Nightmares. Death. Healing.

Eight years ago tonight, I hopped an MC-130H and headed to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, with what proved to be the only operating x-ray machine in country.

A quarter of a million people died, although the piles of dead bodies in the streets left my mind believing the numbers were even higher.

The nightmares aren’t as frequent, but the vivid memories of the death and destruction remain with me as do the health problems from radiation poisoning.

I am in Mexico City today touring the results of two devastating earthquakes last fall that left 300 dead including many children when their school collapsed.

These disasters and the others I have been involved in over the years have left me with a heavy heart.

I have a friend who calls the suffering of the responders the “disaster after the disaster.” My own health odyssey has been just that, a disaster.

I’ve long wondered what would the final chapter look like for me.

I no longer have to wonder. Providence led to my healing. I’ve met doctors and scientists that healed me through advances in regenerative medicine and stem cells.

I feel I have been called to a personal mission to democratize regenerative medicine. I believe it to be the future and I am blessed with a front row seat to ensure I am not an N of 1.