So I'm from Augusta, Georgia, kind of a quiet small
town in Georgia, you know.
That's kind of what drew me out here to California.
So I'd been living out here in San Diego for about a year.
That's when the accident, you know, happened.
So the day he came in, what we remember hearing was a
very brief report.
We were told he was a young gentleman who had been in a
high-speed motor vehicle collision and he had a motor
neuro deficit, meaning he was unable to move or feel
his legs.
And so at that point is when I called Dr.
Keshavarzi, our neurosurgeon, to come evaluate him emergently
for possible surgery.
The day I met Noah, what was impressive to me and what I
still remember is how calm he was and how he was working
with the team, he was very cooperative,
he was very calm.
Very much the ideal patient you could ask for in a
situation like that.
We took him to surgery pretty quickly, I would say
very quickly, because we could depend on this team that we had
and we could depend on all these folks doing their jobs.
So now we had done a really good job.
We thought we did a really nice job for him.
And it's our chance to see a great recovery.
If you see it within the first 10, let's say 2 to
10 hours, you're super excited.
Unfortunately, we didn't see much.
And then every day I would round on Noah and see him in
the hospital and we would move him, and I didn't
see any improvement.
It's definitely, being in the position I was, at such a young
age and just, you know, and you're faced with am I
going to be paralyzed, in a wheelchair, for the rest
of my life?
And, you know, everything that goes along with living
like that, your whole life changes.
You know, it's very, very scary.
Right, so I got a phone call.
I had a message, this is maybe 3 months after he left.
So I got on the phone and I said, "Hey, how's it going?"
He goes, "Yeah, doc, I just want to say thank you.
I'm walking and wanted to let you know."
And I didn't believe him.
I said, "What do you mean you're walking?" He goes,
"No, I'm walking normal." I said, "OK, then make me a
video and send it to me." He has my phone number.
So I hung up the phone and I went back to work.
And then I got a video on my phone and it was Noah.
He had just made that in that 10-minute span that I've been
waiting for him.
And I was like, oh my God, that's amazing.
And I was actually very excited for him.
I mean, it really shocked me.
And it was, it was incredible, actually.
A couple of days later, I get a call from him again
and he says, would you be willing to come out to
San Diego, you know, and to meet everybody,
that we can, that had everything to do with
your surgery, you know?
And I immediately said yes.
So this is
...
Do you mind finishing this up for me?
I probably wouldn't be where I'm at, you know,
if you didn't, you know, go in there, do whatever
you did, man.
So, yeah, thank you.
I'm grateful for that.
Once again, you're an awesome doctor.
I'll all scarred up now.
It was really amazing.
You know, he just was so grateful and doing,
thriving, that it was just, it really reminds us why we do
what we do.
And so things like that really keep us going.
This year has been harder than ever for everybody here
in the hospital.
And so to have something like this, I think really
lifted all of us up.
Just as, from the moment I rolled into the hospital,
I felt like I was in great hands, you know.
I got the comfort that I really needed mentally.
And physically they were going to do everything
they possibly could.
So I wasn't worried about any of that when I showed up,
upon arrival.
After, I mean, the care just continued.
I mean, it just was great.
You know, I never, any time I asked for anything at
Sharp at all, it got done, you know, they were happy to
do it too.
It's, it's, the passion of these people, is there.
You can tell they love their job.
They want to do it and, you know, they want to
be there.
You know, it's not just a job for them.
It's ...
It's more.