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Subscribe to RSSColleagues and loved ones are remembering a 50-year-old man who died while trying to save two boys in Lake Michigan as a devoted father and skilled pediatric surgeon.
Dr. Donald Liu, a father of three, was on an outing with his family in Berrian County Mich., on Sunday morning when he saw two boys struggling to swim in the lake after falling off a kayak. Liu jumped into the lake but the strong rip current below pulled him under.
The boys, who were friends of the family, made it back to land but the doctor drowned.
Liu's wife, Dr. Dana Suskind, fondly remembered her husband as a dedicated surgeon, father and husband.
"It was horrible," Suskind told the Chicago Tribune. "He had the biggest heart. He was a brilliant surgeon … but what was amazing about him was that he was the best father, that was his priority in life, and he loved me with all of his heart."
The couple, married 17 years, met at the University of Pennsylvania where Liu was a third-year surgery resident and Suskind, also a surgeon, was an intern.
His skill for performing minimally invasive surgery and his work ethic garnered admiration from colleagues at University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.
They said he took on the hardest cases, helping sick children with cancer and other ailments, NBCChicago.com reported.
"He was a tireless, selfless physician," said Dr. John Alverdy, executive vice chairman of the department of surgery at the university. "He'd wake up at 2 a.m. to save a child from a gunshot wound, sleep for two hours and then be back here at 6 a.m. to do rounds and elective surgeries."
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Liu joined the university in 2001 and was named chief of pediatric surgery and surgeon-in-chief at the hospital six years later. He had recently been awarded a "distinguished clinician" award.
"It lightened the atmosphere in the room and they were more open to you and all of a sudden you could see their faces light up," nurse practitioner Christopher Speaker said about how Liu interacted with sick children.
Read original story on NBCChicago.com
His peers echoed the same sentiment.
"The fact that Don would save everything to save a child is what made him who he was. This doesn't surprise any of us," Liu's colleague, Dr. Jeffrey Matthews, told NBCChicago.com.
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Oh how sad. Sympathies to the family and friends of this wonderful man.
How terribly sad. He died a hero and will be remembered as one. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Agreed - how tragic for his family, friends, and patients. An honorable man, indeed.
THAT is a man who is a great symbol of what it means to be an American.We salute you sir.Be proud of your father children.
Excuse me! I don't live near the Great Lakes and have only viewed one (Erie) from the dock, but what is with the strong current thing. Can someone enlighten me?
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior back in 1975. I suppose there's several theories as to why the ship went down, but it did. The real fact here is, it was much larger than the doctor.
The Great Lakes are LARGE. Large enough to be a mini ocean, they just happen to be land locked. Crazy stuff goes on there. Nasty storms, rogue waves.
Currents are large-scale water movements that occur everywhere
Al bodies of water have them, the bigger the body the stronger they can be. They can drag large ships down so its not unfathomable that they could bring a person down. Most larger ships in large bodies of water have instruments to help predict where they are so they can be navigated safely.
I'm certain they're referring to the undertow or rip currents. After a wave crashes shore the water recedes back to the lake and creates a current that is moving away from shore beneath the surface of the water, and this current will drag a person away from the shoreline. That's undertow. Rip current is also caused by crashing waves but it's best explained with a diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current. Bigger waves make stronger currents, and the great lakes can generate some enormous waves. Lake Superior forms 20+ foot waves during some storms.
Eric - America take a good look this is a Chinese man who lost his life trying to save two boys
So what the hell is this whole thing about culture about?
He was a human being - not Chinese - not African American - not Muslim - not Mexican
But a human being - is that not enough for you?
When is America going to wake up?
who is talking about culture? troll harder, idiot.
Barbara - What are you talking about? Eric never said any thing about his culture or his race. Current and culture are two different things.
As for the story very sad for his family but they should be proud and honored by every thing he has done in his life. RIP good man.
barb...you're up to early..go back to sleep.
Ambien can have many strange side effects. Looks like Barb has a few.
So that's what coming out of left field looks like.................and to think barb even got 2 whole votes, scary stuff.
On the up side, her post made me laugh at the sheer 'out of freakin' nowhere' of it.
Why is there no mention of whether any of them were wearing life preservers (personal flotation vests)?
