He was not the most gifted student intellectually, but he was always ready to lend a helping hand, and his smile was infectious. He friended a group of about 3 girls and they all sat in the back and pulled together when the studying got tough. He needed a lot of coaching and the girls he chose were some of the smartest in the class, so Chris was no slacker when it came to knowing how to work the system!
The real test in PT school, as everyone knows, is that neuroanatomy class, and it makes or breaks everyone as we continued through our schooling. I personally have never studied so hard for that final in any other class I have ever taken in all the years I had been in school. And Chris needed lots of hours of coaching and group studying to make it through. But, when we heard he'd passed with a "C" and was going to be able to continue, we were all so thankful and relieved. And the girls in the back were thrilled! They'd really helped him succeed. We left for Christmas break happy.
It happened over Christmas break, and the details I shall not go into here, but during that break, we lost Chris. It was tragic and unexpected and horrible. Surrounded in drama, cloaked in sadness, we dragged ourselves back to class in January, and we were changed. As a class and individually, we were forever changed. Sharon Dunn, head of the dept, got us together as a class at her house, and with a counselor one-on-one. We all had to mourn, in our own way. We had been a very cohesive 24, and now we were only 23. Such an odd number, so prime and alone, that number.
My way to mourn was to sing "Desperado" in the car when I was alone at the top of my lungs, tears streaming down my face, remembering Chris and how he always had anything you might need in that backpack of his, an Advil, or a highlighter, whatever it was. He was truly a desperado, one of a kind, that boy.
The girls who were closest to him naturally had a much rougher time dealing with his death. But, we all carried on and did what was asked of us. Chris's death did bring us closer together as a class. Any group that goes through something so horrible, so dark, must have changed in some fundamental way, and for us it was a closeness that no other class could ever rival, because we needed each other like no other class needs their classmates.
Of course, as a class, we had to do something to remember and memorialize Chris. If you are currently a student on the Shreveport campus, you will see a bench we had engraved in his memory out by the Student Center. Take a moment to sit on that bench and give thanks for all your blessings, for your classmates that you depend on every day, and for the gift of innate intelligence and vibrant personality that make you a great PT student and will one day soon make you a great PT.
This time of year, many of us remember Chris and think of his family and how difficult this time of year must be for them. With you reading this blog, I wanted to share this memory, as for some reason I am feeling especially sad at losing this potential colleague. Gone too soon. Gone too soon.
