It's THANKSGIVING - Be THANKFUL!

Here is an amazing email I received from one of my ebayers -
I told you - I meet the best people on ebay!

"I'm leaving my office, locking the door and a man comes out from behind an archway 6' behind me, puts a gun to my head and pulls the door open. I gave him everything that he asked for from me. 40 seconds came and passed. The alarm sounded from the motion detection. He told me to turn off the alarm, which was within a foot of where he stood. I figured no way and told him so. He took a step back, shot me in the abdomen, dead center at the waist line between the navel and right hip. The .38 caliber bullet went directly through a 2 day old Cole Haan leather belt, changed trajectory and velocity, and instead of hitting an organ, it spun upward and into a curly-cue direction and came out just above my navel. Never hit an organ even though he shot me from 6' away straight on.

I got to a phone, called 911, and paramedics arrived within 3 minutes. Went to trauma in the Houston Medical Center. Got great treatment. Ends up the first of two police officers was a patient of Esta's. One of the two paramedics was a patient. The admittance clerk at Memorial Hermann was a patient. Then I was out of it. When I awoke, I remember them telling me to drink this liquid because the x-ray did not show the bullet (which everyone thought was still inside of me). They had to do a scan. I went out cold in the scan and then I heard voices and recognized Esta's as she was talking to the trauma surgeon. The surgeon said, Dr. Kronberg, you don't remember me but I was your patient as a teenager for acne. And, you gave me the letter of recommendation to get me into medical school. The good news is that I have never sent a trauma gunshot victim home the night of a shooting. He's the first. The bad news, we found a massive tumor on the kidney and it needs to come out. Get him to Urology first thing tomorrow morning.

It was malignant. Massive 7 cm tumor, barely encased within the kidney sack. Stage 1, possibly hours to days from becoming Stage 2. Symptoms do not appear until Stage 3, which is not very good.

The guy comes to rob me, kill me and ends up saving my life. I put him away for life after testifying in a murder trial. He beat 9 women almost to death, he robbed 7 people including me, shot all 7 and killed 3.
One older woman would not give him the death penalty.

4 years later, clean as a whistle and I am the most unusual case on the lecture circuit for the surgeons at M D Anderson. Now I donate 10 hours a week to M D Anderson Cancer Center and CanCare Inc to help cancer victims learn to deal with their life and to help get their families to support each individual. "

Be well. Happy Thanksgiving.

Now - most important is the detail of the Cole Haan belt - this guy loves clothing! I love him! But it is quite a story! We all hopefully have lots to be thankful for on this day of THANKSGIVING. Did you know that it was Abraham Lincoln who made it the holiday it is today. The pilgrims would probably cringe if they saw the way we celebrate it - I just finished reading/actually listening to The Mayflower and these people really never had Thanksgiving the way we have been taught to imagine it. Ah well - the book was great!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING