Miracle Man from Too Serious to Too Funny

Pictured above is Phillip Hanks. He is known as the Miracle Man. In 2021, he had a multiple organ transplant surgery; he received 5 organs and a pulmonary vein. His recovery was miraculous and this past Spring, he continued his information technology profession as a Global Cybersecurity Manager for a major wealth bank. A lot has happened in Phillip’s miraculous life that is an inspiration to those who know his story.

After a reasonably quick multi-organ transplant recovery, Phillip worked for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Organ Tissues Donor Program. He was a great, real life representative for this program. He appeared in TV commercials and at public events encouraging individuals to give the gift of life by signing up for the Donor Registry Program.

He also joined Lincoln-Way Toastmasters (LWTM) which is a local chapter of Toastmasters International. Toastmasters helps everyday people become better communicators both in front of groups and one-on-one. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization with over 280,000 members and more than 14,700 clubs in 144 countries. Toastmasters enables its members to not only be more effective communicators but leaders as well.

This past Spring, Toastmasters hosted 2 speech competitions for its members. The 1st competition is known as the International Speech Contest, where the participant gives a motivational speech. The 2nd competition is known as the Humorous Speech Contest, where the participant gives a comical speech, intended to get laughs but undercovers a life lesson at the same time.

Phillip entered both competitions. At the club level, in the motivational speech contest, he met some very good competition and was not able to represent LWTM. However, in the humorous speech contest, he was quite funny and advance to represent LWTM. This outcome caught Phillip by surprise; he felt good about his motivational speech and was “just fooling around” with his humorous speech.

He was not sure if he was all that funny. Phillip recalled being able to make his mother and friends laugh. Now, he had to figure out how to make strangers laugh.

Phillip’s humorous speech was about a real life, childhood experience where his parents bought a home with an inground pool which had both a shallow and deep end. His older brother wanted to have a pool party but, he could not have it until Phillip learned how to swim. His older brother had to teach him how to swim. His brother was not thrilled with that requirement and decided that the “sink or swim” approach was the fastest way for Phillip to learn how to swim, so he just threw Phillip into the deep end of the pool. Phillip turned a terrifying experience into a laugh fest.

The first time Phillip gave the speech, he was a little funny. But each time he advanced in the competition, he became funnier and funnier. He used his voice, body movements, a wig, and other props to convey his story. Phillip received encouragement, suggestions and coaching from LWTM club members. And each time he gave his speech, it was better than before. This past April, Phillip won Toastmasters District 54 Humorous Speech Contest. District 54 include all Toastmasters clubs in Northern Illinois except for Chicago and its’ immediate suburbs.

Via Toastmasters, Phillip learned how to move from being serious to funny and yet be motivational at the same time. Phillip shared that he overcame his fear of being laughed at, to making people laugh in route to learning a life’s lesson. He did this by capturing his audience’s attention, holding their interest, and rewarding them with a meaningful conclusion. Toastmasters helped him discover a side of himself that he did not know he had.

Phillips’ journey is not a typical one. Most Toastmasters’ members do not enter speech competitions. These competitions are available for members who want to push themselves a bit further in their communication skills.

Phillip wanted to push himself to help launch a book about his miraculous medical recovery. His book is entitled: My Story, God’s Glory, The Story of a Walking Miracle. If you are interested in his book, just do an internet search on the title, to get a copy.

In the near future, “The 700 Club” will do a feature on Phillip. He is glad that he discovered that he has a comic side but, he is most interested in inspiring others to a more meaningful life.

Phillip is an everyday person like the rest of us. He is married to his wife Tiva and has 6 children: Deon, Alyssa, Cammeren, Collier, Aliya, and Ron. If you are interested in an earlier article about Phillip, please go to the following link: Miracle Man's Message and Toastmasters | Frankfort, IL Patch

If you want to develop your communication skills both in front of a group or one-on-one, you should attend a LWTM meeting. LWTM is a friendly, supportive group with a proven track record of members’ success. Guests are always welcome to our meetings, and you are never under any obligation. LWTM is non-profit and our membership fees are very nominal. Anyone 18 years or older can join.

LWTM meets on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month at 7:30 PM both in-person and virtually. Our in-person meetings are held at Frankfort Village Hall, located 432 Nebraska Street, Frankfort, IL. For more information, please email Thad Gray at: mail4thad@yahoo.com.