Heart Scene: A Voice of Inspiration

Absolutely nothing in life is preordained or predestined. Only God can do that and He is all-powerful and utterly, completely benevolent.
-John Lucas, Ph.D.

John Lucas is a prominent Olympic historian. In his lifetime, he has accumulated 44,000 hand written research notes. He has written 300 articles, and he has published four books. In 1991, he was appointed Honorary IOC Lecturer for North America by the then IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch. Five years later he received the Olympic Order at the 105th IOC Session in Atlanta.

By every measure John Lucas is a credit to his family and the university he has called home since the 1960’s, Penn State University

John Lucas is the person who nominated Coach Herb Brooks for induction into the USOC’s Hall of Fame. In fact, John Lucas believes that Herb Brooks was the Beethoven and Mozart of coaching.

Lucas knows something about coaching. He was the track coach at Penn State for years, and he has logged 100 Olympic kilometres, and more than 160,000 others during his life.

In 2007, Professor Lucas and his son traveled to Greece and the city where the Olympics began. There he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Olympic Committee.

I had the good fortune to meet Dr. John Lucas on a bitter cold evening in Lake Placid, New York. I was there with Kitch and several of the students in my last class who were studying Coach Brooks and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.

Professor Lucas was there to speak about the Olympic movement during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. We met after a panel discussion entitled “The Last of the Small Games.”

As I watched him through the lens of my camera, I was taken by his knowledge, sophistication and passion. There was something about him, his conduct and his comments that was refreshingly unrehearsed and oh so genuine.

I wanted the students who were with Kitch and me to meet John Lucas, and when I asked him to come over and talk with our group he was very obliging.

We became friends from the first hello.

That meeting in February 2005 would lead Kitch and me to Penn State University where Dr. Lucas teaches one course a year, and it would enable us to have a number of wonderful learning experiences inside and outside the classroom with John Lucas and his wife, Joyce.

What does this have to do with open-heart surgery? Just about everything.

On my desk to the left of my computer, I have some priceless possessions: three engraved rocks, a picture of my children when they were youngsters, a greeting card with a very special message and two handwritten notes from John Lucas.

To the world these seven things mean very little. They are not commodities to be bought and sold. They will never go on auction at Sotheby’s. They can’t help me pay the mortgage, and they won’t fill the gas tank in my car. Yet, to me they mean everything.

These items gave me the courage to have the operation. These items helped to create the positive energy that was needed to survive the operation. These items gave me the inner strength to endure the recovery process.

The first letter arrived shortly before my surgery. The second note arrived shortly after my surgery. Both notes speak to optimism, hope and friendship. Both notes made me smile and they gave me joy. Whenever I look at them now, I am reminded about the goodness, wholesomeness and kindness of their author, and that becomes a model to be imitated.

On my good days I measure my attitude and behavior against the words John Lucas wrote to me. On my bad days his words remind me of what I should be thinking about and doing.

These notes are filled with words of affirmation. They contain quotes from the Bible that speak to perseverance and endurance.
They end with the words “Your Friend.”

Today shortly before noon, the phone rang and when I answered it I heard the soothing voice of John Lucas.

“I haven’t heard from you in a few weeks and I’ve been concerned. How are you doing?”

The conversation ended with the words, “You are a good friend, and I want you to be around for a long time.”

No doctor or psychologist could script it any better than this. These were words spoken from the heart. They were words of kindness, understanding and compassion. These were words of concern from a friend.

These were simple words that delivered a very positive and important message. You count in my life…you are important to me…I want to help you in any way that I can.

That is just what a patient needs to hear…wants to hear… loves to hear.

If there is any one thing I have learned from my surgery it is this: Pick up the phone…make the call…speak from your heart…affirm the patient before, after and even more importantly days weeks and months after that.

In a busy world, the people who create positive energy for a patient are the people who take the time to make contact in ways that will inspire, encourage and create positive energy.

I have been blessed to have people like that in my life, and for the most part, they are people who are grateful themselves.

John Lucas, as you might imagine, is very old school, and it shows in ways that are both beautiful and inspirational. His friendships are not functional friendships. They are long-term friendships that are built upon a foundation of sharing, growing and giving together.

It is so appropriate that Dr. Lucas’ letters are the backdrop for the picture of my children.

They frame the card I received from Agnes Cardoni with the marvelous graphic: Acceptance + Gratitude =Prosperity.

They give dimension to three engraved rocks given to me by Michael Sackett: Gratitude, Affirmation and a four-leaf clover.

In my opinion, there is no chemical compound that can compete with the power and energy of these items. They are the Rosetta Stone of survival and recovery. It is what they say individually and collectively, and the way they say it that is both healing and redeeming.

They give life to what John Lucas wrote on June 5, 2007:

Absolutely nothing in life is preordained or predestined. Only God can do that and He is all-powerful and utterly, completely benevolent.

Thank you Coach Brooks.

Thank you John Lucas.

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