Terra Ramachandran
11-14-2014, 01:15 PM
Hi Everyone,
I'm not sure how many of you know Kareem Samhouri, or "Dr. K" as he's otherwise known, but he's a big player in the health and wellness niche. If you don't know him, I can tell you that he's highly respected in the industry and just an all-around wonderful person.
Unfortunately, he was struck by sudden tragedy a few weeks ago and almost died. I've posted the entire story below, written by Kareem himself in a letter to his family and friends. Kareem is thankfully doing better now than when he first wrote this, but he still has a LONG road to recovery and some enormous doctor bills he's facing while not being able to focus on his business.
Several people in the health and fitness niche- about 30-40 of the top players (think Jeff Siegel, Mike Geary, Jon Benson, Joel Marion, and John Rowley to name a few) have rallied around Kareem and created this donation site:
http://drkinstitute.com/drk/save-drk.php
I'm posting this here in case anyone wants to donate, but more importantly, to see if anyone is interested in promoting this site or running some traffic to it?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for anything you can do :) I love being part of an industry where we help take care of our own :)
Terra
Begin Letter from Dr. K:
To all of my friends, clients, and loved ones:
I have bad news. I almost died 11 days ago. The doctors feel that I
had 24-48 hours to live when they performed an emergency surgery on
me on 10/24. This is scary, as I have a newborn son, a
single-parenting wife at home, and I've spent my whole adult life
perfecting my health.
But, let me take a step back and explain...
On 10/21, I woke up with excruciating abdominal pain, attempted to
rest and heal, and over the course of 4 days no longer was able to
contain the pain. On Friday, 10/24, my wife drove me to the
emergency room and we waited all day for a response while in
agonizing (10/10) pain. After a cat scan, the surgeon walked in and
told me I was her most urgent case, at 33 years old. I either agreed
to get surgery or I would die within 1-2 days. I remember: it was
4:32pm.
I immediately reached out to my parents to validate this, as my mom
is a nurse practitioner and my father is a vascular surgeon. They
confirmed.
Apparently, my intestines were blocked, infected, and now
punctured, leaking puss into my abdomen, chest wall, and creating
multiple organ failure. I turned septic; in other words, my body
couldn't keep me alive any longer without some sort of miracle of
modern medicine, and I found out my natural age to die was 33.
(Strangely, this continues to bring tears to my eyes; to leave my
son... My wife, my loved ones, you...)
I was rushed into surgery, and woke up several hours later. As it
turns out, I had surgery that is 10x the risk of open heart surgery.
I'm told the pain I experienced is childbirth multiplied many times.
Can you imagine?
And then I woke up, and it got worse. My family was there, along
with my best friend. They looked horribly concerned, but the
anesthesia hadn't worn off, so I fell back asleep.
At 5:36am on Saturday morning, I glanced down at my abdomen,
horrified at what I saw. I was split open from just below my breast
bone to my pubic bone. I had a bag hanging off of my abs collecting
poop, and zero explanation for any of this.
Here's what I know:
* They had to remove 40cm of my small intestine, only to find out
that it was not the main problem. (Then re-attach)
* They had to remove my intestinal block and hose out my intestines
to get rid of the infection.
* My appendix was removed.
* Still, I had gut contents leaking, and this was when things got
really intense. (My father busted into the operating room to figure
out what was going on after 2.5 hours of what was supposed to be a
short surgery, blocked the door, and demanded an update.)
* At this point, my entire digestive system was pulled out of my
body and laid on top of me. Dr. Weston and Dr. Albert, of Scripps
Green Hospital, went the extra mile. They tirelessly sought out the
leak, on a Friday night, late, until they found it. It was in my
sigmoid colon, so they cut out another section, handheld it
together, and lasered me back together.
* I no longer would be able to heal on my own, so they then had to
re-wire my entire digestive tract, and take a section of it, let it
sit outside my stomach, and prevent more contamination from getting
to the surgical sites, or I could again die.
* I now have a "poop" bag hanging off me, maybe for 6 weeks - 6
months, where I'll face another operation if all goes well; if it
doesn't, I'll have this the rest of my life.
The horror...
Fast forward - I'm now in the hospital for my 11th day, still no
answer of how this happened or why, and I have already had 2 more
small procedures. They still haven't been able to stop the infection
from spreading, and my body is still at risk. Tomorrow, I hope for
great news.
Life is fragile, and as it turns out, so am I. In spite of my best
efforts to stay healthy, this happened; as a result of those
efforts, I am alive, as there was more than a 25% risk of death with
this operation. If I were a few years older, less than 20% chance of
surviving the operation...
So, I'm out of work for awhile, and have a great staff to support
me. Due to the Internet and it's great ability, I was ahead of the
game and have some time before it all could collapse.
When I go home, I will never be able to drink anything alcoholic
again, will have to avoid people smoking around me, and will have a
different diet for life. Plus, I'm not allowed to lift my son until
after I recover from my next surgery.
Today, I'm having another small procedure done to get rid of the
rest of the infection they've found so far. Please wish me luck and
keep me in your thoughts/prayers.
I need you, like I've never needed you before. They say 10,000
wishes can create a miracle or grant a wish; here's to hoping that's
true.
I love you, appreciate your support during this incredibly trying
time, and want you to know how much I care. Thank you for being by
my side.
