This article originally appeared on People.
Daymond John may be a rich man, but he knows what really matters isn’t how much money is in his bank account.
“There’s an old saying: ‘A man with his health has 1,000 dreams. A man without his health only has one.’ No matter how successful you think you are, if you are not healthy, it doesn’t matter what money you make,” the Shark Tank star — who revealed his cancer battle on May 9 — tells PEOPLE.
John, 48, had recently taken an interest in becoming proactive about his health and got an “executive physical” where his doctor found a 1-in. nodule in his thyroid. In April, he underwent surgery to remove the nodule that was determined to be stage 2 cancer.
Though he will have to continue to monitor his thyroid carefully for the rest of his life, John will do so happily — but not just because he’s concerned about his health.
“I want to be around in my daughters’ lives for a long time. I want to walk my daughter’s down the aisle. I want to see them grow up to be productive people who can help add some value to this world,” he says. “If I am so busy and neglect my own health, I may not be around at all. That would make my family suffer at the same time.”
“Success is not only for yourself,” says John, who is encouraging others to get proactive about their health like he has. “A lot of us have parents and kids who are hard-headed. You have to sit people down and say, ‘You have to get yourself checked out.’ And that’s the beauty of having preventive measures out there. You get to stay in your families lives longer and really experience what true success is: being around and being able to live your life with the people you love.”
