Philip Condie

My hero is my Grandpa, Dr. Philip Condie. I think he is heroic because he has faced many obstacles in his life such as going to school for ten years to be a doctor, and then losing his left leg in an auto accident. He is in pain, but he is always moving forward.

Dr. Condie went to medical school in 1967 at age 25 for four years, then five years of training. After one year of internship, he graduated proudly in 1971. Dr. Condie loved his training. He says in first grade he remembers knowing he wanting to be a doctor!

He was working at the San Bernardino Medical Center when he and his wife, Marva, had their first child and named her Natalie. Two years later, they had another daughter named Susan. Philip was overjoyed with his two young daughters. By that time he was making a good living for a family of four. The family soon grew with the arrival of son, Jeff, and one more daughter, Shannon. He loved all his children and had many things he wanted to do with them.

It all changed when he was coming home from a family reunion in 1982 in Idaho when the freeway was icy. Philip saw a car sliding off the road and jumped out of the car to help push it back on the road. While pushing, a car came zooming up and hit the van! All the kids in the van were not seriously wounded but as for Philip things didn't look too good. On the way to hitting the van, the car hit Philip, severing his left leg and taking out the muscle and tissue out of most of his right leg. As he lay on the icy road waiting for help to arrive, the only thing he could say was "How are the kids?"

Philip spent many months in the hospital recovering from the terrible accident. Because he could never stand for long periods again, his career as a practicing doctor came to an end. But, he says, he has learned many other things in the following years. He learned that being a patient is just as hard as being a doctor. When he was a doctor he had to know where everything was and know just what was going to happen to the patient and when. Then he learned that as a patient that it is the opposite and you never know what is going to happen. He said he had to relax and be patient so that things would go better for him.

He also became very good at listening to people and he served in his church as a leader for years. All the members came to love him and his insight helped solve many problems. He is part of his city Rotary Club and oversaw the building of a house for families of cancer patients to stay in, while their sick family member was being treated.

He is always patient with people and is a fun Grandpa and makes you feel good when you are around him. It must be hard to do when you are in pain a lot of the time.

He's learned many things from this challenge. He said he had to keep on going and know what he could and couldn't do. My hero is my Grandpa, Dr. Philip Condie, because he has faced many obstacles in his life but no matter how hard it got he kept going!