“There’s no area of charity where you can get faster results and see more changes than animal rights right now.”

In a recent interview with NBC News, "Simpsons" co-creator and nine-time Emmy award winner Sam Simon joked, “It’s tough, but if you want publicity, and if you want to pick up girls, cancer is the greatest thing in the world.”

In reality, Sam Simon has used the publicity generated by his diagnosis to bring attention to the charitable causes he’s most passionate about. In 2012, he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer and given three to six months to live. Two years later, not only is he still alive, but he’s also racing to spend his fortune--hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties from "The Simpsons" and other shows -- to do as much good as he can.

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Much of his money will go to Save the Children, where Sam has been a long-time benefactor. Sam has also spent over $23 million creating the Sam Simon Foundation, which funds Feeding Families, a nonprofit food pantry that provides nutritious meals to 400 families facing economic hardship every day in Los Angeles.

Another of the Sam Simon Foundation’s missions is “saving the lives of dogs to enrich the lives of people.” They sponsor free veterinary services through mobile clinics, facilitate pet visitations for the residents of assisted living homes, and train rescued shelter dogs to help veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD.

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Sam has focused on hands-on, results-oriented charities, a lot of which involve animals. “There’s no area of charity where you can get faster results and see more changes than you see in animal rights right now,” he said during the NBC News interview. “There are just victories every day.”

Sam has worked in partnership with PETA to help rescue grizzly bears, racehorses, chimps, chinchillas, and even Sunder the elephant. When he aided in the rescue of seventeen brown bears from a roadside park in Georgia, Sam not only funded the effort, but also went along to open the cages at their release.

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“It was almost therapy for me,” he said of his rescue work. “A lot of it’s selfish. I get to watch these animals that have been in concrete bunkers their whole life take their first steps on grass. I get to fly my friends out [to see that].”

Sam’s unique version of selfishness has also driven him to help publicize "Blackfish," and to assist the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an international nonprofit organization involved in marine-wildlife conservation and anti-whaling efforts. He gifted them a massive former Japanese whaling ship worth millions of dollars. It has compelled him to visit Taiji, Japan, to help shed more light on the systematic killing of dolphins that was first exposed in the movie "The Cove," and to travel to Canada with his pal Pam Anderson to offer $1 million in cash to Canadian sealers if they’d retire and end their annual hunt.

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He’s undoubtedly always been a funny guy, but it seems that doing all this good in the world has Sam Simon smiling more than ever these days, despite his diagnosis.

“I’ve never been happier,” he said at the end of his NBC interview. “Somehow I ended up surrounded by people who love me and take care of me and would do anything for me.

“...[Cancer] has been a fight, it’s been an adventure, it’s been an education. It’s been the most amazing experience of my life.”

You don’t have to be in Sam's situation to make a difference. The website Create the Good can help you find volunteer opportunities near you.

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Feeling inspired? Visit MTV Act for more ways you can get involved with causes you care about.