Fast forward 5 years and 130,000 wheelchairs later…   Many people ask if I plan to get back into orthopedic surgery.  I spent years learning this specialty and I could easily return to my practice.  I think about going back often, and sometimes question if I am using my talents fully by functioning as Medical Director for FWM instead of using my talents as a surgeon.

This question was answered a few months ago when I was back in India.  About 300 wheelchairs sat on a hill 100 yards away, and about that many people sat on the grass in front of the stage.  I wondered where the disabled people were because only a few people in front of the stage looked disabled.  As the speeches ended, I witnessed one of the most moving experiences of my life.  As the people in the audience made their way up the hill towards the wheelchairs either by crawling, rolling, dragging themselves, or being carried; I realized everyone in the audience was disabled.  This large group labored for the last time across the ground, and they began a new life by climbing into their donated wheelchairs. 

Within minutes, three hundred people received a chance for a better life.  They were able to regain their dignity, and experience God’s love first hand. Although they had often been told of God’s love for them, it was not until this night that it was apparent in their faces that they felt this love.  Many of the recipients had prayed their whole life for a wheelchair, and on this night their prayers were answered.
 
A physician is trained to heal, improve quality of life, lift spirits, and most of all “to do good”.  That evening in India made me realize I am helping heal people’s souls and improving their lives more through the FWM than I ever could as a surgeon.  I know I am using the talents God gave me in the right way.