The First Patient

To my donor. Your generosity and gift to my medical education is one that I will never be able to repay. Yet there is immense gratitude now and for the rest of my career. This past year, I've been able to get to know you on a deeper personal level. More than anything, I hope that you are resting in peace, knowing that you've given me the greatest gift anyone ever could. Thank you. For someone to make the ultimate donation, giving all that remains of them for the betterment of everybody else, even though they won't be around to see the fruits of that gift. It says something tremendous about the capacity of people. So much of life is the experience outside of the body, and I wish I had the opportunity to see the hopes and dreams, the choices, the love, and the loss that these people experienced, because that part of the human experience is what makes the choice so special. I don't know their reasons, I don't know their names, I don't know their stories. I'll never know where they went to school or what they did for work, who they loved or who loved them. But I do know their gift. Memories from their lives are their gifts to their loved ones. Their donation is their gift to us. What we get in our textbooks is the destination, the end goal, but what our Davers give us is the journey, and the amount of learning and experience we get through that journey is something I will always be grateful for. There are a lot of parts of the human body that are almost magical because it doesn't make sense how chemicals just come together to form the human body. There's this moment where you recognize that the systems, a play are so much more complicated than you will ever fully understand. But at the same time, the actual structures and the way they fit together is so much more simple than we ever really appreciate. It's this strange dichotomy that is so hard to encapsulate in words that it's impossible to leave feeling anything but just the in awe of the body that you work with. Leonardo DaVinci once said, L earning is the only thing the mind, never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets. This quote is very apt for the incredible learning environment that was gifted to us by our donors. DaVinci used his time learning about the anatomical features of the human body, which we have been blessed to understand deeper in our anatomy lab. The human body is a wonderful, intricate, and profound system, and I am one of many people responsible for helping people protect it. The chance to learn and grow over the past year has been one of the most transformative experiences in my life. I'm so deeply grateful to our donor and their family for giving me this opportunity. As I've come to the end of this year, looking back on all that I've learned and reflecting intentionally on this experience, there is a deep gratitude, a sense of connection to this person, even though I don't have any idea who they are, who they were, and may never know that. I'm still grateful for the life they lived, the gift that they decided to make, and for the experience that I had because of that gift. From the first day to the last day, the amount that my skills improved, the amount that I gained a better understanding of the human body. I'm going to take this with me for the rest of my life, and that sort of experience, I know is going to make me a better physician. Perhaps you have not opened your soul to me. That part of you has already fled immaterial into the ether. And yet, with your dying breath, you gave your body to me, you opened your heart, your lungs, your brain. The soul does not remain to give life and personality to the frame, but the tissues tell their own story. I strive with unlearned eyes to read the story of your life through static remains. All at once, I was struck by the awesome responsibility and trust that is placed in doctors to both understand and intimately appreciate the human body. I'm not ashamed to say that the experience brought tears to my eyes. I left each day with a renewed sense of purpose. The human body is a wonderful, intricate, and profound system. Thank you, so incredibly much. I know words don't justify the gift that you have given me. But yet I still say them today because it is the only way that I can express to you how grateful I am. As my patient, your gift, intentionally given will extend your life working through me to touch the hearts and minds of all my future patients. May your soul, wherever it lands, find peace and joy in knowing, you continue to bless others for many years to come.