The Dr. Richard Carmona thing.

Re: The Dr. Richard Carmona thing. The name might sound familiar, he was the Surgeon General for several years under George W. Bush. He’s currently running for Arizona Senator Kyl’s vacated seat in the Senate and he has quite the back-story: high school drop-out, became a field medic in Vietnam, got his doctorate on the GI Bill and for many years was very much the man about Tucson before becoming the USSG. As impressive as that is on a resume, I want to add this little, personal anecdote: when my wife was 15, she was involved, as a passenger, in a drunk driving accident where the car her mother was driving was struck, broadside, on the rear half of the vehicle where she was seated. Her mother and sister, in the front two seats, were basically fine but she was pinned to the distorted backseat by the seatbelt. In addition to significant spinal injuries, the most immediate concern was the internal bleeding caused by the seatbelt. Taken to the local trauma center, she was essentially considered dead on arrival, so extensive were her injuries. There was no surgeon willing to perform such a high-risk, low-reward, surgery-except Dr. Carmona. In an instance where I’m sure his battlefield training came in handy, he willingly accepted this virtually no-win situation and saved her life for no other reason then a sense of duty to this stranger. And there’s more. Not only did he save her life, while performing the surgery, he had the conscience left to save her damaged ovaries, thinking of her quality of life years down the road. I remember when she first became pregnant, we went in to the obstetrician who doubted that she could bring a baby to term because she had such a significant bowel reduction (80%) but she did, twice, because she’s a little bad-ass (the reason I married her). As a result of his actions, taken when no one would have blamed him for doing nothing, I have two beautiful, healthy daughters and they have a healthy mother. So, we kind of love the Doctor in my house and I’m suggesting you should, too. I wonder how many other stories there are like this about him because I doubt this was the only time he acted out of conscience. We have come to accept so much less than this in ourselves, in those around us and especially in our leaders. I’m writing this before I go down to his office to volunteer, so it doesn’t sound political, but that is my next stop when I’m done. So, Carmona for Arizona 2012 and, you know what, Clinton-Carmona 2016 has a nice ring to it…All the Best, TVA.