When he was 18 and a freshman in college, Rob Gough was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer in one of his toes. Thanks to chemotherapy, he survived.

That was 12 years ago. Today, he has taken the lessons from that ordeal and applied them to his Marina del Rey online marketing company, Eckim. He co-founded it with Mattias Larsson in 2012 and they have grown the company to 15 employees and relationships with 3,000 retailers.

“The company has grown extremely fast and that wouldn’t have been possible if we didn’t believe in big dreams, much like beating cancer,” Gough said.

Here’s how Eckim helps drive sales: Retailers, such as its client Bloomingdale’s, offer exclusive coupons for online sale items that Eckim puts on its websites, CouponChad.com and DefinitiveDeals.com. Eckim also manually tests online coupon codes and enters them on the sites. Shoppers use codes from the coupons to buy items from the retailers’ websites.

In return, Eckim gets a commission on the transaction. The sites have a monthly audience of more than 1 million.

A recent milestone for the company came with two awards this month in New York. Eckim won Affiliate Manager of the Year and Advertiser’s Choice at the Golden Link Awards, given by marketing company Rakuten LinkShare. The awards are given to companies based on their performances and effectiveness.

Gough said the honors were a vindication of his efforts and his beat-cancer philosophy.

“We are super honored,” said Gough.

– Priscilla Casper