As a bit of follow-up, there is more accurate information on what happened in the news report by the Chicago Tribune:
[SOURCE: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-doctor-drowning-death-20120807,0,1948933.story ]
None of these people had any business being in Lake Michigan, where at the time the Chicago Tribune reported there were "5-foot waves" . . .
The impression one gets from the NBC News report is that this happened in a typical inland lake where everyone was in boats or kayaks, and it makes little sense in that scenario unless the kayakers were next to a dam or lock, because lakes where people go bass fishing and water skiing typically do not require more personal protection than a life preserver and a helmet, although in cold weather using a wet suit can extend the water skiing opportunities . . .
In some respects, heroism is spanky, but so is common sense, and in the grand scheme of everything one cannot help but wonder how many children will die because there is one fewer pediatric surgeon at the hospital . . .
Lake Michigan during high winds is not the same as Billy Bob's two-acre bass pond, and doing anything in a kayak with 5-foot waves is suicidal, which in more direct terms makes it stupid, because there are no "do overs" in stupid . . .
I also have a problem with "2 kids" or "two boys", which tends to suggest that they were in the younger grades of elementary school, which even on a calm lake or Billy Bob's bass pond is too young to be in a kayak, because the way a kayak works is that your legs are sealed inside the kayak and your ability to keep the kayak upright is a matter of having significant upper body strength, as well as vast skill in balance and so forth, because kayaks are designed specifically to be upside-down and entirely submerged some of the time, which in turn requires the kayaker to be able to deal with rapids and whatever by holding their breath and recovering control of the kayak without panicking and doing something stupid . . .
And while with a bit of candy coating it might appear to be a bittersweet but nevertheless uplifting story of great personal sacrifice, in the grand scheme of everything it actually is a story of what happens in the real world when three stupid people fail to take the time to understand the basic realities of lakes, kayaks, personal flotation devices, water conditions, weather, waves, undercurrents, rip tides, first aid and safety, and so forth and so on, really . . .
Really! :-o
You sure are one bitter, sick individual. You must have quite the fine edge on that axe you grind all day and night. People like you are a pox on humanity, looking to denigrate everything someone else does, because you didn't or couldn't do it first. You have much more than a problem with "2 kids". Get some help. Even if it is futile.
A) Insensitive and rude comments.
B) He was taken by a rip tide - can happen to ANYONE who swims in the lake. Apparently you are from Arizona or Nevada (apologies to those folks) and know nothing at all about Big Blue.
C) And the only person who thinks Lake Michigan is a "typical inland lake" seems to be you and possibly a few other people who never graduated 6th grade.
@Mymomdidnotraiseafool...... Well said.
@FlyOverMe:
You wrote this:
If this was directed at me, then I encourage you to read what I wrote a few more times, because Lake Michigan is not a "typical inland lake" . . .
Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes, and there is a vast difference, which I thought should be obvious by adding "inland" to "typical inland lake", which is a bit redundant, because by definition lakes are inland . . .
For reference, I was going along with the "lake accident" concept as I read the NBC News report, but there were a few things that made no sense--for example "strong current"--so I did bit of checking, which led to the local news report by the Chicago Tribune, where "lake" in the NBC News report became "Lake Michigan" in the Chicago Tribune report, which also was where the additional bit of information about "5-foot waves" was revealed . . .
I fully understand that my perspective in this instance certainly can be taken as insensitive, but once you realize that this happened on Lake Michigan and apparently involved children "playing" with a kayak or perhaps two kayaks when there were "5-foot waves", there is no other way to describe it than stupid . . .
And while I usually am a gracious fellow, in this instance I think it is important to make it abundantly clear that "playing" with kayaks on any of the Great Lakes when there are "5-foot waves" is dangerous to the level of being just plain stupid . . .
If there continue to be kayaking events at the summer Olympics, I encourage everyone to study the physiques of the kayakers, where it will be vastly obvious that they have significant upper-body strength, and although there might not be any rapids or whatever at the Olympics events, the kayakers also can handle being submerged for a few minutes by virtue of having trained themselves to be able hold their breaths for longer than most folks, and they are strong swimmers, really . . .
Really! :-o
P. S. The perspective here in the sound isolation studio is that allowing children to "play" with kayaks on Lake Michigan or any of the Great Lakes when there are "5-foot waves" at minimum is child abuse or child neglect, even if (a) there is a skilled adult kayaker accompanying the children and (b) the kayaker is a certified life guard and strong swimmer . . .
