A Dream Come True!

Very rarely do people get to fulfill a dream first verbalized fifteen years earlier as a college freshman. A few weeks ago, I got to do that very thing. As a freshman at Lipscomb University, I dreamed of one day become a physician and moving back to the sleepy little town in west Tennessee I call home.  On Tuesday May 28, 2013 I signed a contract to return home to work as an orthopedic surgeon at Henry County Medical Center beginning in late fall 2015! We are very excited about the opportunity to return home to live, work, and raise our family in what I consider to be one of the greatest places on the planet.

Signing my HCMC contract with Jenn & Tom Gee, CEO

People have often asked me where I am from and I usually tailor the response based on who I'm talking to. I usually start with Paris because it's the closest real city but I can soon change to calling Springville and/or Elkhorn home if people are familiar with the area. I left when I was 17 years old to attend college and by the time I return, I will have been gone an additional 17 years. Since leaving I/we have lived in Nashville, Abilene, Kansas City, Dallas, and Detroit. The thought of Elkhorn sounds wonderful for so many reasons! :)

Between now and then, we have a couple years and alot of dreams to pursue. I have one more year of residency here in Detroit and will graduate from there June 30, 2014. We will then move to Saint Paul, MN where I will be doing a one-year fellowship (additional year of training in a certain specialty) at Regions Hospital focusing on neck and back surgery. We are super excited about that year (with the exception of the sub-zero degree winter temps) and what God has in store. That fellowship will end July 31, 2015 after which we will move home to west Tennessee. However, prior to beginning my practice there in Paris, Jennifer and I have prayed about and are planning to spend a significant amount of time (2-3 months) overseas doing mission work in east Africa. We have always wanted to spend a longer chunk of time doing such work and be able to expose our young boys to a world much larger than they are aware of. We covet your prayers as that trip continues to materialize. I plan to begin work in late 2015, Lord willing.

Henry Ford Macomb Hospital (Clinton Township, MI)

Regions Hospital (St Paul, MN)

Tenwek Hospital (Bomet, Kenya)

Henry County Medical Center (Paris, TN)

We are incredibly blessed and grateful for all this coming together and we hope to be a blessing to Henry County and the surrounding area for many years to come!