Chapter 33: Curiosity Killed the Doctor

The Wichita Open does this unique thing in that they hold a party on Tuesday night supposedly to draw for the pairings for Wednesday’s Pro Am. However, the real reason is to allow the Korn Ferry Tour players who are, for the most part, unknowns, the opportunity to meet and mingle with the Wichita Community at large.

I also discovered that the Pro Am pairing party was one of the social highlights for the who’s who of the area and was held at a large hotel ballroom downtown. I estimated the crowd to number over a thousand considering that there were 144 golfers and their plus-ones, if they all came. Then there were over three hundred Am’s or amateurs that would be announced tonight. They were selected by a secret lottery and the winners wouldn’t know if they would be playing tomorrow until it was announced later tonight.

Rachel was my plus-one and she looked stunning. She had spent the afternoon at the salon in town, along with our sisters. I had zipped to Paris and picked up my tuxedo and was back in five minutes. Of course I had to spend ten minutes on the phone with Isabella explaining why the alarms went off.

Mom and Dad decided they would pass on the party, so Rachel and I would take her sister, Lynn and my sister, Kelly Ann on their tickets.

I also took Murph.

Cynthiana and Helena had taken him to town and bought him a dark suit. When we approached the door, one of the hostesses just nodded as we passed through. Rachel and our sisters headed for the open bar as I looked around for anyone I knew. I realized that the second time Murph bumped into me that he was going to need Reggie’s ‘Bodyguard Training’ before too many more assignments.

I also began to realize how few of the players I knew, which made me sad, so I stepped up my efforts to meet more of them. I can’t say for sure that I made a lot of friends dragging Murph around with us, but most of them would remember me. And they would sure remember Rachel, Kelly Ann, and Lana, as I was to discover later.

After over two hours of mingling and some dancing, they finally announced the winners of the Amateur slots in tomorrow’s Pro Am golf tourney. I found out that I would be playing the Pro Am with fellow Tour player Jerry Kuykendahl from Billings, Montana. Jerry was twenty-five, engaged to his college sweetheart, and had played for the Montana State Yellowjackets. It was his second year on the tour.

I looked around for our sisters to introduce them, but they had disappeared in the crowd. I sent Murph to find them.

Our amateurs were a couple, Mr. and Dr. Richard Falwych. “Call me Bass,” he said as I shook his hand. “And this is my wife, Helen. Although she makes me call her Doc!” he added with a laugh. I was sure we would hear all about those names tomorrow.

Of course, they fawned all over Rachel, especially when Helen found out that Rachel had studied in Spain. It seems that Helen had done part of her post-graduate studies in Barcelona.

Murph had finally returned with Lynn and Kelly Ann, just about the time the event began winding down around midnight. Many of the guests had early tee-times. Fortunately, we were not teeing off until 1:15.

It was Wednesday and it was hot! Someone said it was 96°F in the shade, which is where Jerry, Dad, Murph and I were standing when the Falwych’s drove up in their customized golf cart. It was Helen that was driving. Based on the fringe that adorned the cart, I was betting that the cart was hers as well.

Bass paired up with Jerry and that left me in the cart with Helen. Dad and Murph said they see us in the clubhouse after the nine hole tournament.

Instead of playing honors (lowest score on previous hole tees off first), we decided to just play with Jerry and I hitting first from the black tees, Bass from the gold tees and Helen from the women’s tees. It made it a little faster.

Helen and I exchanged mostly idle chit chat for the first 3 holes. I was shooting 1 under par and barely focusing on my game. Out of the blue she started telling me about one of her patients. No names were mentioned, but she had a young girl, seven years old, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. It appeared to be inoperable and the child’s time was coming to an end. You could tell that the child was weighing heavily on her mind. So much so, that she kept apologizing about her poor golf game.

Finally, when she pulled up to the fifth tee, I decided to address the issue.

“Helen, I can tell that this young girl’s diagnoses has really thrown you off your golf game. What say that you and I ditch this round and you take me to meet her. I’m not promising anything, but maybe there’s something I can do,” I told her.

“What could you do? It’s terminal and she will probably be dead in less than a week at the rate it’s growing. Even Children’s in Kansas City didn’t think there was anything that they could do,” she said as she began to cry on my shoulder.

“Come on. Take us to your car,” I persisted.

We stopped by the clubhouse so we could withdraw from the Pro Am and I quickly told my Dad where I was going. Ten minutes later, we were in her Lincoln, headed to the hospital. On the way, I told her about getting struck by lightning and how sometimes, I had been able to cure some of my friends aches and pains.

“Of course, you can’t tell her doctor, they probably wouldn’t understand,” I told her. And for the first time this afternoon, she laughed.

“If you can do anything, and I mean anything at all to ease her suffering, my lips are sealed,” she promised.

When we got there, she parked in the doctor’s parking lot and led me in a side door where she had me wash my hands real good and put on a pair of scrubs. Then she led me to the children’s floor and into a semi-dark room where the seven year old was lying on a bed with all sorts of tubes and wires going to her body. Helen said her name was Aura. An adult woman, who turned out to be her mother was dozing in her chair beside the bed and immediately came awake when we entered.

“How’s she doing?” Helen asked softly.

“About the same. She was awake for about an hour earlier, but she’s back to dozing in and out now,” whispered the woman.

“Alex, this is Aura’s mother, Linda. Linda, this is Alex. He has an unusual story, but I have a hunch that he might be able to help our little girl. It shouldn’t have any negative effects, even if it doesn’t work. And it won’t cost you anything. Would you be willing to let him try and see if he could help her?”

“Do you really think you can help my daughter?” she asked me directly.

“I won’t know until I try, but Dr. Falwych is incorrect. There is a price. If it works, you can never tell anyone that I was involved, okay?” I asked her.

She looked at Helen and then looked at me and then nodded her head slowly.

I moved next to the bed and placed my hands over the seven year old’s head asking Helen where the tumor was located. She turned the girls head to the side and pointed to a spot behind her left ear. “Right there,” she said.

“Okay. Now. Can you get me a Coke or some juice? I think I’m going to need the energy.”

“Your ... your hands! They’re blue!” Linda suddenly exclaimed.

“Actually, it’s more like silvery/blue. And if you’ll look, you can see a slight amber hue around your daughters ear. When the amber hue changes to match my hands, it will mean that the tumor is gone,” I told her.

I sat there for over two hours, as the women softly talked back and forth, consciously trying not to disturb me. Fortunately, Helen was also watching me and periodically, she would hold a drink with a straw to my lips and then wipe my forehead with a towel.