The Doctor Who Wasn't There -- But Saved A Life

Christmas and an approaching New Year always bring to mind blessings of past years. Of those many blessings; one stands out in my mind with not only amazing clarity but mystery:

In the Spring of 2003 I had major surgery in Austin, Texas. I came through just fine and my brother, a well-known Texas entertainer, who lived in Austin at the time, drove me home to central Texas on the sixth day after the operation. A friend from East Texas joined us that evening at my house and the three of us had an early supper, and after visiting a bit, retired for the night.

I had coffee made the next morning and was visiting with our East Texas friend when my brother got up and came into the living room. He sat down in a chair, we exchanged morning pleasantries and suddenly his speech turned into a foreign language and made no sense whatsoever. The startled look on his face indicated he was aware something was terribly wrong and I’m sure looking at our faces confirmed his fears.

Within seconds the left side of his body went limp, his face drooped and there could be no doubt in anyone’s mind he’d had a stroke. Trying not to show fear; I suggested he lay down for a bit. We helped him to the bedroom and our friend called an ambulance immediately. Before the ambulance got there Brother attempted to get out of bed, fell and cut his forehead and knee. He was now bleeding profusely and his entire left side was paralyzed. He obviously wanted to go back to the living room so he and I bounced off the walls all the way down the hall and finally arrived at a chair.

The ambulance arrived and the two attendants attempted to reason with Brother. It was obvious he had no intention of them taking him to the hospital – and an adult has that option and cannot be forced to go -- so they left. We were back to square one. By then, panic had set in on my part. I knew time was of the essence in getting a stroke victim to medical help. After much pleading and begging, Brother agreed our friend and I could take him to the ER in the family car.

The ER in our small Texas town is really a stop-gap for serious illness or injury before being sent on to bigger and better equipped hospitals in Waco, Texas – 35 miles away. When we drove up in front of the ER I saw the ambulance that had just left my house parked and waiting for whatever happened next. Standing on the ER portico was a beautiful, black lady. She was very young, tiny and had a stethoscope, nearly as big as she was, around her neck. I assumed she was either a nurse in training or an aide. When we began trying to help Brother out of the car she immediately came forward and introduced herself. "I’m Dr. Brown, what do we have here?"

Not wanting to use the word "stroke" in front of Brother, I just said he’d become terribly ill and needed medical attention. She put one of Brother’s arms around her neck and our friend took the other side and we walked, really sort of stumbled, into the ER. Once inside Dr. Brown did a quick examination and had people running like crazy with machines, IV’s and only heaven knows what else. Dr. Brown was undoubtedly the most amazing human being I’d ever seen in my life. When she came out in the hall to confirm a stroke she was concise and direct.

"We’re sending your brother to Providence Hospital in Waco immediately. This stroke is massive and life threatening and time is of the essence. There’s not enough time to wait on Care-Flite to get here to airlift him. I’ve stabilized him as best I can, notified the police to get traffic off the road between here and Providence and we’re going to load him in the ambulance immediately for transport. As you’ll have a police escort all the way; if y’all drive directly behind the ambulance you can get through faster. Make sure to put your emergency blinkers on."

I quickly thanked her, watched them load my brother in the ambulance and my friend and I got in the pickup with Friend driving. When the ambulance pulled out of the ER driveway behind two police cars that had appeared out of nowhere; traffic was already stopped on both sides of the road and with siren blazing we’d hit 60 mph before we were out of the city limits. Once we were on Highway 6 to Waco – I couldn’t believe my eyes.

There was heavy highway construction going on all the way to Waco and policemen, State Highway Patrol and Sheriff’s Department cars had appeared from everywhere within three counties. They had all traffic off the road for 35 miles and the way was clear and a straight shot. When we crossed the county line our Sheriff’s Department dropped out and the next county’s Sheriff’s Dept. smoothly pulled in and took the lead. Two police cars, the ambulance and our truck were the only cars on the road. As I wasn’t driving I didn’t know how fast we were going but the fence posts were certainly zipping by.

When we reached the Providence Hospital ER there were nurses, doctors and a stretcher waiting under the portico and Brother had disappeared into the ER before I could even get out of the truck and follow. I remarked to Friend that I thought the 70 mph speed we had reached was amazing to which he replied: "Darlin’ – we hit 100 mph several times – I’m glad you didn’t know it – all these boys in front of us meant business!"

