Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal featured perhaps one of the most inspirational stories of an individual investor that I've ever read. Charles Wolf has been diagnosed with brain cancer since 2002, and it makes it almost impossible for him to read or say the names of companies. But since late 2003, he has roughly doubled his holdings to more than $3 million, and his success has sparked the interest of brain researchers:

"Now 49 years old, Mr. Wolf has traded stocks through two cancer recurrences, a bone-marrow transplant and the side effects of radiation, chemotherapy and multiple medications. He spends most days perched on his sofa, a laptop open to his online account, with his dog, Archie, keeping him company. He won't eat lunch until the market closes at 2 p.m. Mountain Time.

A recent cancer recurrence makes it almost impossible for him to read, but he can review numbers and charts, and watch television investment shows. He has far outlasted his disease's median life expectancy of 14.5 months. His survival and investing success are the result of hard work and determination. Investing has given him a sense of pride and self-worth, probably helping him to live longer, says his doctor, Edward Arenson of the Colorado Neurological Institute in Englewood, Colorado." 

In every cloud, as they say, there is a silver lining. Charles Wolf had always been an amateur investor since his college days and had thought seriously about managing money full-time before eventually becoming a chemical engineer. Instead of viewing the onset of brain cancer as an irreversible setback, he viewed it as "opening the door to his investing dream." A big hat tip to the Wall Street Journal for making this story available for free to a broad online audience.

[image: Charles Wolf at home] 

Bookmark It!