SLCC Full Ride Scholarship DUE March 1, 2011

APPLY TODAY

The Paul Cardall Scholarship for Students Affected by Congenital Disorders was established in 2010 by SLCC alumnus Paul Cardall, who was born with a complex congenital heart defect and received a heart transplant on 09-09-09. The costs associated with a chronic illness are understandably high. The Paul Cardall Family Foundation wishes to help those who have been affected by congenital disorders (congenital heart disease, spina bifida, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, cystic fibrosis and other birth defects) to obtain an education at SLCC.

This scholarship is available to residents of the Rocky Mountain Region who have been diagnosed with congenital disorders, or whose children have been diagnosed with congenital disorders. Applicants must demonstrate financial need and be degree or certificate-seeking students at Salt Lake Community College, and enroll in at least 9 credit hours, but not more than 18 credit hours, in an eligible program. Successful applicants will have demonstrated courage and character in their response to the challenge of congenital disorders.

This $3,000 scholarship ($1,500 per semester) may be used for tuition, fees and books. The scholarship will be awarded in spring 2011 for the 2011-12 academic years.

APPLY TODAY:
http://www.slcc.edu/financialaid/scholarships/11-12_Paul_Cardall_application_Congenital_2011_12.pdf

A New Life and a New Album

I handed a copy of my new piano album, that doesn’t hit the stores until Valentines Day, to my 91-year-old grandmother. She has a sophisticated ear and enjoys quality music. I have great love and respect for her opinion. If she’s pleased I feel a greater sense of confidence in letting the public have my art.

When I handed the disc of new music to Grandma she had no song titles or additional information about the project. I didn’t’ even have a title.

Yesterday, after a month of listening to the master copy she said, “The pieces are about your recovery, aren’t they?” She could feel the instrumental music and it spoke the message without words to her heart. I said, “Yes, it’s about the emotions I’ve experienced after the miracle of God and trying to comprehend all of the irony associated with my survival.”

How does a composer create music after going through a rather unusual ordeal of life and death? I was deeply worried about this and a cause for some stress.

Although I performed and spoke in many cities, it wasn’t until a year after the transplant that I entered a recording studio for the first time.

Having met so many wonderful people experiencing similar health challenges or enduring overwhelming obstacles, ideas or themes flooded my soul and I was finally able to transfer emotions of grief, sadness, joy, gratitude, and humility, into a collection of more than 10 powerful piano compositions accompanied by tender orchestrations.

Photo: My daughter Eden visiting me in studio during the New Life project

New Life is the album. February 14th is the release date. Not only is this a deeply personal album, but also I believe it will be very healing to listeners in search of greater peace and spiritual strength in their own lives.

I am anxious to perform this new music with a small orchestra at my 2nd annual celebrate life concert on Valentines Day. I look forward to having those of you in the Salt Lake City area join us for this unique show.

For more information
http://www.paulcardall.com

Dad's Retired

Click on Segment 3 to Watch the story about my Dad.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Photo: Sitting with my father in Primary Children's Medical Center waiting for my heart transplant in August 2009.

After 42 years working as a broadcast journalist my father is retiring. Being self employed I can't begin to imagine the feeling of walking away from the corporate scenario. Needless to say, he is a man of integrity, loved his work, and remained loyal to KSL Television in Salt Lake City for 38 years.

I wrote about his interesting experiences traveling the world reporting history as it unfolded in my book, Before My Heart Stops. The chapter is properly titled "Son of A Newsman."

Gold Medalist Shaun White talks about his CHD

Shaun and I both have parents with similar views. We love them for it.

Top 7 Memories of 2010

My top 7 memories of 2010

7. Performing in front of a Sold Out Crowd at Abravanel Hall, raising money for CHD.

6. Publishing my story, Before My Heart Stops,and meeting many families affected by CHD along the way.

5. Standing on the peak of Mount Olympus with family and friends.

4. Camping with my family and friends in Ephraim, Forest Park, and more.

3. Recording a new album for Feb. 2011, the soundtrack to my New Life.

2. Taking my family to Disneyworld. Eden, my 4-yr-old at the time, insisted we go on the Tall Tower of Terror. (We had no idea what this ride was. They should call it child abuse)

1. Falling deeper in love with my wife.

Grateful for Time

As the holiday season approaches I am grateful for time.

“Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it,” said M. Scott Peck, world-renowned psychiatrist and author of The Road Less Traveled.

Meanwhile, dramatist and creator of Peter Pan, Sir James Matthew Barrie said of time, “You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.”