[NOTE: I might make an exception if the adult kayaker was a Navy SEAL, but in the grand scheme of everything a Navy SEAL certainly would have sufficient common sense and expertise not to take children kayaking in these conditions . . . ]
It is highly dangerous and vastly stupid, and someone needs to provide the required clue, which as I read the NBC News report was not provided in an indisputably clear way, hence my comments . . .
Regarding "upper-body strength", this photograph of the British Women's Olympic Kayak Squad provides a few clues, for sure . . .
http://jasminarj.livejournal.com/56085.html
For sure!
Baldenario
Your post tells a lot about your sissy character. You will never understand heroism and why some are regarded as such. You are and always will be that one dude that no one wants to hang out with, because you live life in a bubble.
Baldenario, you do not seem very educated about kayaks. In this case, the kayak may have been an ocean kayak, not necessarily the sit-in type. Also, most kayakers do not flip their kayaks. If you do not wear a kayak skirt that would allow you to flip (which it is doubtful these boys would be wearing one, and I have never heard of a 2 person kayak that could flip), you are not pinned into your kayak in any way. You simply fall out of it if it flips. I have kids and the youngest has been kayaking on his own since he was 8. Always wearing a life preserver and always on calm water, of course.
@Lovely:
Wearing a helmet is a good idea, too, but it depends on the life preserver, where the general idea is that when the person is unconscious the life preserver and helmet working in combination keep the person's head where they can breathe at least a little bit . . .
Regarding my knowledge of water craft, I have a few friends who for a while were a bit fanatic about kayaking, and what I observed was that they tended to get pumped about being in precarious situations in river rapids, where for example they got a foot caught in rocks when they were underwater but recovered, which was pretty much all I needed to know about kayaking . . .
I enjoy water skiing, and for a while I had a very nice boat that was designed for Great Lakes racing but was nice for water skiing, and when the foot was down you could get it going 40 knots and do a graceful "doughnut" without flipping the boat, but you would not want to attempt it with the foot up, where the "foot" is the part that determines the depth and angle of the propeller, but my favorite boat is a Boston Whaler, because even if you saw a Boston Whaler in half with a chain saw it floats, and being able to float when one is in water is a very good thing from my perspective . . .
http://www.checkmatepowerboats.net/
I think that you probably are right about it being a two-person kayak or even a canoe, but without more details it is difficult to guess. The problem with the presence of a kayak or canoe is that depending on what it is doing, you have more things to be track when doing a water rescue, especially when there are "5-foot waves", because you can be doing all the water rescue steps correctly but then you get hit in the head with the empty kayak or canoe . . .
And for reference, nothing I wrote and nothing JLPinCOMO wrote is incompatible or inconsistent with doing a water rescue, but there are guidelines and common sense rules for doing water rescues, which when followed are the best way to ensure that everyone has a happy outcome, for sure . . .
For sure!
Over the years, I have seen Lake Erie and Lake Michigan (more so the latter), and the nickname for Chicago is the "Windy City", which if you have visited Chicago a few times is not an understatement . . .
Lately, I am in the Deep South most of the time, and what folks call a "lake" here is vastly different from Lake Michigan, where Lake Michigan is more like the Gulf of Mexico, except that having "5-foot" waves is not so common in the Gulf of Mexico (more like "3-foot waves", unless there is a tropical storm or hurricane), hence limited surfing . . .
Anything is possible, and it might be the case that children in a kayak, canoe, or small rowboat when there are "5-foot waves" is completely normal for those folks called "Yankees", but this is not the case in the Deep South, hence the entire sequence of events in this tragedy being so disturbing when I read about it . . .
For the folks who have no formal training in water rescue, the fact of the matter is that there are lists of "Do's and Don'ts", and as I read the NBC News report and then read the Chicago Tribune news report, what I saw was item after item on the "Don't do this!" part of the list, which is the reason I commented, because while not so many people read comments, someone should provide a few clues . . .
The tone of the NBC News report was more along the lines of a typical day at the "lake" and an unusual and tragic "accident", but there was nothing typical about it, and the reality is that it was the direct consequence of a series of patently stupid actions that resulted in the death of a pediatric surgeon, which in the grand scheme of everything makes it a greater loss to humanity . . .
And for reference, I was thinking "grab an ice chest to use as an emergency flotation device", but what I really liked about JLPinCOMO's comment was the part about using a spare tire as an emergency flotation device, which might take a few seconds longer to unscrew but is even better than an empty ice chest, and having some rope is a good idea, if possible . . .
