Time moved on the way it always does. I built a career, became the surgeon others called when the stakes were highest, and let personal dreams fall quietly to the side. Then, twenty years later, after a long overnight shift, life folded in on itself. In a hospital parking lot, a young man stormed toward me, furious and shaken, shouting words fueled by fear and exhaustion. Only when I saw the faint scar across his face did recognition hit — the child I once operated on, now grown. His anger wasn’t about the past alone; his mother was in distress, sitting in a car just feet away, showing signs that made every alarm in my mind go off at once. Instinct took over. Within minutes, she was inside, surrounded by a team, and I was preparing once again for a race against time. Continue reading…

Continue READING