Sitting in the CF Minnesota clinic this last December, a nurse hands Dr. Billing’s, my new CF Minnesota physician, an old 1980’s official-looking record with Dr. Warwick’s signature on it.  Dr. Billing’s delicately takes the piece of paper setting it down ever-so gently, around its edges, ensuring not to wrinkle but to preserve.

She says, “Look at that Dr. Warwick’s signature.”  The document states my genetic mutation, certified by Dr. Warren Warwick.

I knew at that moment Dr. Warwick, with absolute, was not well. During this past year I had been trying to send him a card of appreciation. It had been met with shyness, mellow rumblings, and messages back and forth.

February 15 he passed at the age of 88. The day after I found out tears just fell down my cheeks, out of nowhere. At first I thought, “What is wrong with me?” A moment later, “Oh, Dr. Warwick  . . . “

Since his passing, there have been such kind articles and an out-pouring from his patients and colleagues. Kindness, appreciation, honor, and gratitude have been the common theme.

There is a theory by Malcolm Gladwell being at the right place at the right time. If you haven’t read his heavy hitters, they are all worth a read. “Outlier’s” highlights, questions, theorizes how, when, and where a person is born in history tells, forecasts, and perhaps becomes their story more so then anything in one’s life. What opportunities present itself at that moment you turn to the right or you turn to the left, historically, conversationally, culturally. All his books are worth a read. You learn something about yourself, the person next to you, and across from you, be it across the room or across the country.

In all honesty, I am writing these words and I am here because I was born 30 miles away from the best clinic in the country and some publications say the world.

But before finding our way to the CF clinic and Dr. Warwick, my mom said one doctor after another passed me along, saying that since I had a bowel obstruction at birth, low weight was to be expected.  I was hospitalized four times before diagnosis, and even though several months they pinned my mother as a worrier and overly-anxious.  But her mother instincts said, “No. Something is wrong.”

One such evening, my mom brought me to a hospital and then sent home with an unclear diagnosis. They did a chest x-ray, which was later retrieved by the CF clinic that showed a collapse of my right lung and pneumonia. How or why I was sent home with those findings is unknown, but my mom later said, “You just kept coughing and you were just so little.  I just knew something was wrong.”  I was 9lbs at 9 months.

That next morning she made a call to one doctor she liked and she felt had compassion. He said over the phone, “After thinking, I think, I know what Tessa has.”  He then recommended my mom to bring me to the cystic fibrosis center at the University of Minnesota and he made a call. Finally my mom met Dr. Warwick, my real diagnosis was made, and they admitted me for a month. Much work was to be done on the nurses and physicians end as well as my parents.  In time, I slowly started to breathe better and plump up.

Whatever my mom’s mishaps, she is a mother true to the end – seek and destroy.

Dr. Warwick was a pioneer, forever a mentor, educator, and I believe 110% I am persistent and dedicated as I am because of him.

My life is because of me – but I was born at the right time and place, and I met Dr. Warwick at the right time and the right place.

Thank you, Dr. Warwick.  I cannot say enough. His obituary is below.

Note: I was tested for CF when I was born. The sweat test was negative. This is common since babies often do not produce enough sweat to get an accurate result.

Me, before diagnosis, summer 1978. Roughly 9 months old.

Then, post diagnosis, about 6-9 months later. Close to a year and half old. I plumped up!

Dr. Warwick’s obituary:

http://www.startribune.com/obituary-warren-warwick-helped-cystic-fibrosis-patients-have-longer-lives/370382911/

“The New Yorker” article the obituary references:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/06/the-bell-curve

Work Cited:

Gawande, Atul.  The Bell Curve.  The New Yorker.  December 6, 2004.  www.thenewyorker.com.  December 6, 2004.

Gladwell, Malcolm.  Outliers.  New York.  Little, Brown and Company 2008.

Howatt, Glenn.  Warren Warwick helped CF patients live longer lives. Star Tribune. February 27, 2016. www.startribune.com. February 27, 2016.