The limitless mindset: A story of resilience and radical positivity | Part 1

In this episode of Beyond Brain Tumours, our host Ben Seewald, talks with renowned photographer Steve Carty about his extraordinary journey through a metastatic brain tumour, his experience with awake brain surgery, and his mindset during recovery. Carty is a Toronto-based photographer who has spent more than three decades using his lens to transform fleeting human moments into powerful, heartfelt stories. Join us as Carty candidly shares how his positive mindset, spirituality and self-advocacy shaped his treatment and recovery. 

Steve Carty: YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn 

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Transcript

Welcome And Safety Disclaimer

SPEAKER_01 0:01

On the Beyond Brain Tumors podcast, we aim to share personal stories from the Brain Tumor community and believe in creating space for people to talk openly and authentically about their lived experiences. We recognize that this may look and sound different for everyone. The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada. This podcast is intended for storytelling and community connection and is not a replacement or substitute for medical advice. We encourage our listeners to speak with your healthcare team regarding your specific symptoms, needs, and situations.

Steve Cardi’s Creative Career Snapshot

SPEAKER_01 1:13

In his 34 years of using fleeting moments of connection as the foundation to create deeply personal and relatable photographs, Cardi brings a modest, straightforward approach to making pictures that is refreshingly modern and deeply honest. This approach, paired with his technical expertise, results in compelling visual storytelling that resonates with everyone. Highlights of a career include campaigns such as The Great Canadian Baking Show for Netflix, The Block for CBC, and Strombo for Apple Music. His exceptional ability to bring out the best in every subject has attracted, and are you ready for some serious name-dropping? Prestigious clients including Apple, CBC, Starbucks Canada, Chorus Entertainment, W Network, Nike, MTV Much Music, Canon Canada, Sporting Life, and Air Canada, just to name a few. Check out the links in the show notes to access the full list of his clients and projects on Stevecardi.com and check out his YouTube channel, The Cardi Method at Steve Cardi, and get to know this remarkable human and his incredible influence on the industry.

The Diagnosis Shock And Resolve

SPEAKER_01 2:24

But it's Cardi's experience with a brain tumor, awake brain surgery, his patient journey and his healer team, and his ridiculous recovery timeframe. That's what we're going to be diving into all through Cardi's remarkable creative lens, literally and figuratively. Welcome to the podcast, Cardi. I'm so excited to hear your raw and authentic journey.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Wow, what an intro. Like, thank you so much for that. That was pretty amazing, Ben. Thank you. So um, yeah, I had a brain tumor, got over it. Here we are, back to work. What do you want to talk about? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

I mean, I I have I'm into telling you the full story. Like, I'll answer all the questions. It's just like you have a brain tumor, okay. You have brain cancer, okay. Also, the the cancer came from your lungs and it went into your brain. Okay. Um, we have to do emergency brain surgery. Okay, you're gonna be awake during that. Um, all right. Like, what like let's go.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Let's go. Good.

Before Symptoms: Life And Work Rhythm

SPEAKER_01 3:35

So, yeah, so both Steve and I can talk about this for days, um, but let's try and keep it tight and briefly position your life kind of before diagnosis, and then we can kind of get into presenting concerning symptoms that you're experiencing. So we can do like a like a temporal thing, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Sure. Of course. Well, of course, play it on me.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, so like before, like kind of my life definitely, as I think you know, I'm a brain tumor survivor myself. And so my life, I kind of have that watershed moment where it's like, okay, everything that happened before my diagnosis, and like then there's kind of after, right? So tell me a little bit about who you were, what you were about, how you were living your life before you kind of started thinking something might be wrong.

