Checkup

Vital Signs

A Two-Way Street

Dear Readers,

The Super Bowl in football, the Players Championship in golf, NCAAtournament games in basketball: Jacksonville has seen many impressive athletic performances during the past year or so. But the athletic achievement that many of us found the most inspiring was not featured on ESPN or ABC's Wide World of Sports. As highlighted on the cover of this issue, it is a story of heart ... or, more accurately, of lungs.

Each March, nearly 10,000 runners participate in the Gate River Run, a 15-kilometer race that crisscrosses downtown Jacksonville on both banks of the lovely St. John's River. One of the competitors this year was a 48-year-old man from Terre Haute, Ind.: Bob Lumaye. Although runners come to Jacksonville from many states and several foreign countries for this event, Mr. Lumaye was no stranger to our city as he had received a double lung transplant at Mayo Clinic less than two years before.

Mr. Lumaye had been given the nickname "Wonder Dude" by his Mayo team because of his exemplary commitment to staying fit and in particular his dedication to his preoperative and postoperative rehabilitation schedule. During a follow-up visit with his pulmonologist (lung specialist), Dr. Cesar Keller, Mr. Lumaye indicated that he wanted to do the Gate River Run and said that he'd been training for it back home in Indiana. Dr. Keller offered to run with him and before long, Mr. Lumaye's transplant surgeon, Dr. Octavio Pajaro, signed up as well. On race day, the three men successfully completed the 9.3-mile course and crossed the finish line together. Much like his transplant experience, Mr. Lumaye's accomplishment took a team down winding roads, over challenging bridges, and, in the end, to a gratifying result.

What do such stories teach us? Well, we first should be grateful for innovative technical advances that save lives. What a marvelous time to be a physician or surgeon! On the other hand, we must concede that many episodes of care do not have such an inspiring, "made-for-TV" ending. Some diseases have no cures and a few don't even slow down in response to available treatments. There is still much, much work to be done.

Regardless of whether we are dealing with complex afflictions or everyday ailments, we should recognize that most medical care today involves a team ... and that the patient's contributions to that team effort may be the most important factor in the final outcome. Bob Lumaye is a hero in my book, not only because his dedication made possible an astonishing physical accomplishment, but also because he, too, is a healer.

You see, patients heal us. Everyone who takes care of patients is rejuvenated by their optimism, their perseverance, their courage, their faith. All of us who chose medicine for our life's work did so because of a desire to improve the lives of others. Few of us understood when entering the field that our lives would be enriched immeasurably by what our patients teach us and do for us — not only the patients who enjoy spectacular cures, but especially those who succumb to disease exemplifying the honorable human qualities and virtues that we most admire.

Thank you for entrusting us with your care and for reminding us, every day, that healing is a two-way street.

Sincerely,

George B. Bartley, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer