[Music]
thank you
courage is being able to face your fears
and many of us fear change people places
the world around us are constantly
changing many look at change as an
opportunity to give up when actually
it’s an opportunity to grow my name is
dr. Raymond myths and I’m a
board-certified gastroenterologist
sixteen years ago today I was actually
sitting at home praying that I would
someday have something positive to share
with anybody that would listen
shortly before turning forty years of
age I was declared legally blind
suddenly my future was very dark thanks
to technology education development and
amazing wife great family friends a
solid faith I’m here today to share with
you my experience strengthened hope my
prescription for dealing with change I
grew up in New York and had two great
parents they both were two jobs are only
in my life so I taught and was taught
the value of hard work my sister and I
were raised Catholic so I have a solid
spiritual foundation and our house was
filled with a lot of love early on and
wife I actually had the expectations of
going through life having a life from
start to finish
filled with happiness I also learned at
a very young age that life is hard
several events occurred in my life as a
young man
that influenced me for the rest of my
life the first occurred in 1969 our
hometown team the New York Mets went
from last place the first place and as a
young male all I wanted to do is play
baseball for our hometown team the New
York Mets four years later the Mets made
the World Series again but they didn’t
one another event occurred that would
have major impacts on me for the rest of
my wife while walking home from school I
was struck by a car shattered with my
right wake and dreams of ever playing
competitive sports since that time I’ve
had nine operations on both my legs and
my knees the night before one of those
operations I was sitting in the x-ray
department at the ha
Special Surgery in New York City a group
of doctors came in and presented my case
and he quickly left I then observed a
young resident dr. feta sit down next to
me and said ray do you have any
questions about what might have be
happening tomorrow I didn’t know how to
answer so I then observe dr. feta take
one hand and gently place it on my leg
and with a pen in the other hand began
during the operation that would take
place the following morning on that knee
immediately I felt the power of his
touch and they said this is what I want
to do in life I want to be a doctor I
enrolled at Siena College in upstate New
York and the pre-med program after my
first semester my advisor dr. Laura said
ray your grades aren’t going to be good
enough to get into Medical School you
should be thinking of another career
never forgetting doctor fed his touch I
asked for an opportunity to prove myself
I buckled down and to this day I’m so
grateful that dr. Woodrow believed in me
because he gave me a second chance I
buckled down academically and began
doing research with the doctors have
been at the Hospital for Special Surgery
in New York I applied to medical school
but didn’t get in my first year I was
wait-listed at all the schools I applied
to not forgetting dr. fetes touch I
didn’t want to give up I enrolled at
Saint John’s University in the graduate
school of biology full time at night
continue to do research full-time during
the day and reapply to medical school
walking out of the interview at the New
England College of Osteopathic Medicine
in Maine a doctor Novotny looked at me
and said hey ray if you don’t get into
medical school this year do you have any
other plans I woke him in the eye and
said I guess I’ll see you again next
year five days later on a day we call
Good Friday I received my acceptance
letter and have since never looked back
my wife and I Margaret settled here in
Rhode Island
Shoei after setting up practice we
celebrated the birth of our daughter
Shannon and Olivia sure we have to
entering practice my peers in the state
of Rhode Island selected me one of the
top physicians in the state and it was
sold wide I never gave up on my dreams
at the age of 38 I start having some
health problems now you’d notice I had
some
difficulty hearing and I was diagnosed
with bilateral hearing loss it’s partial
and to this day I’m still wear hearing
aids to hear clearly as I approach the
age of 40 I notice I have problems
reading small print I said geez
everybody says when you turned 40 you
need reading glasses two days before I
turned 40 I set that in my shower and
they notice I had difficulties focusing
on my face to shave I believe I
completed that process by memory got
dressed get in my car and started
driving to the hospital as they pulled
out of our driveway and reached the stop
sign at the end of our cul-de-sac I
observed that he couldn’t see the stop
sign and then observed and proceeded to
do one of the stupidest things in my
life I challenged myself to drive to the
hospital as they made the gentle
right-hand turn I fortunately caught the
brake lights of one of my neighbors I
followed those brake lights onto the
highway as soon as we’re getting on the
highway that car took off and I was
stuck to ride the right-hand lane it was
only two exits on the highway I had flip
its abnormal vision and he gently guided
the car into the parking lot at the
hospital shutting it off for the very
last time I noticed that my fingertips
were numb from grabbing that steering
wheel and had perspired I went into the
hospital called my secretary and we
cancelled much of the day I called my
wife and we went up to see an eye doctor
that day thinking I would simply need a
prescription for glasses if there went
the evaluation it wasn’t a prescription
I received but I received the news that
I was now legally blind and it could
never drive or do procedures on patients
again I was devastated I pulled up my
wife’s story from my back pocket I don’t
ever remember reading this chapter for
the next several months my wife and I we
went around the country doing further
testing to find out what was wrong I
actually went to work every day and
although I didn’t know how to use my
vision that I had my secretaries would
read the patient records to me I’d go
into the room evaluate the patients and
if they needed a procedure I would refer
them to a colleague to do so in February
of 2002 I was told another valuable
lesson in why
not every relationship and wife was made
to last
my professional relationship was over I
know a wave and uneasiness came over me
and I had a sleepless night and if the
Sun was coming up that night and early
morning I had memory of a conversation I
had with a low vision specialist at dr.