Early Cognitive Changes And Vision Event

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Well, my my brain tumor was in the side of my brain where um on the left side of my brain, which is communication and um like reading and cognitive function. Um so I I was fine, but I found myself being a little bit slower, and that like I I had my surgery in September um in 2025, and I I started to notice that I wasn't myself like in June. So June was like I had all these visions for how the summer was gonna go, and I was so excited about all the videos I was gonna make and all the shoots that I was gonna do, and I would plan, but I couldn't act like I was in cement, would be a good way for me to describe it. So that was June, and then July, my birthday month, like had a birthday party, didn't tell anybody, and wondered why no one came. Like, I didn't promote it, like it was like I just was kind of broken. Went to South Africa in August, and but late July, like I had an event, and I call it the event where um I half of my eyes stopped working, is a good way to describe it. Like um like my vision just split in half, so half my eye was normal, and the other half was green and trailing off to the right, and I knew that there was a brain thing once I was like, but I still didn't seek

The Zoom Glitch And ER Rush

SPEAKER_00 6:07

help. But after that stroke, something happened is I couldn't read anymore, and this happened in late July, and I knew if I went to the dog to the hospital that I wasn't gonna be able to get on a plane and go to South Africa, so I was driving, I I had no issue driving, I was shooting, I doing client work, but I couldn't read anything, so my team had to read to me, and my girl had to read things to me. And I mean, I have lots of people working for me um between all of these different businesses that I have, but um it started to get to the point where like my team was like, okay, like, and then after South Africa, which I went to South Africa, I was fine, although I was a little slower. I still was creative, I still did work, I still shot videos, I still did photo shoots, like, but when I came home from South Africa in September, this is now like September uh 19th, I had a stroke or had an event during a Zoom call. And the time that it had happened before I was alone, so I didn't know that I couldn't use words or speak because I was by myself and I just went and lied down and like felt better. And I mean, I'm a guy, guys like avoid going to hospitals and doctors and stuff because it's it's never good news when a guy decides okay, I gotta go. It's like you need a heart transplant, like that's how far like we wait, or brain surgery, right? Or brain surgery, exactly, right? So so basically, um, I had an event, I was on a zoom call live with like 40 people, and I basically glitched, like I was glitching, and I was I I thought I was saying words, but I was that and it was like there's people in the zoom call like crying. My team called my girl and like my fiance now, and she um rushed home and and saw me still on Zoom, like glitching, and said, We're going

Care At Toronto Western

SPEAKER_00 8:26

to the hospital. And we went to Toronto Western, um, which of course is where they invented um brain surgery awake, like the best hospital, the best care, the best everything. And then from that point later, like I found I was in emergency for hours, like 10 hours before I got a scan. But after the scan, the doctor was like, You have lung cancer, brain cancer, brain tumor, need emergency, like it was as serious as a heart attack. Um, my girl exploded, as you can probably imagine. Like, I was so calm. And um, I don't know, I I can't explain it. I glided through the whole experience and um the best care, the best doctors, the best nurses, the best everything. Um, Toronto Western. Like, I have nothing but praises to say for every single person that touched me in that hospital.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah, yep. Um, I mean, that's I think the same for a lot of people who go through these situations is that once they're in the system, they're taken care of uh to the nth degree, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

So 100%.

Mindset: Choosing Hard And Calm

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yeah. Um, I think that the limited amount that I know about you though is that your approach to it and your calm, like, all right, let's just do it, is a little bit exceptional, as well as your I heard that.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

I heard I mean, I hear that from other people. For me, it's just there's nothing that is put in front of us that we cannot handle. I love that. End of sentence. End of sentence. There is nothing that is put in front of us that we can't handle. End of sentence. It is just like how you choose to rise or lower yourself to the occasion, and and sadly, like we live in a world where people just absorb slop and like choose easy rather than choose hard. Like, we have to choose our hard because hard is coming, by the way, and you never know when hard is coming, but if you choose hard, it it's always easy later, right? Like, so I there is uh an artist that I listened to, his name is Kanon, and I was blessed enough to photograph him for CBC. Kanon did the um waving flag, like the the like the World Cup song, like Kane,

Community, Transparency And Support

SPEAKER_00 11:05

like so. I photographed him when he was unknown, and CBC did an article on him, they hired me to do the photographs, and I I saw like I built a relationship with him, I've seen him uh perform live, like he's a prophet, a music maker, a pro I was blessed enough to photograph him, and he has a song that is called Smile While You're Bleeding. Oh and when you when you when you listen to his life and being born in Mogadishu, where there was like no fire, no ambulance, no police, no hospital, no set, like just people on their like listening to his story and and thinking about this song, and it's like never let him see you sweat, smile while you're bleeding, yeah is the line, and like the mindset that I have now, Ben, I gotta tell you, like, give me bad news, and I say good. Like, and I know it's it's bad news is is is hard, but and and again, it's pay family members. It's like, but when it's something that happens is happening to me, it's like you have lung cancer, it's like good, it's gonna make me like pay attention to every breath that I take. You have brain cancer, good. I there's some up there that I wouldn't mind have someone having a look and like having a cla giving me a little cleanup. Like, I like I have more brain function now than I did before my surgery. Yeah, like I felt I don't know if you've seen the movie Limitless, but like with um Bradley Cooper, like I felt after I came out of the hospital like I was limitless, like suddenly, like they say we only have access to 10% of our brain.

