My Domino Effect (10/30/14)

Have you ever thought about where you would be if you removed just one of your life’s dominoes from the game? Do you think it’s even remotely possible that you would find yourself in the same place you are currently at? For some of us that might be a good thing and for others it might be quite the opposite.

I had checked in with the family just after getting to Vegas and found out that one of my dominoes had been plucked from the board. Dr Bill LaTorre was one of the many medical practitioners that I had worked with over the years. He opened doors for me that might not have otherwise been opened. I was admitted to Moffitt Cancer Center as an emergency case over a holiday weekend in less than three hours after he made one phone call. Later that same year he introduced me to someone that helped me work through my long standing issues with depression.

With all of the help that he provided me with over the years I never even realized he had problems of his own until I got an email saying that he had shot himself in his office one October morning. Dr LaTorre’s passing was just another sad example of how you never truly know what is going on under the surface in a person’s day to day reality.

What I saw was a man that was always positive and in good spirits. Dr LaTorre was trying to make the world a better place one person at a time. However, behind the sun shine and rainbow facade Bill was dealing with some powerful demons, and they finally got the best of him.

When I think of all that Dr LaTorre did for me I could very easily have found myself in his shoes had he not come into my life. However, it’s Bill’s body of work that makes this the greater tragedy. He didn’t impact one or two people. Dr LaTorre impacted thousands. There were the lives of the people who he treated that got got better, but by extension the lives of of his patients families improved also.

Any premature death is tragic, but the world lost a good one when Dr LaTorre chose to check out. He won’t be there to help the next patient, or make that emergency phone call that opens the door to a problem’s potential solution. So if you are having a rough go at it, find someone to talk to. If you think someone you know is having problems, talk with them. Whatever you do, don’t let a domino be pulled off the board prematurely because you’ll never know how that might impact someone else’s game.

R.I.P. my friend.