Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of "A Man is Known by the Company He Keeps" (without using the actual phrase). (01/31/08)
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TITLE: The Unconventional Doctor | Previous Challenge Entry
By Terri Arnett
02/04/08 -
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His green eyes seemed to dance when he introduced himself and his voice was gravely from chain-smoking two packs a day for most of his life. This didn’t hinder him from projecting a gregarious, “Hi! How ya do’n? Great to see you,” — and he meant it. Despite his short fingers he offered a firm handshake, and a combination of alcohol swabs and English Leather became his trademark cologne. His shoulder length brown hair was pulled neatly back into a pony tail, and he wore a diamond earring any woman would envy. He sported a graying Sam Elliott mustache that made his mouth almost invisible until he smiled.
Always the rebel, he didn’t allow himself to be tethered by HMOs and expressed his opinions of them with colorful language only a priest could forgive. He was a maverick in the ways of corporate medicine but a type of savior to those in need. The belief that everyone was entitled to excellent health care was backed by his actions. For those who could not pay, he extended a fatherly hug and forgave the debt, covering their hardship with his humanity. Yet it seems this was the beginning of his downfall. The charity he extended to others took its toll when the office rent went unpaid forcing him to treat his patients from his home.
The day we received the call from his nurse that Dr. Keltch had been found dead in his bathroom, we cried. She confided that aside from her, he had told no one he had cancer. Knowing his days were numbered, he took his patient files and one by one determined who would be in greatest need of their medical records, once again proving his selfless nature. Knowing my son, Jeremy, had almost died, he included him in this elect group. Sadly, the man who made it possible for others to receive the care they needed, in the end, could not afford it for himself.
At his funeral, the sun glistened on the sea of Harley Davidson’s proving the majority of attendees were what we had suspected his friends were all along — bikers and bouncers, people you probably wouldn’t see in church. They gave him a send off Hollywood could not have scripted. The Roses and Lilies could not mask hints of reefer; beer was chosen to toast someone so unashamedly loved. Their waving cigarette lighters to Bob Seger’s, Against the Wind, was fitting. It ended with this off-beat group unveiling the Gerald Keltch Memorial Fund designed to help families in medical crisis, carrying on his compassion for those in need, demolishing any stereotype.
He wrote life lessons on our hearts, our lives forever changed by one man’s courage and determination to live his convictions.
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Laury
His death made me go "Ohhh, that's so sad".
What a great ending that a memorial fund was set up showing his generosity has rubbed off on others.
I was sad to hear about the doctor dying, and yet it is great that a fund was setup in his honor. Awesome job!