Purpose Reignited Post‑Op

SPEAKER_00 13:15

I felt like my brain surgery, I'm like, oh my god, now I have access to a 100% of my brain. And I started I I got out of the hospital. My surgery was on the 23rd of September. I left the hospital on the 25th of September. I did a photo shoot on the 25th of September. Like the day that I came home, my that's totally people, like a support system who like come and they're bringing me stuff and blah blah blah. And it's like, James, dude, love your outfit. Wait, let me get my gear. And I brought my background and brought and like did a full photo shoot with because he's been supporting me through the whole time I was in the hospital and brought me a whole bunch of remedies, and and like just people really came out to support me. And I mean, I have an audience of people who've been watching my I've been a photographer for 35 years. I have people who've been watching my work, and because I've shot Pharrell and Kanye and all this stuff, like people are interested in in DMX and Ja Rule and like Colin Firth, and like like I I've shot a lot like Tom Muir from Radio Head, like these this is my portfolio, and it's just insane the support and the love that and and also for me, I'm just transparent. Like I I wear my heart on my sleeve and I document my life, so I documented this, and I documented every day and every second of being in the hospital. And I I had I after I left the hospital, like the first day that I had to come back for like my first scan, and like it was maybe like a week or two after. There was a lady there, and her name is Mary, and she was in the hospital, and she's she's like looking at me, and I'm like sitting, like waiting for my appointment, and she says, Can I approach? Excuse me? Like this woman is saying to me, Can I approach? I'm like, Yes, and she's like,

Inside Awake Brain Surgery

SPEAKER_00 15:18

I'm following you. And I said, I said, What do you what do you mean you're following me? She's like, You're Steve Cardi, you're a famous photographer, you have brain tumor, you like she's told me back my whole story because she's been following me on Instagram, and she said, Can I hug you? And I said, Oh my god, of course. And she hugged, and then she burst into tears. And I said, like, I'm like, Oh my god, and she's like, You don't understand what you're doing for this hospital, like your words and your positivity and your strength is penetrating this whole hospital. I do not know if you know what you're doing, but you're changing lives, and like now I'm crying and she's crying, she's like, like this, like this was like my first visit back to to um Princess Margaret because I was at obviously Toronto Western, so now I'm at a new hospital and I'm kind of like I've just appeared, and this stranger comes to me and says, I'm following you. I'm like, what is happening right now? So um, yeah, it's it's been a crazy journey, Ben. I gotta tell you, it's been a crazy three months.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Well, I can't believe that you're sitting here, and I mean, your scar is healing up so well, um, and all of this has happened in the last three months is wild to me.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I don't know. Like, I I'm convinced that I I'm here to do something, and for me, it's like I'm here to document the faces of today's generation. I'm uh I'm here to help people tell their story. Like uh I'm I I'm not really like I make money talking, which is bananas, and I make money people for to make like I take pictures, which people do for free, and I make like an insane living by pointing my camera and with ideas, but this whole thing that I'm doing is um like I kind of feel like I'm on a mission, and I feel like I had lost that that vision, and God gave me a brain tumor in order to remind me what I'm supposed to do. So I I can't, I I love my scar. I like I literally I worship my scar. I can't explain it. Like the way that I the way that I do like hand to head contact and when I see my friends who haven't seen me, I say, oh my god, you gotta put your hand on my head. I have to like I have to feel your energy. Like I wanna I want you to feel what it feels like,

The “Packed” Tumour And Full Resection

SPEAKER_00 18:23

but I also want your energy, and I want you to feel it, and I want you to look at it because um it's what it's me now, you know. It's like I don't know, I feel like I I left the hospital a different person. I can't explain it.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