Badillo in Connecticut working at his
visit he said you know ray it might be a
matter of when not if you could do
procedures again as soon as I got to the
office that day I had a sense of hope I
called dr. Boudreau and I asked them
what did you mean by that bill his
experience was that if I could sit in
front of a 20-inch monitor that my
vision would be corrected to 2025 like
wearing a set of glasses at the same
time I received the phone call from the
state physicians Health Committee and
said ray you’re not going to believe
this but there was a group of doctors
here that recruit enchiladas with
difficulties their experience was that
if you could do 30 procedures and follow
fully sighted physicians have your eyes
examined regularly and have your records
reviewed you would be deemed to save
practitioner we then took our monitor
put it in the back of our procedure room
at the hospital for weeks every morning
I would go to the hospital sitting in
the corner watching other doctors
through their procedures and we would
communicate back and forth what was
being seen what was being done one early
morning at dr. Candice Dyer said ray
once you come over here and finish this
procedure for me the room parted like
the Red Sea I’m not sure how I got to
the position I did but the monitor was
where it should be I’m not even sure how
the gloves get on my hand but it was
like riding a bicycle and they put the
scope back in my hand with the lasers I
scared at that screen and also the dr.
Dyer what to me says ray what do you
think of those power-ups on the screen
as I looked there I could see no polyps
I could see nothing wrong and suddenly I
got sick to my stomach I says I can’t do
this I can’t put people at harm’s way
I answered quietly I don’t see any
polyps she said good because there
aren’t any
so dr. Dyer was testing me word got out
on the street that I might be recruit
any health and 60 patients volunteered
to be my first a good friend of mine
John said ray
because you had a good bucket of will
and they kept on thinking of a story I
heard once about doing the right thing a
gentleman commented you know every
morning when you get ready for work and
you take your shirt off the hanger and
the hanger falls to the floor the first
thing I do is pick that hanger up I put
it back on the rack and he said yes I
get that for years I’d be ready for work
my hanger would fall to the floor I said
I want to deal with this later
the end of the day I’d step back into
that closet with my bare feet land run
down that hanger and experience
exquisite pain not anymore
as soon as that hanger hits the ground
they put it right back on the rack there
after completing a rigorous
credentialing process on April 18 2002 I
was the estate practitioner and have
never looked back since that time my
name appears back in Rhode Island
Monthly Magazine is one of the top
doctors in the state of Rhode Island a
magazine called best doctors of America
and everyone many compassionate care
Awards in 2012 articles were written how
do you know your doctors doing quality
work and these articles were saying that
doctors should be detecting precancerous
polyps in 20 to 25% of their patients
with the help of our Hospital my palm
detection rate was 42% nearly double
what’s accepted before we fight excited
physicians that’s thanks to technology
last year I was really into said hey ray
let’s bring in a group of doctors who
don’t know who you are
unbiased a gentleman spent a day with me
and I did 13 cases and at the end of the
day he commented that he praised my
technique and at the end he talked to my
medical director saying ray was seeing
things that many if my colleagues in
Pennsylvania would have missed the
accomplishment of most proud of though
is being able to get back on the
softball and soccer fields as my
daughter’s coaches I may not have been
able to see them get a base hit or score
a goal but as a parent that was on the
field with them several years ago I read
a quote from Henry Ford and it went
something like this that experiences of
extreme value in life I believe that to
be true for able to look at our
experiences I learned from them we grow
by facing
and correcting our errors and turning
them into assets over the last 16 years
I’ve had an opportunity to look at my
wife and to see how I live it could I
have done things differently absolutely
but it’s progress not perfection but he
also looked at in real I said I with my
wife on the basis of five principles I
called them my prescription for dealing
with change the first is acceptance to
accountability responsibility passion
and purpose
well what about acceptance I was taught
the serenity prayer many years ago in a
12-step recovery program that said god
grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change the courage to
change the things I can and the wisdom
to know the difference well what can I
change my vision and hearing loss every
day when I look at my alarm clock and I
can’t see the numbers from my pillow I
except my low vision and hearing and I
promise myself to bring my a-game to
everything I do that day how about the
things I can change my attitude I look
at my attitude as my fine tuned button
