The Tribune

By DR KENNETH D KEMP

ADAM opened his eyes but quickly shut them. He’d been living in darkness for over a week because opening his eyes elicited such burning pain that his head felt like it would explode. His eyelids were swollen to twice their size and half of his face felt tight and twisted. Sensitive to the slightest light and sound, his head throbbed incessantly, like someone was banging it with a hammer. All of his tests were non-definitive and doctors couldn’t determine what was wrong. So, as he lay there in his hospital room, alone in the dark and quiet, Adam reflected on his life. This was ten years ago and he was 34 at the time.

Self-described as a quiet and shy child, Adam loved sports and playing with his brothers. He also loved to watch cartoons, especially He-man, hence the decision to refer to him by the alias Adam, after the show’s protagonist and hero. His past medical history was normal, he doesn’t take any medication, he’s a healthy eater and is incredibly active. Despite this, Adam suffered through multiple injuries throughout his life, each trial pushing his gentle spirit to its limits.

As a ninth grader, Adam usually caught the bus for school in the morning with his older brother and then they’d walk home together afterwards. But, one day his brother didn’t go to school and Adam was forced to ride the bus alone. At the time, and perhaps even now, bus drivers competed against each other aggressively, often speeding from one stop to another trying to capture the greatest number of riders before a rival bus arrived. Their competition was as dangerous for the passengers as it was for the pedestrians.

As Adam was approaching his stop, the bus driver yelled for him to jump off. But in his reckless rush, the driver never fully yielded and Adam was thrown to the concrete pavement. As he landed, his body jerked forward with such crushing velocity that all of his body weight plummeted onto his right ankle. The fall sent shockwaves down Adam’s leg culminating in the most horrific blast imaginable and causing his bones to erupt into multiple fragments. In his embarrassment, Adam gave a thumbs up to the driver to signal that he was okay. He was He-man after all and a small stumble shouldn’t hurt badly. The driver sped off but as Adam tried to stand, the pain was so unbearable that he collapsed to the ground.

A bystander came to his aid. Seeing that Adam’s foot and ankle were swelling, maybe even doubling in size, and turning red, he immediately came to the rescue, lifting the 13-year-old and driving him to where his mother worked. That experience taught Adam that Angels come when they’re most needed.

Adam’s ankle was broken into several pieces. Because he had an open cut to the area acting as a direct portal of entry for bacteria to his bones and ankle joint, his case was considered a surgical emergency. He was rushed into surgery and he remained in hospital for two weeks, all the while on intravenous antibiotics and pain killers. His recovery was slow and he spent nearly three months at home in a cast. It would be almost five months before he could ambulate without a limp.

Once fully recovered, Adam, from grade 10 to 12, excelled in sports. When he graduated, he worked at a job that required a lot of lifting. After several years, he began to experience significant discomfort in his lower stomach and groin regions. The pain intensified so he was seen by his medical physician and was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia, where a portion of his abdomen started to protrude through his lower abdominal wall. Left untreated, it could’ve led to an obstruction and tissue death. So, Adam had it surgically repaired within days of his diagnosis and his recovery period lasted three weeks.

Adam eventually left that job and worked at a hotel for a short while. In both instances, his positions hadn’t existed and were only created because his employer recognized his potential. He then worked at a number of other businesses, always showing a strong work ethic. While in between jobs, and wanting to do the right thing, he also started donating blood.

Even as he married, fathered and raised two children and held a steady job, he continued to donate blood annually for the past two decades because he has one of the rarest blood types in the world, AB negative, seen in less than 1% of the US population.

On a day that he donated blood, and for a few days after, he recalls not eating much. Shortly afterwards he developed a low-grade fever and a headache that persisted for days. Then, his eyes began to sting so he went to his doctor, was placed on an IV drip and told that he had a viral infection. His fever initially went down, but by that night it returned. Four days later he ended up back at the doctor’s office but his physician was off the island. So, he went to a clinic and was placed on a drip once again. True to form, his fever returned within hours along with fatigue, a worsening headache and blurred vision.

The right side of Adam’s face began to droop noticeably, his condition steadily worsening day by day. By the end of the week, with the accompanying pain intensifying, Adam’s family decided it was time for him to go to the hospital, in the scene where I first started his story. His eyes burned when open so he kept them closed, living in complete darkness for over a week. At the hospital, all of his blood tests, diagnostic scans, urinalysis and spinal tap results were normal.

After four days in hospital, a neurologist examined Adam and made note of his Bell’s Palsy, a condition where the nerves on the right side of the face become weak causing the face to droop. He then told Adam that he suspected an eye infection and referred him to see an eye specialist. Within minutes of the eye specialist putting drops into his eyes, Adam says that his pain began to subside and within hours it had resolved entirely. Since then, he’s recovered some of the strength on the right side of his face, but he never regained complete sensation to the area and his smile is no longer symmetrical. A small price to pay to be pain free and visually unobstructed.

Eventually, Adam was hired as a manager for a large Bahamian company. Today, with his eyes wide open and pain-free, the same young man who struggled to find his way is a life coach and a quiet hero to the more than 300 employees who see him as a role model and mentor. Never sure of what he wanted to be in life, he better than anyone, can lead them on a less circuitous path than he had. What he teaches them is that you don’t always have to move forward quickly so long as you don’t move backwards.

He also emphasizes that success is gauged differently to those with a pure heart. As long as he can pay his bills, take care of his wife and children and see them lead an honest and fulfilled life, with a little extra left over to give back to his church and community, he knows that he’s made a meaningful difference.

The Bible teaches us that if you hold onto your life, you’ll lose it, but if you give your life away it becomes everlasting. Following this as a mantra, Adam shares what he’s learned with many young kids who work alongside him and those in his neighborhood, many of whom are just one generation removed from poverty. He lives by three rules, firstly in all things give thanks, secondly always take care of your blessings, and thirdly to always do the best with the skills and gifts that you’ve been blessed with.

William Shakespeare once wrote that the evil men do live long after they are gone, while the good is often tethered to their bones. Adam is as rare as his blood type, a great man with a grateful heart. He proudly says that he’s never measured the success of his life by how much money he has in his account, but by how much love he has in his life. Then, always thinking of how he can give back, Adam paused, smiled and, with a pen and paper in hand, said that he plans to share that quote with his staff in the morning.

This is the KDK Report.

• Nicknamed ‘The Prince of Podiatry’, Dr Kenneth D Kemp is the founder and medical director of Bahamas Foot and Ankle located in Caves Village, Western New Providence. He served as the deputy chairman for the Health Council for five years and he currently sits on the board of directors for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in his role as co-vice-chairman.