My friend

Let me tell you about my friend, he is fighting for his life as we speak. He fought oral cancer about 10 years ago and won! Now he is fighting Leukemia, he had a bone marrow transplant 18 days ago, his body is not responding and in fact is losing the battle right now. The last 2 days we have had a hint of good news, but it is still a very serious situation. He is in ICU at Barnes Hospital in St Louis and his dear wife has been at his side every minute. His battle began in October 2007 with 3 rounds of chemo and then many other varied treatments in preparation for the bone marrow transplant. Let me tell you about him, his name is Richard Fox. There are only a few times in anyones life, I think, that you can say were life changing moments. When this friend asked me to work for him it was one of those moments. He is a General/vascular surgeon - I was his best friends secretary. When his best friend decided to move out of state, I decided to make a job change. Dr Fox asked me to come work for him as a private surgical scrub - what was he thinking? I was a secretary, with not the best typing skills, (his best friend would attest to that!), but he said he wanted to teach me to scrub with him, so I would do it the way that would be the best help for him. That opened a whole new world for me. I went to work for him for several years and then began working for the hospital - I worked in surgical services for 20 years! That really does not tell you about my friend. He is one of the most compassionate Drs you will ever meet. I wish I could describe for you how he would go talk to the family after a difficult surgery, and sit on the floor cross legged, drawing pictures on a napkin or whatever scrap paper someone had to show them and explain in laymans terms so they could understand what he did. He never spoke over their head - his goal always was to help them understand. He never made a phone call to the waiting room, he always went and spoke to them face to face. I asked him why he had become a doctor, he said when he was little his mother had a brain anuerysm, she was in ICU and he and his brother were scared. The doctor took them to an x-ray view box, sat him up on the table and explained to them what had happened and what they were doing to help. That was it, that was what he wanted to be! A compassionate caregiver that would take time with the family to help them understand. There are 100's of people in this area that will attest to the fact that he has attained that goal, many whose lives he was instrumental in saving, many who passed on, but the families knew he did all he could. He loves surgery, I used to tell him he was not happy unless he was making someone bleed - it's true - he loves it. More importantly he loves God and he brought up his family in church. He and his wife have 5 children, he did not send them to church, but he brought them. He sang in the choir, he served as a deacon. I have many funny stories I could tell about my friend, but that is for another day, today I just want you to meet my friend and ask you to pray for him. Thanks.