There have been a few really sad patient deaths at work recently. It breaks my heart to see these families in such pain, sometimes having a completely normal child one day, diagnosed with a devestating illness the next day, and gone within the week. As always, I am so inspired by the way these young parents cope with the sudden loss of their child and keep an "eternal" perspective, even without strong religious convictions.

Here is an exerpt from a letter sent to the entire Neurology Department by one of these sweet families: "We wanted to send a big and heartfelt thank you for your tireless efforts to help our daughter. Knowing we had such dedicated medical help was a great comfort. We dearly miss her but are relieved that she did not suffer at any point. Having the Alpers Disease diagnosis gives us something to work against and we hope to do [our daughter] proud by raising awareness."

One family who was just given the news that their baby girl is expected to die within the next couple of years was recently robbed. Can you believe that? As if this poor family isn't already going through enough right now! The rotten thief stole all of their electronics, including their cameras and videos with all of their pictures and happy memories of their child. The family went on the local news channel to plead for the return of the pictures. Makes me want to punch that scumbag in the gut.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/12/02/apartment-robbery-heartbreaking-for-thornton-family/

Thankfully, the holidays also highlight the good of humanity to counteract all the rottenness of the world. The Children's Hospital is exploding with festivity and goodness this month, with all kinds of musical performances and charity events. Although I was bummed to have to work all weekend, it was worth working a 34-hour shift just to witness the 2011 Annual Harley-Davidson Toy Run today. There were literally hundereds of huge, burly bikers with their leather jackets and tattoos, wearing Santa hats, gathered at the hospital today for the toy drive. They made quite a show of riding in on their Christmas-theme decorated motorcyles, carrying huge life-size stuffed animals and throwing them into the donation bins in the hospital lobby as everyone cheered. This picture doesn't nearly capture the enormity of the crowd, but you get the idea.

It's nice to be reminded that there really are good people out there.