Photo: Time well spent (me and my daughter Eden)

No one knows how much time we have. I said in my book, Before My Heart Stops, “There is no expiration date on our birth certificates.”

I often wonder if it has been better to be warned that we are going to die by having a terminal illness or to have no warning at all?

Regardless, we have the now. We have today. We find good counsel in the known phrase, “Don’t put off ‘til tomorrow what you can do today.” Yet in a tone of pause and reflection we have the sarcastic wisdom of Mark Twain’s statement, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

Whatever our busy lives are consumed with may we take time in our daily routine, after the kids are put to bed, while they’re playing, or when we have a moment at work or in our car before we drive home to take the time to pause, reflect, and meditate on who we are as children of a loving God and what we want to do before we return to Him.

One of my spiritual heroes and 9th President of the LDS Church, David O’ Mckay said, "Meditation is the language of the soul. It is defined as a form of private devotion, or spiritual exercise, consisting in deep, continued reflection on some religious theme. Meditation is a form of prayer." Later he said, "Meditation is one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord."

Here is 3 minutes of peace to enjoy before the holiday rush sets in.

Russell M. Nelson Heals Hearts

I met a woman who has worked in an operating room with many cardiovascular surgeons. When I asked if she ever worked with the legendary Russell M. Nelson she said he was her favorite.

I asked what was unique about him? She said, "He never lost his temper or swore." She asked him about that. She said, "He told me that early on in his career he made a vow never to show any sign of discouragement or lack of self control since he was the leader of the operation and it was about the patient and not about himself."

Photo: Russell M. Nelson poses in dress uniform during military service. He served as first lieutenant in Army Medical Corps from 1951-53.

Who is this remarkable man?

Before he became an internationally renowned surgeon he was a medical student from Utah busy working in 1951 with a small team of people at the University of Minnesota Hospital on a device that would revolutionize open heart surgery.

After years of trial and error this unique team would successfully create the first heart lung machine making it possible to circulate and oxygenate blood for the body while bypassing the heart and lungs. Because of this technology millions of lives would be saved. I am one of those many.

Nelson would work as a surgeon during the Korean War, studying at Harvard, and finally earning his Phd from the University of Minnesota.

This gifted young man was encouraged by many of his colleagues and professors to stay back East and work. They said there was nothing back in Utah for him and he was too talented as a heart surgeon to work in the middle of nowhere.

Photo: Original Heart Lung Machine on Display in London

In 1955 Dr. Nelson decided he would go home because of his unique heritage and faith. His family descended from Mormon pioneers who were forced out of Missouri in 1856 because Mormon converts in those days gathered into one area forming a strong community. They had become too strong politically and preached anti-slavery prior to the Civil War among other controversial issues. Above all, and outside of the passion for his faith, Utah was his home.

Nelson returned to Salt Lake City in 1955 and was initially on the academic staff of the College of Medicine at the University of Utah, where in November of that year. While working as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Utah Medical School, Elder Nelson worked at the Salt Lake County Hospital and built his own twin pump heart-lung machine. His research helped Utah to become the third state in the nation where open heart surgery was performed.

In March 1956, Nelson performed the first successful pediatric cardiac operation at the Salt Lake County Hospital, a total repair of tetralogy of Fallot in a four-year-old girl. In 1959, he joined the staff of the Salt Lake Clinic, became associated with the LDS Hospital, and continued to make major contributions to the development of the thoracic specialty both in the clinical sciences and as the second director of the residency program.

Nelson's surgical volume was sufficiently large that it was a critical component of the residents' experience. He was an innovative and facile surgeon responsible for many improvements in cardiac operations. He also established a research laboratory at LDS Hospital.

Learn More about this remarkable man in his biography. A wonderful history of faith and medicine.

By the late 1960s, Nelson's experience with artificial aortic valve implantation was such that he was able to report a large series of patients with an exceptionally low operative mortality.

I believe that today people like me are living longer because of this remarkable man who chose to return home.

His colleague Conrad Jensen operated on me in 1973. Dr. Nelson brought Dr. Jensen to Utah as a partner and later another partner Donald Doty who did my difficult heart surgeries in my teenage years.

I love that I can trace my good health back to a man devoted to his faith, family, and love for medicine.

This wonderful doctor, internationally well respected, who physically healed many hearts left his practice decades ago after receiving a call from President Spencer W. Kimball, then the presiding authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. President Kimball asked Doctor Nelson to be one of the Twelve apostles in the Mormon faith with the full-time responsibility of spiritually healing hearts according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Thank you Elder Russell M. Nelson for blessing my life. Watch Elder Nelson describe the Human Heart in this brief video.