We’ll Call Him Lazarus

A few weeks ago, I arrived on the surgical ward to round on a Saturday morning. Right away, I noticed a new face on the ward: a happy, smiling 5-year-old sitting up in bed and looking chipper. I started seeing my usual patients while waiting for my surgical partner (who had been on-call overnight) to sign out the new patient. When he arrived and I asked about the new kid, he was shocked, “That can’t be the same kid. The kid I saw last night was almost dead!” The boy’s family quickly nodded to Dr. Ben with huge smiles on their faces. “It’s a miracle!” they declared.  This little boy had been struck by a car and brought in with a severe head injury. The back of his skull had been crushed and he arrived in a coma.  Everyone thought he would die. If he didn’t die, everyone thought he would be severely brain injured. Yet, here he was, less than 12 hours later, sitting up and acting like a completely normal 5-year-old. He had ZERO neurological impairment. In fact he went home the next day, with a new name: Lazarus. 

(Story and picture shared with permission)