Life & Death

[Gregory Matthews]

We often hears stories of when someone would normally be expected to die, but did not  We often attribute that to the grace of God.  That raises issues, and to contribute to the issues, it is story time.

Dr. & Mrs. Jones (not their real names) were enjoying  a quiet Sunday morning vacation in Colorado.  The morning was early and they had not been awake long, when Mrs. Jones fell to the floor.  As Dr. Jones examined his wife, he quickly realized the she was in a very critical situation.  Her life was at stake and she could die at any moment.  He picked up the telephone to make up a call and the result was that a jet aircraft lifted off the runway and began it trip to where Dr. Jones was and he began taking life saving actions on his wife.

As she was loaded into the aircraft, he asked if she could be transported to California where they lived and he had his medical practice.  The clinicians who were advising him informed him that she would  likely die in transit and she needed to be taken to the nearest facility capable of dealing with her clinical condition--Denver.

Sunday afternoon, in a hospital where I was then working, Mrs. Jones had her mitral valve replaced.

As Mrs. Jones recovered, I said to her one day:  You have been given a gift of life.  You are alive today because your husband was a Board Certified Cardiologist who recognized your clinical condition and knew what to do.    You are alive today because when your husband picked up the telephone a jet aircraft, with a clinical team onboard, became airborne and transported you to Denver.  Most people would not be married to a cardiologist and be able to jet a jet aircraft airborne with a telephone call.  You have been given a gift that few people would have been given.  How is your life going to change because of this gift that you have been given?

As Mrs. Jones responded to me she told me that her life would change.  She had a different sense of what was important in life.   Her life would change because of this gift that she had been given.

At this point  I will leave you who are reading this to consider what you may have been given as a  gift that others may, or may not, have received and whether or not your life has changed as a result.