in the meantime. His cardiac output continues to decline and become critical, but he is alive! Lars Amend: "And why is that? Because he has regained courage and Hope has created. He has found reasons again why it is worth fighting. Before, every hospital appointment was a nightmare for him. There were no goals. But now he was able to find new courage to live."
Lars Amend and Daniel are like brothers today. He tells: "When I saw him, I knew: He is like a little brother to me. Sometimes we talk about death, but much more often we talk about life. Our focus is on life. And our book, which grew out of Daniel's story, is not sad either. It's not about making a sad story sadder. It's about giving encouragement. There's a whole life in every day." The message is clear: even though life is very short, you can live every single day very intensely.
The book and the accompanying film speak to many people from the soul and give hope. Lars Amend: "And it's nice to see how well Daniel is doing with it. He goes through life much more confidently today. He knows that he won't live much longer. But if he were to die now, it would be easier for all of us than it was then. Because we can say that we tried and did everything. Daniel has had so many more adventures and saved so many wonderful memories. There are no regrets."
Lars Amend has always listened to his intuition and has taken an unusual path. A path that helps others and in turn helps himself. He says: "I try to solve problems and bring people back together. It's always about one's own values. It's not that complicated. We're all so lucky to be alive." Do you know what the odds are of being born human in this world?
Lars Amend: "The probability is about 1:400 quadrillion. That's what a professor from Harvard calculated. It is more likely to win the lottery six times in a row - with all the extra numbers. So the odds of being born human are vanishingly small. Then you're not born anywhere either, but in one of the safest and richest areas in the world. That's even less likely. So you've already won the greatest victory you'll ever achieve. You are here - alive. Change your perspective and you change your world!"