if my attitude is cloudy I everything
comes a little darker if my attitude is
bright everything comes in clearer how
about accountability on a daily basis I
hold myself accountable to face my fears
on a daily basis I also if I have
wronged somebody hold myself accountable
and make amends to them how about
responsibility number three this is the
one that got me out of bed every day the
first responsibility I have was to our
community and to our patients to care
for them more importantly the
responsibility to care for my wife and
my children more importantly a
responsibility to myself to fulfill my
potential in life it’s for this reason
that I had a plan B that was always
gonna have to be a plan B so I thought
about becoming an entrepreneur well
eating ice cream one day I started
thinking hey you know what I promote
fiber on a daily basis only 3% of us get
enough fiber for wellness ninety percent
of American households buy ice cream
let’s put the two together so although I
got my career back I never gave up on
the ice cream dream with the help of my
wife and an amazed
team we promoted and launched a product
with benefits an ice cream called
seriously good ice cream all-natural
it’s got benefits got twenty three
percent of your daily fiber but the
second benefit we hope that donate part
of the profits to groups that help blind
children so they too can fulfill their
potential in life how about passion if I
didn’t have passion for life and my
career what I do for a living I never
would have come over so many obstacles
to get where I am today if you love your
work you’ll never have to work a day in
your life I believe that to be true and
purpose I used to think my purpose in
life was to find and care for my
patients
provide for my family but I believe my
purpose in life is to find inner peace
and serenity well how do I do that
I take care of my mind my body and my
spirit by three events of events of
life’s triathlon and he also got rid of
that word expectations to have
expectations as two women fear to fear
losing something you don’t have or have
or will something you want the other
thing is is that to get something that
you want a couple years ago I woke up
one morning and I thought it was seeing
better I know I suddenly went what the
what’s that all about
followed by a little sense of
disappointment I actually sat back and
said where does this come from right
you’d do anything to get your vision
back your hearing back be independent
drive again and then I realized that I
had changed if I had given this talk 15
years ago it would have been filled with
resentments of all the people that
turned their back on me but today it’s
filled with gratitude the proverbial
kick in the stomach was the kick in the
pants I needed to get back on my feet I
also learned that I changed how I pray I
used to pray to get my vision of my
hearing loss back but today my prayers
are to give me the strength to get
through my day with life on life’s terms
and please do the same for my loved ones
give us this day our daily bread I also
pray to have the courage to face my
fears on a daily basis and they finally
pray to keep the door of my past open
just a little bit so when life gets hard
and it does get hard I can look at my
experiences and know that no matter how
heavy the weight will be on my shoulders
I will not crumble when it had a reflect
upon the future this is a tough one it’s
a tough one cuz nobody can predict
what’s going to happen tomorrow but I
hope that by sharing my experiences
knowing that you can look at your own
experience is that there is hope for a
seriously good tomorrow it’s within each
and every one of us I thank you
[Applause]
thank you
courage is being able to face your fears
and many of us fear change people places
the world around us are constantly
changing many look at change as an
opportunity to give up when actually
it’s an opportunity to grow my name is
dr. Raymond myths and I’m a
board-certified gastroenterologist
sixteen years ago today I was actually
sitting at home praying that I would
someday have something positive to share
with anybody that would listen
shortly before turning forty years of
age I was declared legally blind
suddenly my future was very dark thanks
to technology education development and
amazing wife great family friends a
solid faith I’m here today to share with
you my experience strengthened hope my
prescription for dealing with change I
grew up in New York and had two great
parents they both were two jobs are only
in my life so I taught and was taught
the value of hard work my sister and I
were raised Catholic so I have a solid
spiritual foundation and our house was
filled with a lot of love early on and
wife I actually had the expectations of
going through life having a life from
start to finish
filled with happiness I also learned at
a very young age that life is hard
several events occurred in my life as a
young man
that influenced me for the rest of my
life the first occurred in 1969 our
hometown team the New York Mets went
from last place the first place and as a
young male all I wanted to do is play
baseball for our hometown team the New