It's amazing. I I get the sense that, yeah, I mean, so the surgery saved your life, but it also like reinspired your purpose and kind of put you back into a situation to deliver on your purpose in life uh moving forward, which is just yeah, well said, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

I just I mean, I died and was born again. It's just what do you want me to say? Like, I mean, I didn't really die because I was awake the whole time and yapping and talking and laughing, and hey, that's a boat, hey, that's a car, hey, that's it. Like, and by the way, here's a funny story that you'll appreciate, Ben. I'm legally blind, I'm a legally blind photographer. So I wear contact lenses. My prescription is minus nine point two five. Oh man. Okay, so I you know glasses, like you got to take your contacts out, put take your glasses out. So I come, I'm like wearing glasses, and doctor's like, okay, like my I can't connect this thing with you wearing glasses. And I'm like, I'm blind. You want me to look at an iPad? I you told me to take my so they're like for like 20 minutes trying to figure out like how to like for me to see the screen with no like and I said, I'm a professional contact lens wear. I've been wearing them since I'm 17 years old. Yeah, I'm 55. Let my girl go get my contacts, they'll be in in two seconds, and we can proceed with this operation. And the doctor's like, all right, tell her go girl runs down, blah, blah, blah. Contact, contact, boom. I'm like, hey, boat, boat, like, and now so they kind of got like, and my girl was getting frustrated. She's like, have you not ever dealt with someone who's nearsighted and wears corrective lenses that now you have to look at these screen and you can't see them without your glass? And then when you have this thing attached to your you can't put glasses on, like this seems to be something that they would have had a problem or an issue with at some point in the 50 years that they've been doing these.

Manifestation, Faith And Family Strength

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I mean, not 50, but you know, 35 for years, 40 years if they've been doing this surgery, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:50

With the with the awake surgery, can you explain a little bit more about that for all of us non-superheroes who haven't through awake brain surgery?

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Um, well, I I want to take it right from I'll take it right from the beginning. The side of my brain, the communication side, is like if they like touch the wrong thing, suddenly I can't use words anymore. Suddenly I can't speak. Like, that's like how important. So you have to be awake with this type of brain surgery. Now, what the setup is like is you're under a dome. Okay, you're under a dome, and there's like a map, you have no idea how many people are in the room or how big the room is, but roughly 30 people in the room, like roughly is what it feels like. There could have been 12, but it felt like there was 30 people, and they build a tent. Like, if you're lying down, they build a tent that covers your whole body. Okay, and then they just peek through the window and they're like, Can you see this? And then they disappear again. Now I'm fully awake. The the thing that you can feel. Is pressure because I have uh a little node here and I didn't really know what it was. Like after I'm like, oh yeah, that's like the first place that they that they screw into to hold your brain, like to hold you still. And then on this side, like when you're a like there's no pain, but there's sounds and there's pressure. Yeah, so that's the part that like I you you can just feel like someone screwing into your brain, and then literally, I didn't feel my head separate, but all of a sudden he's like just in there, and I you can feel like it just feels like someone's scratching inside your head, like there's no other, but it's conversational and and funny, like the funny thing is, is like these are real people, so you can and you're hearing conversation, and it's weird, it's like because they can kind of turn you out, so I can kind of like and then they can kind of turn you back, and I'm like, hey, I'm back awake, and then someone would like literally come through and be like with an iPad and be like, Okay, what's that? And I'm like, that's a dog, and they're like, Okay, that's good. And then they walk, then they leave, and then it's like I'm just and then someone come back

