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Jerome McGovern - survivor

I had laparoscopic gallbladder removal on Jan 18, 2008. After remaining in the hospital for a week, they sent me home Jan. 25th. I was rushed back to the hospital a few hours after my discharge with severe stomach pain.

David Smith - survivor

In October 2008 I was participating in a new-hire employee training program in Missouri, when I rapidly became very ill in my hotel room. I thought I had contracted the flu, so I stayed in bed to rest.

Within a few hours I was near delirious, but fortunately several of my classmates checked on me to see why I hadn’t shown up for student activities. My classmates called paramedics, and I spent nine days in the ICU in Missouri, where I was diagnosed with sepsis and stabilized.

James T. Parsons - survivor

In May 2008, I found myself going to the ER with an intense pain in my left side, upper quadrant, and needing to have it checked immediately. It had been localized for several days, but I knew it wasn't appendicitis (which is located in the lower right side). 

I was then unaware that a similar danger can exist from diverticulitis, which can occur anywhere on the colon in those susceptible.  As a doctor's kid, I was also aware of the danger of peritonitis if whatever was causing my pain ruptured, but I was then unaware of the greater danger of sepsis.  

If I had listened to my wife, I would have gone to my primary care physician more quickly, but I figure the pain would get better and I was monitoring my temperature carefully.

Fred Hersch - survivor

Jazz music – soft, invigorating, soothing, loud, sudden, lingering. You can’t put a label onto jazz music because it’s many things to many people. The artists who create the music differ as much as the music does and when we lose another musician, we lose the potential of more of their work.

In 2008, we almost lost another artist, 54-year-old jazz pianist and composer Fred Hersch

Donald "Don" Magee, Sr. - tribute

After my mother passed away from cancer, everyone believed that my father wouldn’t be able to cope without her, that he would fall into the bottle and it wouldn’t be long before he passed as well. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Dad began going to the gym, eating better, drinking less and started going on singles’ cruises. He continued to work and enjoyed going out to his friends’ home for celebrations. Everyone loved my dad.

Judy Otteson - survivor

On November 14, 2004, I was nipped in the right hand by a small, healthy, mixed-breed dog. It was a tiny bite – little more than a cut, really – at the base of my right thumb. It bled freely, and after a good rinse and a Band-Aid, I went home for the night. I felt fine, but watched for the proverbial ”red streaks” that I’d heard (since I was a kid) signified blood poisoning.

John Lewis - tribute

by Heather Lewis