In 2000, my uncle, Dr. Gary Krieger, President-Elect of the California Medical Association at the time, started to have some minor memory problems and began losing weight unexpectedly.
Being a "know it all" pediatrician, he never went to doctors, and he let the condition go. We have no idea why he didn't get checked out or why he reasoned that he might have been ok. His symptoms went unnoticed to his family, including his two children who are both fantastic physicians.
One morning his wife awoke to find him disoriented and acting "drunk", and knew something was wrong, so she forced him into an emergency room trip.
An MRI and CAT-scan of his brain were performed by some of the finest neurosurgeons at USC medical center (the private wing) in Los Angeles, and it was determined that he had a walnut sized tumor in his brain. All along Uncle Gary insisted that the growth visible on the screen was build-up from a tooth abscess, and that he would heal quickly and be fine. Doctors wanted to take a biopsy, and the tumor was in the front part of the brain near the skull, easy to reach and very low risk. He insisted he
knew what it was and would not allow it.
A few weeks went by and his condition worsened. He was re-admitted into the hospital, but still wouldn't allow the biopsy for another week or so, despite the tumor growing twice as big as it had before. When he finally allowed the doctors to retrieve a biopsy it was too late, the tumor was the size of an orange and had progressed to a class 4. The doctors said that if they had taken the biopsy when he visited the hospital the first time, they most likely would have been able to remove it, saving his life.
It sure made me think about one's own mortality, and also the kind of vanity
we all have at times, especially when it comes to our own professions; whether it's working as a reputable physician, playing the tuba in a world-class orchestra, producing religious television, or whatever one might be good at during the time they are assigned to work at that particular task in life.
Sometimes we forget to listen to the advise of others, due to our own infallible knowledge of a particular subject. I've been told by doctors I've know as friends and family that this kind of thing occurs a lot in the medical profession, and that
doctors make the worst patients. In this case, it cost my uncle his life. He died less than six months after his first visit to the doctor.
The Bible has some incredible knowledge that could have helped my uncle, and will help anyone looking for truth and the meaning of life.
Proverbs 1:5 says "A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel." And we can also read in Proverbs 19:20 "Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days."
These few simple instructions from a time in the (what some see as ancient) past may have changed Uncle Gary's mind at such a difficult time. A mind that so needed to be helped, a brilliant mind cut short by
his own understanding.
I loved my Uncle with all my heart, and the family misses him every day, as he was a kind and gentle man with tremendous charity and great wisdom in many things. I wonder if he'd be here today if he had
only been a student of God, with the knowledge that sometimes we
have to seek counsel to grow, and sometimes our very life depends on that counsel! If he had the meekness of heart that the Bible instructs, he might still be with us today.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
The Gary F. Krieger Foundation...
http://www.calmedfoundation.org/donate/ ... rieger.asp
The truth...
http://www.tomorrowsworld.org