Lifeguards at an ocean beach or lake usually have a torpedo-shaped buoy attached to perhaps 10 feet of nylon rope, and they use it when doing water rescues, really . . .
Really! :-)
This is a tragedy we see every year. We need public announcements with simple instructions on how to handle drowning situations. There are many common items people take with them that can act as flotation device. Dump your cooler, close the lid. Spare tire can work too. Saving a drowning victim is very difficult and in the heat of the moment people put themselves in a hopeless situation.
Also, I wonder if the boys were wearing lifejackets, it appears not from the description of the situation. Those parents should be charged with endangering the life of those boys. The possible negligence of those parents may be the root cause of this mans drowning.
JLP...how about you save your armchair lawyering and either express some condolences or shut the hell up..... That man, a good man, lost his life trying to save those boys...You were not there... you can wonder all you want......but don't point fingers at people you don't know because of a situation you have next to no knowledge of.
Adding to the thoughtful and accurate observations made by JLPinCOMO, it is not so difficult to determine which folks actually know something about water rescue, where it also is important to understand that a person who is drowning will react very differently, because for the drowning person it is a panic situation and they are operating in an adrenaline rush, hence are quite likely to have additional strength, at least for a while, and if you do not know how to approach the person safely in a water rescue, the drowning and panicking person can put the rescuer in jeopardy, and then instead of one person in distress, there are two people in distress, which makes an already life-threatening situation worse rather than better, really . . .
Really! :-o
JLPinCOMO and Baldenario
You two should get together and hold hands, you'd be forever safer that way. Here's a hint at real life, if someone was trapped in a burning house, assuming fire rescue will not make it
a) do you go out and get a fire proof suit first then go in and rescue
b) watch like scared little pansies and say well that person should have had a fire proof suit handy.
Yeah you two are real heroes alright............
@thepunisher:
Thanks for the "pop quiz", but I am going with the third answer (c), which since you are presenting yourself as an expert on fire rescue you can explain to everyone as a homework assignment, really . . .
Really! :-o
Very sad to see the loss of one of life's truly 'good guys'. This kind of person is increasingly rare in our society.
If one is lucky in life, they come in contact with what I call a "beacon of light". They are individuals who you can tell at once are just something very special. Dr. Liu was truly a beacon of light. Our hearts are broken at this tragic news. Dr. Liu cared for our son for several years. He performed multiple operations due to complications on our son. He was so caring and always there for him. He gave us his personal cell phone with instructions to "not hesitate" to call him at any time. Once on a Saturday, he was giving a presentation in Iowa when our son became suddenly ill. He hopped on the next plane to Chicago with instructions to meet him at the ER. He caught an earlier flight and called us to say "where are you". A true icon has been taken from us. His skills were many. His bed side manner with children was superior. He had the unique ability to put children at ease with their physical problems while presenting the parents with an objective assessment. However, when we expressed our concerns about details, he would always say "you let me worry about that". When our son went off to college, he spoke privately with him advising him on what to expect and encouraging him to call with any problems, non-medical related. My heart is broken by the news. He touched countless patients, families and fellow medical professionals. The world is a better place due to Dr. Donald Liu. A true angel has left us.
If one is lucky in life, they come in contact with what I call a "beacon of light". They are individuals who you can tell at once are just something very special. Dr. Liu was truly a beacon of light. Our hearts are broken at this tragic news. Dr. Liu cared for our son for several years. He performed multiple operations due to complications on our son. He was so caring and always there for him. He gave us his personal cell phone with instructions to "not hesitate" to call him at any time. Once on a Saturday, he was giving a presentation in Iowa when our son became suddenly ill. He hopped on the next plane to Chicago with instructions to meet him at the ER. He caught an earlier flight and called us to say "where are you". A true icon has been taken from us. His skills were many. His bed side manner with children was superior. He had the unique ability to put children at ease with their physical problems while presenting the parents with an objective assessment. However, when we expressed our concerns about details, he would always say "you let me worry about that". When our son went off to college, he spoke privately with him advising him on what to expect and encouraging him to call with any problems, non-medical related. My heart is broken by the news. He touched countless patients, families and fellow medical professionals. The world is a better place due to Dr. Donald Liu. A true angel has left us.
such a terrible lose, for everyone.