The man came into the emergency room of St. Louis’ Barnes-Jewish Hospital complaining of abdominal pain. Having no insurance, he had avoided medical care as long as he could, but the pain had finally become too intense.
The gastroenterologist called in to consult that day was Darrell Gray, a young physician from Baltimore doing a fellowship at the hospital, which is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The patient, in his late 40s or early 50s, had blood in his stool and a mass in his stomach.
“It didn’t take much more diagnostic work to understand that, feeling the mass and seeing that his history of passing blood, this was likely a cancer,” Gray recalls. “Here’s a young guy who comes in with what was later found to be metastatic cancer. At that point I really couldn’t do much for him.”
That experience, and others like it, prompted Gray to continue his already extensive training, which included the fellowship, a residency at Duke, and medical school at Howard University. To top that off, he spent the last year at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
Gray got a taste of public health work during his fellowship. While in St. Louis, he designed a bridge program to connect disadvantaged populations with the health care system. His target population was African-American men, who have a higher incidence of colorectal cancers than the general population, a reality that, in poorer neighborhoods, is compounded by other barriers to health care, such as a lack of insurance, a lack of knowledge about preventive measures, and chronic unemployment.
To reach these men, Gray contacted area churches, gave short educational presentations during the community announcement portion of Sunday services, and followed up with those who contacted him, connecting them with screening services and primary-care physicians. The experience was satisfying, but also made him realize how much he didn’t know.
“I realized from that program that there were some areas I needed strengthening in: health policy, public health, population health,” Gray said. “While I enjoy seeing a patient in the office, I want to be able to impact populations.”
Gray, who graduates this spring with a master’s in public health, said he has benefited greatly from his year at HSPH. In addition to his academic work, he shook hands with the prime minister of Namibia, met with the former health minister of Kenya, met senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, and met with Jonathan Woodson, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
“I had high expectations coming in, but it has exceeded my expectations,” said Gray, who is at HSPH on a Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy.
He led a tough life. The odds were stacked against him and, at one time, it did seem that he wouldn’t be able to make it through high school. He, and almost everyone around him, just couldn’t imagine seeing him succeed.
Imagine having a lottery ticket worth $50 million in your hands then having it disappear without a trace. Well Hakeem Nosiru (pictured left) and his wife, Abiola (pictured), lived the nightmare of having a winning ticket worth more than they could possibly ever spend in their lifetimes then losing it before they could cash it in to lottery officials. The bleak story does have a phenomenally happy ending, though, as the ticket was eventually found months later by a church member, reports the Toronto Sun.
Hakeem checked the winning ticket in January at a convenience store, and after discovering he had a winning ticket, his joy could not be restrained. The Father of four and grandfather of five was ecstatic about his win and actually ran through the aisles of the store shouting and crying over his win.
Just one day after Hakeem and Abiola were flying high over their Lotto Max win, however, they quickly spiraled back down, as they could not put their hands on the winning ticket.
According to Hakeem, he gave his wife of 29 years the winning ticket to secure in her purse, but when they went to church the day after their huge win, she somehow lost it. Abiola was beyond any form of consolation, the woman tells the Toronto Sun, “I couldn’t sleep for days, I couldn’t eat. I was devastated.”
Ironically, Nosiru had so much angst about possibly losing the ticket that he placed it in an envelope and duct taped it to his stomach. After giving what he thought was a fool-proof move some further thought, he decided his wife’s purse would be a safer and more sensible route to go. He was wrong.
But when Nasiru found out Abiola had misplaced the ticket, he did not explode; instead, he says he remained calm and placed the situation in God’s hands, telling the Toronto Sun, “God gave us the money,” he said. “We lose the ticket and eventually we found it. Thank God for that.”
The Nigerian couple went to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and filled out all of the necessary paperwork just in case their ticket turned up and just kept hope alive. The OLG could not give the couple the monies unless they could produce a ticket. The pair also contacted the police as well to report the missing ticket.
Fate certainly has a sense of humor because on April Fool’s Day, a congregation member contacted the couple to let them know she had found their lottery ticket. Abiola told the Toronto Sun, “When I found it, I was so happy.”
When the ticket was found, the police established that there was no foul play involved in the case and closed it.
The Nosirus learned a valuable lesson after their ordeal: always sign a lottery ticket after purchasing it. OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti also adds, “Keep it in a safe place and check it often as well,” he told the Toronto Sun.
Meanwhile, the Nosirus have not made any big money plans as of yet and are so glad their nightmare is finally over. According to Abiola, losing the money would have been disheartening but they don’t place an emphasis on money but rather on love of family. “We believed that before the money there was a life,” Abiola told the Toronto Sun. “After the money there would be a life.”
For now, the Nasirus want to just kick back and revel in the fortune that they’ve been blessed with and the love they have from their children and grandchildren.
article by Ruth Manuel-Logan via newsone.com
SAN JOSE — San Jose State has expelled three of the students charged with the racially-tinged bullying of a freshman and extended one other student’s suspension, requiring him to go to counseling and to remain on probation for the rest of his college career if he returns to school.