Jeff Lewis, one of my colleagues for the last 25 years, recently shared a story on The Moth Atlanta. For those of you who have not been to The Moth, you can hear many of these stories on NPR (The Moth Radio Hour) or The Moth Podcast. Each session has a topic and 10 people are invited to share their heartfelt and sometimes hilarious stories.

Jeff is a brilliant, innovative individual and a good friend. Some of his diverse accomplishments include helping start a camp for our celiac patients (Camp WeeKanEatit), starting our microbiome transplant program (FMT), advancing the health of special needs kids (given an award for this by the Georgia Department of Public Health) and starting a lecture series to honor our surgical colleague Donald Schaffner. He even prompted changes in the hospital’s advice line. In addition, he has been instrumental in making the business part of our office work and in initiating a whole host of research projects. One of his children has told me that Jeff has a calling as a clinician which is so true.

Here is the kind, sad and thoughtful story he shared (6 min): The Moth (YouTube Link -not available without link https://youtu.be/yK-iOMSDlYM)

My take: It would be a great idea to have a Moth-type session at our national meeting. I enjoy listening to these stories particularly on long trips.

Per google search: “The Moth was founded in 1997 by the writer George Dawes Green — its name comes from his memories of growing up in St. Simons Island, Ga., where neighbors would gather late at night on a friend’s porch to tell stories and drink bourbon as moths flew in through the broken screens and circled the porch light.”

Related blog post: Short Bowel Syndrome is a Full Time Job