Surgeon walked 6 miles to perform operation

Quote of the Week   —   Posted on February 4, 2014

Dr. Hrynkiw

“I walk a lot so it wasn’t that big of a deal. “
Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw, who was needed for an emergency brain surgery at Birmingham, Ala.’s Trinity Medical Center last Tuesday morning, but he was six miles away at another hospital. With a snowstorm raging and traffic at a standstill, getting there seemed unfeasible. So, at 10:45am, in 20-degree weather, he decided to walk.

“When I got out of the doctors’ parking lot up the hill, unfortunately there were accidents to the right and accidents to the left,” he tells WBRC. But Dr. Hrynkiw is Trinity’s only neurosurgeon, and the patient “had a 90% chance of death. If he didn’t have surgery, he’d be dead. It’s not going to happen on my shift,” he said, per NBC News. 

“This just speaks volumes to the dedication of the man. When I saw him, all I could say is ‘you are a good man,'” a nurse tells the AP, adding the patient is now “doing well.”

Watch an interview with Dr. Hrynkiw below: