Click here tI owe a lot to the many people in my life who helped me to become a physician.
Many people in my life helped along the path of becoming a physician.
My grandmother was one of those people.
But, when I was 17 a near tragic event occurred which almost ended my life.
I grew up on the South Side of Chicago.
I was returning home from a friends house late one cold winter night.
The streets were deserted.
I pulled into my grandmother's driveway ( I always parked my car in her garage),
placed my car in park, and turned off my ignition and headlights.
As I started to open my car door, I heard a voice out of nowhere say: "Don't go in there."
The voice was kind and compassionate--like a mother or father watching over their child.
Bewildered, I took my hand off the door handle, restarted the car and backed the car out of the driveway.
I saw nothing unusual as I was backing out.
I drove around to the rear of her house and paused, looking into the house thru a large picture window. I could see her kitchen dimly lit but nothing else.
Feeling silly, I pulled back into her driveway and placed the car in park.
Moments later, I saw her bedroom window roll open.
I could see the faint outline of my grandmother in the window bobing back and forth against a dim nightlight.
I got out of my car and stood under the window.
"Frankie, is that you?" she asked in a whispering voice.
"Yes" I said.
"Are they gone?" she asked nervously.
"Is who gone?" I asked.
"The men" she replied.
"What men?" I asked.
"Ohhhhhh....There were two men holding a gun on my head when you drove up. They saw you pull in the driveway and came down to meet you..."
Two burglars had broken into her house minutes earlier, held her at gunpoint, and were ransacking her house--I had unknowingly pulled into her driveway while this was occurring. They apparently fled when I backed away and drove to the rear of the house. She later said she had been asleep and awoke with a gun barrel pressed against her head. They called her "Grandma".
I remember seeing dozens of blue lights flashing in the distance after I called the police.
I would probably not be here today telling this story and have become a physician had it
not been for the voice I heard that morning.
My grandmother incidentally lived to be 108 years old.
