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    Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

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  • Dec. 2, 2008

    Teen's inspirational story hits home

    By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

7 comments posted

Your suggestions on the issue of sleep were wonderful. Many of us are now recognizing that sleep deprivation only magnifies the struggles and the stresses that each of us deal with every day.

But, we also heard another dimension of survival: In order for us to go the distance during these perilous times, each of us needs to control what we can and acknowledge and recognize that there are some events out of our control. Let me explain.

I recently had the marvelous opportunity of speaking at a patient and family symposium on the issue of medical care in the 21st century. I was preceded in the program by a 17-year-old woman who was inspirational as she shared her story with the audience.

At age 13, she was an athletic, acrobatic ballet prodigy. She was a young woman with gifts and skills that captured the attention of the athletic and theatrical community. But then disaster struck. A vague ache in the right knee was soon diagnosed as a highly virulent aggressive bone tumor and one of the treatment options was amputation.

An unthinkable dilemma in such a gifted young woman. She shared with the audience that she had a choice at age 13: curl up under the covers and give up, or do everything she could to deal with this medical challenge. With faith, tenacity, and perseverance far in excess of age 13, she survived. With surgical skills and chemotherapy, amputation was not necessary and she enthralled the audience with her theatrical performance.

So, what is the message? For me and my family sitting in the audience, it was very clear: Let us control things we can such as attitude and our perception of world issues, and acknowledge that there are some situations for which we have no control and we need to let go and move through each day with a sense of peace, hope and serenity.

What perspectives do you have on this inspirational story?

7 comments posted

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Dec. 2, 2008

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