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An Inspiring Doctor
Today Lee, who became a U.S. citizen in 1984, lives alone in a two-bedroom Baltimore apartment. He drives himself to Kennedy Krieger each morning in a van equipped with hand controls and an automatic ramp. Lee develops therapeutic plans for roughly a dozen patients a week. "He knows exactly what the patients are feeling," says Dr. Cristina Sadowsky, the center's clinical director. "They open up to him with questions they would never ask otherwise, about things like sexual function and bladder problems."Lee no longer dreams of walking again. "If there were an opportunity, I'd be one of the first to want it," he says. "But I'm useful doing the work I'm doing, and I'm finding my life rewarding." He hopes one day to return to South Korea and work with spinal cord injury patients there.
Last January, Lee's parents traveled from South Korea to attend a conference where their son was speaking. At the hotel that night, Lee's father said the words his son had long been waiting to hear: "I'm so proud of you."
At a rally at Kennedy Krieger last May, a five-year-old boy perched in a small motorized wheelchair pointed at Lee. When his mother told him the man was a doctor, the little boy couldn't contain his delight. "Hey, look!" he shouted. "That doctor can't walk either!" Dr. Lee wheeled over and gave the boy a great big hug.
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