"he developed an appreciation for the essence of life by seeing its fragility." this is a quote from one of my pa school professors. he worked as the chief medical examiner in new hampshire and saw thousands of deaths as the consequence of drug/alcohol abuse...seeing just how frail life can truly be. this quote speaks loud and clear to me as it is something my colleagues and i are faced with daily while working in the intensive care unit. this blog post was inspired by him.
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hey you... over there with the broken smile...
once upon a time you were born with endless potential... with the entire world at your feet. maybe you came from a family... maybe the kind with two parents, a couple of siblings and a dog... maybe the kind with a single parent or maybe one without siblings... or maybe your parents were not ready to be parents and had to give you up in hopes someone else could provide a better life for you. maybe your parents were your biggest supporters, cooked you dinner every night, helped with your homework and cheered you on at soccer games. or maybe you were one of the less fortunate ones and had to figure your way through childhood alone, growing up much too soon.
wherever you came from has played a role in shaping who you are today. your past may have set you up for great success or it may have left people saying "that poor kid has no hope in life." but either way, you were born with choices and you continue to have the freedom to make your own choices and shape your future.
now these choices you make, day in and day out, matter. each and every one of them. and i'm afraid more and more often we are making the wrong choices. i can't tell you home many young people i've seen dying from the wrong choices... the kind that involve drugs and alcohol. an epidemic has been created from this... one that has touched us all in some way.
everyday i see husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, children, mothers, fathers who made the wrong choices and are suffering the consequences. the consequences of drinking until their liver has stopped working causing their heart and kidneys to also give up. the consequences of an overdose that caused them to stop breathing and then their heart to stop beating and, even though it was able to be restarted, they suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. the consequences of drinking so much alcohol that they have seizures when they run out. the consequences of injecting bacteria along with the drugs and now, every time their heart pumps, it pumps so much bacteria throughout their body that antibiotics can't fix them.
and then i also see their family members. the spouse who refused to give up on them because they have hopes that just maybe they'd stop drinking or using drugs. the parents who sit at their bedside, holding their child's unresponsive hand, crying because they know this is the time they won't pull through and wake up again. their children, who are often no more than 12 years old, watching their mom or dad from afar, hooked up to machines, too young to grasp they will grow up without a parent. then there are those with no visitors because they have burned every bridge and every relationship that ever meant anything to them.
this epidemic we are facing... these bad choices so many of us are making... i promise they will eventually kill you... it's just a matter of time. maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones and live to your 50s or maybe you'll be like most and suffer in your 20s and 30s. but i guarantee that one day you too will succumb to this tragedy... a tragedy you have inflicted upon yourself and, if you are reading this, have the ability to overcome.
working in the intensive care unit has opened my eyes to so much... to how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away from any of us. if you are someone suffering from this disease, ask for help before it is too late. put the bottle or the needle aside and face whatever it is you are trying to run away from. life is full of happiness, but you need to allow yourself to be happy... and you need to accept that you deserve this happiness. take a look at the choices you are making before they catch up to you. please.
i wish you could see your life through my eyes. then you'd appreciate how fragile and precious it is. you'd see how much you have to offer this world. how many people love you. how much potential you have. how you are throwing all those things away far too soon.
i hope to never be able to say i understand where you're coming from or i understand how hard it is to break free from this vice holding you down. but i can tell you this because i live it every day: life is incredible. it is full of wonder and happiness and love and excitement. it is hard work but that struggle makes you feel so accomplished and strong and capable.
i hope you can one day experience this life as it was meant to be lived. and i hope one day that broken smile will be whole again.
love,
me
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hey you... over there with the broken smile...
once upon a time you were born with endless potential... with the entire world at your feet. maybe you came from a family... maybe the kind with two parents, a couple of siblings and a dog... maybe the kind with a single parent or maybe one without siblings... or maybe your parents were not ready to be parents and had to give you up in hopes someone else could provide a better life for you. maybe your parents were your biggest supporters, cooked you dinner every night, helped with your homework and cheered you on at soccer games. or maybe you were one of the less fortunate ones and had to figure your way through childhood alone, growing up much too soon.
wherever you came from has played a role in shaping who you are today. your past may have set you up for great success or it may have left people saying "that poor kid has no hope in life." but either way, you were born with choices and you continue to have the freedom to make your own choices and shape your future.
now these choices you make, day in and day out, matter. each and every one of them. and i'm afraid more and more often we are making the wrong choices. i can't tell you home many young people i've seen dying from the wrong choices... the kind that involve drugs and alcohol. an epidemic has been created from this... one that has touched us all in some way.
everyday i see husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, children, mothers, fathers who made the wrong choices and are suffering the consequences. the consequences of drinking until their liver has stopped working causing their heart and kidneys to also give up. the consequences of an overdose that caused them to stop breathing and then their heart to stop beating and, even though it was able to be restarted, they suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. the consequences of drinking so much alcohol that they have seizures when they run out. the consequences of injecting bacteria along with the drugs and now, every time their heart pumps, it pumps so much bacteria throughout their body that antibiotics can't fix them.
and then i also see their family members. the spouse who refused to give up on them because they have hopes that just maybe they'd stop drinking or using drugs. the parents who sit at their bedside, holding their child's unresponsive hand, crying because they know this is the time they won't pull through and wake up again. their children, who are often no more than 12 years old, watching their mom or dad from afar, hooked up to machines, too young to grasp they will grow up without a parent. then there are those with no visitors because they have burned every bridge and every relationship that ever meant anything to them.
this epidemic we are facing... these bad choices so many of us are making... i promise they will eventually kill you... it's just a matter of time. maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones and live to your 50s or maybe you'll be like most and suffer in your 20s and 30s. but i guarantee that one day you too will succumb to this tragedy... a tragedy you have inflicted upon yourself and, if you are reading this, have the ability to overcome.
working in the intensive care unit has opened my eyes to so much... to how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away from any of us. if you are someone suffering from this disease, ask for help before it is too late. put the bottle or the needle aside and face whatever it is you are trying to run away from. life is full of happiness, but you need to allow yourself to be happy... and you need to accept that you deserve this happiness. take a look at the choices you are making before they catch up to you. please.
i wish you could see your life through my eyes. then you'd appreciate how fragile and precious it is. you'd see how much you have to offer this world. how many people love you. how much potential you have. how you are throwing all those things away far too soon.
i hope to never be able to say i understand where you're coming from or i understand how hard it is to break free from this vice holding you down. but i can tell you this because i live it every day: life is incredible. it is full of wonder and happiness and love and excitement. it is hard work but that struggle makes you feel so accomplished and strong and capable.
i hope you can one day experience this life as it was meant to be lived. and i hope one day that broken smile will be whole again.
love,
me
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