Closing And Tease For Part Two

SPEAKER_00 23:23

and be like, There's three things. It's like this, this, this. It's like, what's that? That's a car, what's that? That's a cat, what's that? That's a house. All right, and then they disappear. So that was the vibe, and then at one point, I heard my doctor say, I can't believe that he's still taking this. Because like two hours is like I did three and a half hours, and like then I'm hearing like I'm getting it all. Like I'm getting it all. Like, I heard him say that, and then I hear him, I can't believe that I'm getting it all. And again, I'll say again, I between my first scan, when it's like you need brain surgery, where the cancer was like all spread, and then when the surgery happened, the cancer was packed into a cube. Like again, I had like workers in my room the day before my surgery until two o'clock in the morning, like working on me literally again. This is believe it or not, doesn't matter to me what but packing the can't because the cancer was spread like it's like glass, broken glass, packing that and the doctor, and again, I've talked to my doctor, I said, Were were you surprised in two days, three days from when you knew that you had to have the surgery on this guy to when you did the surgery that all the cancer went from spread all through my lobe to packed tightly into one spot so you could completely take 100% of it out? I asked him, like, did you think that that was strange? He's like, I it's very not normal, yes. Like, so again, it's like we we have we've had dialogue, and again, he said he said I knew you were a very important patient. And again, like I I I had people working on like me remotely and in person, like pushing this cancer into one spot so the doctor could just pull it out, and and also I sat and just let him take, and he's like, I can't believe he's like again. This is stuff, believe it or not. It this is there is a show called Ripley's Believe It or Not. If you're old enough to remember, um, and I'm old enough, and I gotta tell you, it's like these kinds of things. Who cares? I don't care if if if the audience or the listeners believe me or not, it is just so it's like I have scans. Like I have the scans of what it looked like when I was in emergency, and then the doctor is like told me I'll be able to get 60% of this out, and then he said, I got a hundred percent of this cancer out, and then he said again, I don't think you understand. I got all of it out, like it's impossible, like and now my brain brain scans, it's like cancer-free, 100% gone. So again, it's like I don't know why like whether it's believing in prayer or believing, it's just believing that you have the power to like thoughts become things, and I went to the hospital saying, I'm going to glide out of here a better person than the one that entered, and that is exactly like I manifested what was going to happen. And if you're a negative person, that's what happens. If you're a fearful person, anything that you think of, you're amplifying. So if you think of positive things, and if you think this is going to be great, this is gonna be good for me, this is gonna make me healthier, this is gonna make me more conscious, conscious of my body and my space in the universe, and it's gonna make me more grateful for every day that I get to wake up, like that mindset, that mindset like beats, trumps anything, like anything. So I'm like, I've always been that way, like I've always been like a positive person, but this is like proof where where people saw and were just like, I can't believe this guy. Like, literally, my kids, the day like I have a 17-year-old boy who's in grade 12, and I have an 18-year-old daughter who's in college, and the day they they were with me a couple of times before my surgery, but the day before my surgery, like we were laughing, and like and it's like I'm a I'm a brain cancer, brain tumor, like, and like the photo of us all just like smiling like we're at like at a graduation or a party, like at the outside the hospital, like I I had them in the mindset that their dad's about to have brain surgery, but he's going to be fine. Look at him, he's gonna be fine. It's my dad, it's Steve Cardi. Like, no nothing can hurt him. Like, I had them both in that mindset. So when they're home, when I'm having surgery in the hospital, they know that like no worries, I got it. Everything is like I just had everybody around me um convinced that I was gonna be fine, including the doctors, including the nurses, include like, yeah, like it's just I just flipped it, you know. Well, listen, we have all the keys to the universe. Like, I don't know. I you just like read a book, like, like literally close your phone, like go walk outside, go look at the sun, like we're in the most insane place. Like, free will is why we have all of these horrible things happening, and people just like death scrolling on their phone because they can do whatever they want. For me, I don't have free will, I have God's will, and I just do anything that He tells me to do, like wholeheartedly with full fear and full like 100% gas pedal down, and like that's got me this far. It's got me through ever like I have surgery scars like all over my body, and it's like like my head, my torso, like um, yeah, like again, I had um um 21 staples in my head, and at least like 51 staples down my torso. Um, like yeah, I I just when you get this amount of messages that you're supposed to be here and supposed to do something, like you kind of gotta step it up. As like for me as a man, I gotta step it up and like and like be the one that I'm saying that I am. And getting brain cancer is a perfect opportunity for me um to live up to my own expectations and the expectations that other people have for me.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, brilliant. Oh my gosh. No notes, no notes from me. Uh no, no, no, uh, no need for me to interject at all. Um, so we'll stop part one there. Um, and please join us for part two of our conversation, Beyond Brain Tumors, with Steve Cardi from Toronto, Ontario, as we discuss Cardi's healer team, keeping his creative edge and his mindset post op. All to come in part two of my conversation with Steve Cardi on the Beyond Brain Tumors podcast.