Chapter 13 - The $3,500 Check
Six months after my procedure, I returned to Dr. Miles's office.
This time I wasn't afraid.
My vision had stabilized.
I could drive during daylight again.
I could read without magnification.
I could see individual leaves on the maple tree outside my kitchen window.
Dr. Miles called the outcome remarkable.
I called it expensive.
Before leaving, I handed her an envelope.
Inside was a check.
$100,000.
For patients who needed urgent vision procedures they couldn't afford.
Dr. Miles stared at me.
“I can't accept this personally.”
“Good. Because it isn't for you.”
She laughed.
Then she cried.
So did I.
The first recipient was a seventy-two-year-old retired school bus driver named Walter.
He needed $2,900.
When the clinic told him an anonymous fund would cover it, he reportedly asked three times whether it was a scam.
May you like
I understood.
Sometimes kindness feels suspicious when life has trained you to expect a bill.
