Comedian Quincy Jones Told He Has One Year To Live, Fighting Cancer To Make Dying Wish Come True

What if you were told that you only have one year to live? Would you give up? Or would you work harder than you ever did because life is no longer this seemingly infinite journey. Your life would now have an expiration date, you would have only so many grains of sand in your hourglass, and only so many days to make your dreams a reality. Comedian Quincy Jones is making the most out of what doctors have told him are “his final days.”

Jones is a Los Angeles-based stand-up comic who has been dedicated to comedy for years. He’s worked tirelessly at his craft, doing 1,000 shows in one year to get better and garner popularity. Then Quincy started having stomach pains that sidelined the enthusiastic comic, and he was in and out of the hospital for six months.

On August 6, 2015, doctors told the 32-year-old that he had one year to live because his body was stricken with mesothelioma, an incurable cancer. Despite given a life sentence, Quincy did not give up on life, he started thinking of his goals.

Most of Quincy’s friends are in the stages of their lives where they have children, but the comedian did not have kids. Quincy didn’t have a legacy to provide the world when his days have ended. So he made his own legacy.

“My biggest fear used to be — before cancer — it’s the same one I have now: Dying without leaving anything. Dying before I have the chance to do the shit I wanna do,” Jones explains. “So this would be my opus. This would be my legacy I’m leaving here. That’s it, you know? You just want to feel like you’re giving something to the universe — you wanna feel like you’re leaving something.”

Quincy, who lives and breathes comedy, decided that his legacy would be a stand-up special. For a comedian, having your own hour-long comedy special is the pinnacle of their career. You follow in the footsteps of comedy legends who changed the world through their stand-up specials like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Louis CK, Chris Rock and Mitch Hedberg.

When Quincy’s friends Mickey and Nicole Blaine caught wind of the comedian’s dream, they created a Kickstarter with a goal of $4,985 to fund his comedy special. With three days left in the campaign, there have been 920 generous individuals who have pledged $40,537.

On Tuesday, Quincy appeared on Ellen, and the popular daytime talk show host not only endorsed Jones, but she presented him with a check for $10,000 from Shutterfly, and DeGeneres requested to HBO and Netflix that a network buy and air Quincy’s stand-up special.

If you’d like to donate to Quincy Jones you can do so here.

Remember, you never know what tomorrow holds, so start working on your legacy today.