After a nine-day stay in the Waco hospital; Brother was released to go home and begin the longest, strangest, hardest journey of his entire life. The amazing part of it all is he lived through it and with intense conviction and faith has made it back to the world of the living. It’s been an ongoing process these past six years and will continue all his life.

As he says, "There’s good times and there’s bad times -- but there’s still time!" All his doctors said he’d never walk, talk and most assuredly would never entertain again. He now does all three and quite well, I might add. The medical community just shake their heads and call Brother their "miracle man" as there’s no medical science that can explain it. It’s simply a miracle -- that transpired because of another miracle!

What has this got to do with the Christmas Season and coming New Year, you ask? Well, things were very hectic for many months after Brother’s stroke and it was Christmas time before I got back home and to our little, Central Texas ER to personally thank the amazing Dr. Brown for saving my brother’s life. Dr. Brown was not in the ER nor did anyone that worked in the ER know her. To a person, including all the other doctors, they said a Dr. Brown had never worked there.

Not to be dissuaded I went to the hospital administrator. He explained to me that the ER doctors in our little town were not staff doctors but hired from a Dallas/Ft. Worth area group of physicians that provided ER docs to small town hospitals. He pulled out a file and produced a list of all the doctors that had ever worked for the hospital ER for the last 15 years. There was no Dr. Brown on the list. I thanked him and left the hospital through the ER entrance from whence I’d come, totally confused.

As I walked to my car the hospital’s brightly lit, Christmas scene was twinkling in the cold, late afternoon dusk. It was a group of small, comic-like characters dancing on the lawn, to which hospital related objects had been added. One figure had on a nurse’s cap and an old, empty wheel chair stood among the group. A rusted old bed pan sat at the feet of one reindeer. For some reason I found the display strangely disconcerting and hurried to my car and left.

As the evening progressed I couldn’t get the hospital’s Christmas lawn decor off my mind and didn’t know why. I felt absolutely compelled to go back to the display. Finally, in desperation, I drove back to the hospital and parked by the curb to study the characters on the lawn now sparkling and twinkling like crazy in the cold, Texas night.

We don’t get much snow in Central Texas but tiny flakes had begun to fall as I sat there pondering just what it was that bothered me about comic figures in a Christmas scene -- and then I saw her. A tiny, brightly twinkling, lady angel, with huge wings, set slightly back from the rest of the display. She seemed to twinkle brighter and stronger than any of the other figures -- and around her neck there hung a huge, comic stethoscope; just as Dr. Brown had worn the day of my brother’s stroke. Coincidence? I think not!

I suddenly realized, without doubt, Dr. Brown did indeed, exist that day in the ER -- but ONLY that day! There was no point in me trying to find her because it couldn’t be done. I absolutely KNEW she was my brother’s guardian angel and she accomplished the mission for which she had been sent. Her Boss is the reason for the season so why couldn’t she twinkle on the lawn of the place where she did her best work -- at least long enough to assure a determined, old lady (me) her sanity was intact?

I sat there, car motor running, long enough to send up a silent prayer of thanks to both Dr. Brown and her Boss. When I was done praying a beautiful peace followed. I had no doubt the twinkling, lawn angel with the huge stethoscope was an answer just for me and I knew my "thank you mission" was complete. I don’t claim to have heard any bells tinkling that night but tinkling bells or not; Dr. Brown, the angel, definitely earned her wings in a small, central Texas Emergency Room. If she chose to wait until Christmas to show them off to a doubting old lady -- well, angels can twinkle anywhere, any time they choose!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Having delved into this matter intensely it seems only five people saw Dr. Brown and it was on that one day only. We're all convinced she existed in the flesh and we all conversed with her although none of us have ever seen or heard of her again. Those five people are: The two ambulance drivers, our friend from East Texas and myself. Oh, yes, the fifth person that saw her was my brother. He speaks often of the beautiful Dr. Brown that rode in the ambulance with him to Waco, how she comforted him and how he knows she saved his life -- but one can't count on what a critically ill man thinks he saw.