Samantha Hodge-Williams in 2006.
Samantha Hodge-Williams
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Samantha Hodge-Williams
This story is a part of the My Unsung Hero collection, from the Hidden Mind staff. It options tales of individuals whose kindness left an enduring impression on another person.
In 1996, when Samantha Hodge-Williams was 20, docs found she had a big ovarian mass. She anxious it was cancerous, as her grandmother had been recognized with ovarian most cancers.
The day of her emergency surgical procedure, carried out at a medical middle in Baltimore, is etched in Hodge-Williams’ reminiscence.
Sporting nothing however a hospital robe, she was wheeled into the surgical room. She remembers being surrounded by docs, the clamor of their metallic surgical instruments, and the sensation of being alone.
“It appeared sort of just like the hustle and bustle — that they have been getting on with their jobs, probably not enthusiastic about what it might be like for me to be going into this example the place I used to be actually terrified,” Hodge-Williams stated.
However that modified when the anesthesiologist arrived. Hodge-Williams recalled that she had a sort smile and a scrub cap coated in sunflowers.
“And she or he stated to me, ‘OK, why do not you consider one thing that you simply love to do?’”
At first, Hodge-Williams thought the query was unusual. Right here she was, terrified about what was going to occur within the subsequent few hours, and her anesthesiologist was asking her what she preferred to do for enjoyable.
“In a sort of cheeky approach, I stated again to her, ‘Effectively, what do you love to do?’” Hodge-Williams recalled. “And really calmly, she stated to me, ‘I wish to sing.’”
So Hodge-Williams requested her to sing.
“Then she proceeded to begin singing ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ which is what I drifted off to into the surgical procedure,” Hodge-Williams remembered. “It was essentially the most pretty factor.”
Within the years since that day, Hodge-Williams has continued to face well being challenges, and he or she’s needed to bear a number of surgical procedures. However she nonetheless imagines that physician by her facet.
“I can image her virtually with me by each surgical procedure: her reassuring voice, how a lot it meant to me … not simply the science of medication, however the compassion and care to take just a few moments to look after me,” Hodge-Williams stated.
“So I’ll at all times be grateful to her. And I do not know her identify, however thanks.”
My Unsung Hero can also be a podcast — new episodes are launched each Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Mind staff, file a voice memo in your cellphone and ship it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.
