When my friend John Winn was diagnosed
with cancer, he wanted all of us to learn from his illness. Therefore, the “Big
John” project became a reality to help educate our firefighters of the
need to get the necessary preventative care to find life-threatening problems
before they get out of hand. He also
encouraged me, as an individual, to set an example for others by getting a regular
physical.
I must confess to you all that I
kept putting it off, thinking I was bullet proof, until two weeks ago when I
decided to follow-up on John’s request. I
went to my doctor for a physical exam that included a chest x-ray. Last week, my doctor called and told me I
needed to have a CT scan done as the x-ray had shown spots on one of my
lungs. Yesterday, I had the scan done
and, after twenty-four agonizing hours, they called me to say that the scan
results came back showing no problems.
Needless to say I am very relieved but more importantly, I now have a
baseline exam for future reference. The
bottom line is that I would not have gone for this exam had it not been for
John’s encouragement. Thanks, my friend,
for you continue to have my back.
We will remain committed to continue
to promote the “Big John Firefighter Health Awareness Project” with great enthusiasm,
to do our part to see that all of our firefighters have access to the proper
level of preventative care. I encourage each of you to take care of yourselves
by getting an annual physical to create that reference point or baseline that
will be so important to your future.
Take care of yourselves and be
safe out there.
Gerald