York Mets four years later the Mets made
the World Series again but they didn’t
one another event occurred that would
have major impacts on me for the rest of
my wife while walking home from school I
was struck by a car shattered with my
right wake and dreams of ever playing
competitive sports since that time I’ve
had nine operations on both my legs and
my knees the night before one of those
operations I was sitting in the x-ray
department at the ha
Special Surgery in New York City a group
of doctors came in and presented my case
and he quickly left I then observed a
young resident dr. feta sit down next to
me and said ray do you have any
questions about what might have be
happening tomorrow I didn’t know how to
answer so I then observe dr. feta take
one hand and gently place it on my leg
and with a pen in the other hand began
during the operation that would take
place the following morning on that knee
immediately I felt the power of his
touch and they said this is what I want
to do in life I want to be a doctor I
enrolled at Siena College in upstate New
York and the pre-med program after my
first semester my advisor dr. Laura said
ray your grades aren’t going to be good
enough to get into Medical School you
should be thinking of another career
never forgetting doctor fed his touch I
asked for an opportunity to prove myself
I buckled down and to this day I’m so
grateful that dr. Woodrow believed in me
because he gave me a second chance I
buckled down academically and began
doing research with the doctors have
been at the Hospital for Special Surgery
in New York I applied to medical school
but didn’t get in my first year I was
wait-listed at all the schools I applied
to not forgetting dr. fetes touch I
didn’t want to give up I enrolled at
Saint John’s University in the graduate
school of biology full time at night
continue to do research full-time during
the day and reapply to medical school
walking out of the interview at the New
England College of Osteopathic Medicine
in Maine a doctor Novotny looked at me
and said hey ray if you don’t get into
medical school this year do you have any
other plans I woke him in the eye and
said I guess I’ll see you again next
year five days later on a day we call
Good Friday I received my acceptance
letter and have since never looked back
my wife and I Margaret settled here in
Rhode Island
Shoei after setting up practice we
celebrated the birth of our daughter
Shannon and Olivia sure we have to
entering practice my peers in the state
of Rhode Island selected me one of the
top physicians in the state and it was
sold wide I never gave up on my dreams
at the age of 38 I start having some
health problems now you’d notice I had
some
difficulty hearing and I was diagnosed
with bilateral hearing loss it’s partial
and to this day I’m still wear hearing
aids to hear clearly as I approach the
age of 40 I notice I have problems
reading small print I said geez
everybody says when you turned 40 you
need reading glasses two days before I
turned 40 I set that in my shower and
they notice I had difficulties focusing
on my face to shave I believe I
completed that process by memory got
dressed get in my car and started
driving to the hospital as they pulled
out of our driveway and reached the stop
sign at the end of our cul-de-sac I
observed that he couldn’t see the stop
sign and then observed and proceeded to
do one of the stupidest things in my
life I challenged myself to drive to the
hospital as they made the gentle
right-hand turn I fortunately caught the
brake lights of one of my neighbors I
followed those brake lights onto the
highway as soon as we’re getting on the
highway that car took off and I was
stuck to ride the right-hand lane it was
only two exits on the highway I had flip
its abnormal vision and he gently guided
the car into the parking lot at the
hospital shutting it off for the very
last time I noticed that my fingertips
were numb from grabbing that steering
wheel and had perspired I went into the
hospital called my secretary and we
cancelled much of the day I called my
wife and we went up to see an eye doctor
that day thinking I would simply need a
prescription for glasses if there went
the evaluation it wasn’t a prescription
I received but I received the news that
I was now legally blind and it could
never drive or do procedures on patients
again I was devastated I pulled up my
wife’s story from my back pocket I don’t
ever remember reading this chapter for
the next several months my wife and I we
went around the country doing further
testing to find out what was wrong I
actually went to work every day and
although I didn’t know how to use my
vision that I had my secretaries would
read the patient records to me I’d go
into the room evaluate the patients and
if they needed a procedure I would refer
them to a colleague to do so in February
of 2002 I was told another valuable
lesson in why
not every relationship and wife was made
to last
my professional relationship was over I
know a wave and uneasiness came over me
and I had a sleepless night and if the
Sun was coming up that night and early
morning I had memory of a conversation I
had with a low vision specialist at dr.
