But thanks to the support of his wife and his own appreciation of economics – he had saved a tidy sum for a rainy day, although it needed his wife to remind him of the fact that the day had arrived – he worked his way back to the top of his game.
“Money to me equals safety, it doesn’t mean shiny cars or awesome things like cool watches. And I judge my safety by how many months of my salary I have in the bank,” he said in a matter-of-fact way.
Having saved almost two years’ worth, the Tatom family was able to bear the economic brunt, while the inevitable lows brought on by the cancer treatment were made a little more tolerable by his oncologist.
“He gave me some great advice that I will never forget. He said, you just need to listen to your body. When you’re tired, sleep, that’s your body telling you to rest, and when you feel good, work.
“That really kind of changed my world. I’d be taking a loan application and I would be about to fall asleep during the middle of it. I would just tell my clients, ‘hey, can I call you back in a little bit?’ And they were fine about it.”