The Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine

Pulled From the Team – A Visit to Jeremy’s Cardiologist

Jeremy Daniels
jdaniels2@cw.bc.ca

Jeremy Daniels had Kawasaki ’s disease as a baby and subsequent atherosclerosis.  His cardiologist, Dr. MacPherson, requested he quit his basketball team when he was in grade five to prevent foreseeable injury.  His open heart operation report from the following year notes a heavily collaterized right coronary system, a completely blocked left anterior descending artery, and a tightly narrowed circumflex – all of which (and their meaning) were not known to him as he was removed from the basketball team.

The following is his response to being asked to quit the team:

…“The whole reason God put me on Earth was to play basketball for the Chicago Bulls”, I objected. Surely he would see, surely he would understand, surely I could talk some sense into this man! 

But I couldn’t, he wouldn’t budge, and mom was totally taking his side! That’s just like her, she always agrees with whatever Dr. MacPherson says.

Didn’t she see? Couldn’t she understand? 

What would I do if I couldn’t play basketball? This is terrible! I’d rather die than not play basketball, really. 

Maybe I could make a deal with them that I’m OK with taking the risk that I might die, because to not play the game would be worse than dying! This is killing the best part of me anyway, what does it matter if the rest goes too?

Wait a minute, something’s not right here – why are they looking at me that way? They don’t seem angry, or excited, or ready to argue. They both seem very sad, concerned. What the hell are they so serious about? I’m the one who’s being kicked off the basketball team! 

There’s something else going on here – something scary. What’s going on? Why don’t they want to argue about this? 

It seemed a minute ago they were both against me, but now it seems that maybe they’re actually trying to help. Their faces are telling me getting back on the team isn’t a fight worth winning. What’s happened here? What’s gone wrong?

It’s probably something on the EKG, or the echo. Damn that EKG, it was probably when I moved to scratch that itch. Why did this have to happen to me anyway? Why couldn’t it have happened to someone less talented, or someone who didn’t care about basketball? Why couldn’t it have happened to someone like my brother who likes horses, or someone who likes swimming, or baseball.

And now what am I going to do? My plan was to play in the NBA after I graduated high school, maybe do some Gatorade ads on the side for extra money, maybe give some of that extra money to the hospital kids who were sick or to my mom since she’d be old then and the Chicago Bulls probably pay pretty good anyway. They won’t want me for the Gatorade ads if I don’t play in the NBA. I guess I can still graduate high school, but then what?

What am I going to do now? 

(Mom and Dr. MacPherson talk about my coronary arteries (or something) while I begin re-planning the next 25 years of my life. Oh, I see they’re packing up, mom’s writing something in one of those little books, I guess it’s time to go…)

“Huh? Okay, see you in a few months. No, I don’t mind, I understand” (You bastard.)

(Jeremy’s cardiologist has had his identity protected by fake name in this piece. He now thanks Dr. MacPherson for removing him from the team, although at the time it was a tough pill to swallow as it destroyed his life plan and self-concept [however accurate] almost entirely.)

Published: April 22, 2006