Badillo in Connecticut working at his
visit he said you know ray it might be a
matter of when not if you could do
procedures again as soon as I got to the
office that day I had a sense of hope I
called dr. Boudreau and I asked them
what did you mean by that bill his
experience was that if I could sit in
front of a 20-inch monitor that my
vision would be corrected to 2025 like
wearing a set of glasses at the same
time I received the phone call from the
state physicians Health Committee and
said ray you’re not going to believe
this but there was a group of doctors
here that recruit enchiladas with
difficulties their experience was that
if you could do 30 procedures and follow
fully sighted physicians have your eyes
examined regularly and have your records
reviewed you would be deemed to save
practitioner we then took our monitor
put it in the back of our procedure room
at the hospital for weeks every morning
I would go to the hospital sitting in
the corner watching other doctors
through their procedures and we would
communicate back and forth what was
being seen what was being done one early
morning at dr. Candice Dyer said ray
once you come over here and finish this
procedure for me the room parted like
the Red Sea I’m not sure how I got to
the position I did but the monitor was
where it should be I’m not even sure how
the gloves get on my hand but it was
like riding a bicycle and they put the
scope back in my hand with the lasers I
scared at that screen and also the dr.
Dyer what to me says ray what do you
think of those power-ups on the screen
as I looked there I could see no polyps
I could see nothing wrong and suddenly I
got sick to my stomach I says I can’t do
this I can’t put people at harm’s way
I answered quietly I don’t see any
polyps she said good because there
aren’t any
so dr. Dyer was testing me word got out
on the street that I might be recruit
any health and 60 patients volunteered
to be my first a good friend of mine
John said ray
because you had a good bucket of will
and they kept on thinking of a story I
heard once about doing the right thing a
gentleman commented you know every
morning when you get ready for work and
you take your shirt off the hanger and
the hanger falls to the floor the first
thing I do is pick that hanger up I put
it back on the rack and he said yes I
get that for years I’d be ready for work
my hanger would fall to the floor I said
I want to deal with this later
the end of the day I’d step back into
that closet with my bare feet land run
down that hanger and experience
exquisite pain not anymore
as soon as that hanger hits the ground
they put it right back on the rack there
after completing a rigorous
credentialing process on April 18 2002 I
was the estate practitioner and have
never looked back since that time my
name appears back in Rhode Island
Monthly Magazine is one of the top
doctors in the state of Rhode Island a
magazine called best doctors of America
and everyone many compassionate care
Awards in 2012 articles were written how
do you know your doctors doing quality
work and these articles were saying that
doctors should be detecting precancerous
polyps in 20 to 25% of their patients
with the help of our Hospital my palm
detection rate was 42% nearly double
what’s accepted before we fight excited
physicians that’s thanks to technology
last year I was really into said hey ray
let’s bring in a group of doctors who
don’t know who you are
unbiased a gentleman spent a day with me
and I did 13 cases and at the end of the
day he commented that he praised my
technique and at the end he talked to my
medical director saying ray was seeing
things that many if my colleagues in
Pennsylvania would have missed the
accomplishment of most proud of though
is being able to get back on the
softball and soccer fields as my
daughter’s coaches I may not have been
able to see them get a base hit or score
a goal but as a parent that was on the
field with them several years ago I read
a quote from Henry Ford and it went
something like this that experiences of
extreme value in life I believe that to
be true for able to look at our
experiences I learned from them we grow
by facing
and correcting our errors and turning
them into assets over the last 16 years
I’ve had an opportunity to look at my
wife and to see how I live it could I
have done things differently absolutely
but it’s progress not perfection but he
also looked at in real I said I with my