~ Kareem
I'm not sure how many of you know Kareem Samhouri, or "Dr. K" as he's otherwise known, but he's a big player in the health and wellness niche. If you don't know him, I can tell you that he's highly respected in the industry and just an all-around wonderful person.
Unfortunately, he was struck by sudden tragedy a few weeks ago and almost died. I've posted the entire story below, written by Kareem himself in a letter to his family and friends. Kareem is thankfully doing better now than when he first wrote this, but he still has a LONG road to recovery and some enormous doctor bills he's facing while not being able to focus on his business.
Several people in the health and fitness niche- about 30-40 of the top players (think Jeff Siegel, Mike Geary, Jon Benson, Joel Marion, and John Rowley to name a few) have rallied around Kareem and created this donation site:
http://drkinstitute.com/drk/save-drk.php
I'm posting this here in case anyone wants to donate, but more importantly, to see if anyone is interested in promoting this site or running some traffic to it?
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for anything you can do :) I love being part of an industry where we help take care of our own :)
Terra
Begin Letter from Dr. K:
To all of my friends, clients, and loved ones:
I have bad news. I almost died 11 days ago. The doctors feel that I
had 24-48 hours to live when they performed an emergency surgery on
me on 10/24. This is scary, as I have a newborn son, a
single-parenting wife at home, and I've spent my whole adult life
perfecting my health.
But, let me take a step back and explain...
On 10/21, I woke up with excruciating abdominal pain, attempted to
rest and heal, and over the course of 4 days no longer was able to
contain the pain. On Friday, 10/24, my wife drove me to the
emergency room and we waited all day for a response while in
agonizing (10/10) pain. After a cat scan, the surgeon walked in and
told me I was her most urgent case, at 33 years old. I either agreed
to get surgery or I would die within 1-2 days. I remember: it was
4:32pm.
I immediately reached out to my parents to validate this, as my mom
is a nurse practitioner and my father is a vascular surgeon. They
confirmed.
Apparently, my intestines were blocked, infected, and now
punctured, leaking puss into my abdomen, chest wall, and creating
multiple organ failure. I turned septic; in other words, my body
couldn't keep me alive any longer without some sort of miracle of
modern medicine, and I found out my natural age to die was 33.
(Strangely, this continues to bring tears to my eyes; to leave my
son... My wife, my loved ones, you...)
I was rushed into surgery, and woke up several hours later. As it
turns out, I had surgery that is 10x the risk of open heart surgery.
I'm told the pain I experienced is childbirth multiplied many times.
Can you imagine?
And then I woke up, and it got worse. My family was there, along
with my best friend. They looked horribly concerned, but the
anesthesia hadn't worn off, so I fell back asleep.
At 5:36am on Saturday morning, I glanced down at my abdomen,
horrified at what I saw. I was split open from just below my breast
bone to my pubic bone. I had a bag hanging off of my abs collecting
poop, and zero explanation for any of this.
Here's what I know:
* They had to remove 40cm of my small intestine, only to find out
that it was not the main problem. (Then re-attach)
* They had to remove my intestinal block and hose out my intestines
to get rid of the infection.
* My appendix was removed.
* Still, I had gut contents leaking, and this was when things got
really intense. (My father busted into the operating room to figure
out what was going on after 2.5 hours of what was supposed to be a
short surgery, blocked the door, and demanded an update.)
* At this point, my entire digestive system was pulled out of my
body and laid on top of me. Dr. Weston and Dr. Albert, of Scripps
Green Hospital, went the extra mile. They tirelessly sought out the
leak, on a Friday night, late, until they found it. It was in my
sigmoid colon, so they cut out another section, handheld it
together, and lasered me back together.
* I no longer would be able to heal on my own, so they then had to
re-wire my entire digestive tract, and take a section of it, let it
sit outside my stomach, and prevent more contamination from getting
to the surgical sites, or I could again die.
* I now have a "poop" bag hanging off me, maybe for 6 weeks - 6
months, where I'll face another operation if all goes well; if it
doesn't, I'll have this the rest of my life.
The horror...
Fast forward - I'm now in the hospital for my 11th day, still no
answer of how this happened or why, and I have already had 2 more
small procedures. They still haven't been able to stop the infection
from spreading, and my body is still at risk. Tomorrow, I hope for
great news.
Life is fragile, and as it turns out, so am I. In spite of my best
efforts to stay healthy, this happened; as a result of those
efforts, I am alive, as there was more than a 25% risk of death with
this operation. If I were a few years older, less than 20% chance of
surviving the operation...
So, I'm out of work for awhile, and have a great staff to support
me. Due to the Internet and it's great ability, I was ahead of the
game and have some time before it all could collapse.
When I go home, I will never be able to drink anything alcoholic
again, will have to avoid people smoking around me, and will have a
different diet for life. Plus, I'm not allowed to lift my son until
after I recover from my next surgery.
Today, I'm having another small procedure done to get rid of the
rest of the infection they've found so far. Please wish me luck and
keep me in your thoughts/prayers.
I need you, like I've never needed you before. They say 10,000
wishes can create a miracle or grant a wish; here's to hoping that's
true.
I love you, appreciate your support during this incredibly trying
time, and want you to know how much I care. Thank you for being by
my side.
~ Kareem