Posted by Carl Plaskett on June 21, 2002 at 23:50:38:
In Reply to: 60 Minutes posted by Henry Alken on June 21, 2002 at 21:22:18:
Henry: Well done! Perhaps the "cat is out of the bag"! Think of all the backpedaling 1000s of cardiologists might be doing if the remarkable success of the Cox Maze is made REALLY public!
When I met Dr. Cox last week about planning a "Maze Alumni Reunion" with his enthusiastic support and offers of help in contacting well over 400 of his Maze patients, including numbers 1 & 2 from 1986-'87, my wife and I were struck by his genuine excitement about meeting me and hearing stories of our "new lives". He reads our website and enjoys all of the successes, and has even come to the aid of at least one "slow-to-recover" mazer who had never spoken with Dr. Cox and had his surgery done elsewhere. A more unselfish man, or Saint would be hard to find.
Without him devoting his life to arrhythmia problems, many, many of us would be "long gone". Of course our doctors said: "Nobody dies from afib." Most don't tell afib sufferers that perhaps 40% of strokes are the result of afib; that many people suffer liver, thyroid, lung, and other potentially fatal side effects.
Now, many of us feel immortal! Actually, Ed Wehan has done numerous runs since his Maze a week before mine. At six months post surgery, he ran a 50 mile cross country race in Portland,OR (which I am sure he will do again this July) AND he came in 3rd overall, at age 57, only 18 minutes behind the winner, after 8 hours and 23 minutes! He then ran from the rim of the Grand Canyon, down to the bottom and across, spent the night, and ran back across and up to the rim (in the summer, I might add). Then, last November, he ran an Ultra Running event in Patagonia, which was much more than 50 miles, at extreme altitudes. Pretty good for a guy who, just before his Maze in 1/01, could not beat his five year old daughter in a footrace of any length! Tell Ed that "the Maze doesn't work!!"
The stories of Cox Maze III successes are numerous, the dedicated surgeons who have learned the procedure have been courageous, and so many of us are so thankful for their help.
Now Dr. Cox now has added a most ambitious project to his "retirement": recruit 1000s of cardio and cardio-thoracic surgeons world-wide to perform life-saving surgeries in state-of-the-art surgical hubs around the world, on a year-round basis. This is an example of his determination to serve all who suffer from heart problems, in addition to the millions of afib sufferers in the U.S. The number of surgeons from whom he has received commitments is very exciting, and his efforts on that front should not go unnoticed.
When we have a Maze Alumni "getogether/reunion", Dr. Cox will be sore all over from all the hand shakes and hugs he will receive. Hopefully, 60 Minutes or someone will cover such an outpouring appreciation from perhaps 100s of people he has never met, but touched in such a profound way.Thanks for your initiative. I imagine Dr. Cox will be embarassed by this attention, and for that I will apologize to him.
- Re: 60 Minutes Tom Meyer 09:35:22 6/25/2002 (0)