wife on the basis of five principles I
called them my prescription for dealing
with change the first is acceptance to
accountability responsibility passion
and purpose
well what about acceptance I was taught
the serenity prayer many years ago in a
12-step recovery program that said god
grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change the courage to
change the things I can and the wisdom
to know the difference well what can I
change my vision and hearing loss every
day when I look at my alarm clock and I
can’t see the numbers from my pillow I
except my low vision and hearing and I
promise myself to bring my a-game to
everything I do that day how about the
things I can change my attitude I look
at my attitude as my fine tuned button
if my attitude is cloudy I everything
comes a little darker if my attitude is
bright everything comes in clearer how
about accountability on a daily basis I
hold myself accountable to face my fears
on a daily basis I also if I have
wronged somebody hold myself accountable
and make amends to them how about
responsibility number three this is the
one that got me out of bed every day the
first responsibility I have was to our
community and to our patients to care
for them more importantly the
responsibility to care for my wife and
my children more importantly a
responsibility to myself to fulfill my
potential in life it’s for this reason
that I had a plan B that was always
gonna have to be a plan B so I thought
about becoming an entrepreneur well
eating ice cream one day I started
thinking hey you know what I promote
fiber on a daily basis only 3% of us get
enough fiber for wellness ninety percent
of American households buy ice cream
let’s put the two together so although I
got my career back I never gave up on
the ice cream dream with the help of my
wife and an amazed
team we promoted and launched a product
with benefits an ice cream called
seriously good ice cream all-natural
it’s got benefits got twenty three
percent of your daily fiber but the
second benefit we hope that donate part
of the profits to groups that help blind
children so they too can fulfill their
potential in life how about passion if I
didn’t have passion for life and my
career what I do for a living I never
would have come over so many obstacles
to get where I am today if you love your
work you’ll never have to work a day in
your life I believe that to be true and
purpose I used to think my purpose in
life was to find and care for my
patients
provide for my family but I believe my
purpose in life is to find inner peace
and serenity well how do I do that
I take care of my mind my body and my
spirit by three events of events of
life’s triathlon and he also got rid of
that word expectations to have
expectations as two women fear to fear
losing something you don’t have or have
or will something you want the other
thing is is that to get something that
you want a couple years ago I woke up
one morning and I thought it was seeing
better I know I suddenly went what the
what’s that all about
followed by a little sense of
disappointment I actually sat back and
said where does this come from right
you’d do anything to get your vision
back your hearing back be independent
drive again and then I realized that I
had changed if I had given this talk 15
years ago it would have been filled with
resentments of all the people that
turned their back on me but today it’s
filled with gratitude the proverbial
kick in the stomach was the kick in the
pants I needed to get back on my feet I
also learned that I changed how I pray I
used to pray to get my vision of my
hearing loss back but today my prayers
are to give me the strength to get
through my day with life on life’s terms
and please do the same for my loved ones
give us this day our daily bread I also
pray to have the courage to face my
fears on a daily basis and they finally
pray to keep the door of my past open
just a little bit so when life gets hard
and it does get hard I can look at my
experiences and know that no matter how
heavy the weight will be on my shoulders
I will not crumble when it had a reflect
upon the future this is a tough one it’s
a tough one cuz nobody can predict
what’s going to happen tomorrow but I
hope that by sharing my experiences
knowing that you can look at your own
experience is that there is hope for a
seriously good tomorrow it’s within each
and every one of us I thank you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: