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13 years later...a promise fulfilled.
13 and a half years ago I was diasgnosed with leukemia. Chemotherapy couldn't kill the cancer, so I met the bone marrow transplant specialists who provided the only real chance for a cure.
Shortly after meeting them, I promised myself that, if I were to survive my ordeal, I would work beside them someday.
6 months of recovery, 2.5 more years of university, 4 years of medical school, 3 years of residency and 3 years of fellowship completed yesterday.
Today, when I drive in to work, I will do so as colleague to those who cared for me all those years ago (yes - at the same institution).
It took 13 years of training to keep that promise - now the real work starts and I get to pay it forward.
Life is good.
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"The dignity of man is not shattered in a single blow, but slowly softened, bent, and eventually neutered. Men are seldom forced to act, but are constantly restrained from acting. Such power does not destroy outright, but prevents genuine existence. It does not tyrannize immediately, but it dampens, weakens, and ultimately suffocates, until the entire population is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid, uninspired animals, of which the government is shepherd." - Alexis de Tocqueville
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