MY STORY…

As a kid, I loved being around my family and I had an especially close relationship with my grandfather. A couple times a year we would travel to his home in Utah and visit for weeks at a time. I remember being around 7 years old and on one such visit, a beautiful summer afternoon, he and I were sitting on his porch.
In the middle of the conversation, he pulled out a small needle, pricked his finger to make it bleed and then collected a couple drops of his blood.  

I was shocked.  I had never seen him do this before and asked him “Why are you pricking your finger, Grandpa?”   “Tommy, I  want to watch you grow up.” And though I didn’t totally understand the physiology, he went on to explain that he was monitoring his blood sugar  and also  paying close attention to what he ate because he had juvenile onset diabetes.  He said, “people die from this; but it’s not going to be me.”  He gave me a wink and we continued our afternoon chat. 

And he was right, he lived well into his nineties and did not suffer any significant diabetic complications.  No lost toes or any amputations, blindness, or kidney disease for him because he took charge of his diet and lifestyle and lived a full life.  

This was a very different outcome than another man I knew with the same type of diabetes.  This was my youth scouting leader who led our local pack when I was 12 years old.  I remember him being a super fun guy, larger than life and he didn’t seem to be worried about his health.  We played basketball regularly and hung out often but I never saw him prick his finger though I knew he also had diabetes.  I learned later  he didn’t make time to monitor his blood sugar, or pay attention to his diet and he ended up suffering much.  He had several amputations, was hooked up to a dialysis machine 3-4 days a week and ultimately died an early death; in his late forties.  

What a contrast between these two influential men in my young life.

I decided back then, I didn’t want this to happen to others; I witnessed his family suffer, his young children left fatherless and the struggles of a single parent raising young children without a dad—who died too young.  Having witnessed these two very different outcomes, I decided to make it my life’s mission to help educate, to treat and prevent disease and to ease suffering through becoming a physician.

After 12 years of education and medical training, I began my career as a board certified emergency physician helping treat acute severe illness and injury in ERs in the states of California and Hawaii.  Though I felt good about the immediate assistance and treatment I was able to provide in the most dire of circumstances, when I began to see more and more people suffer from early heart disease and even sudden death, in patients younger than I, I am devoting my life to help as many people as possible live long and in vibrant health.

Thanks, Grandpa.