In Memory of Daniel — Reviving Research to Prevent Gun Violence — NEJM

In Memory of Daniel — Reviving Research to Prevent Gun Violence — NEJM

by Chana A. Sacks, M.D.  (Massachusetts General Hospital)

At the moment that Daniel was shot, I had just fallen asleep after a night on call in the cardiac intensive care unit. My attending during that rotation was Robert Gerszten, who offered us insights from the burgeoning field of metabolomics and cardiovascular disease: that alterations in levels of blood metabolites may precede chronic illnesses by decades — knowledge that might someday enable us to identify people at risk for diseases years before the first clinical manifestation. Contemplating the possibilities of this concept, caring for critically sick patents, and studying the vast cardiology literature, I found my mind filled with a complex amalgam of thoughts that often made post-call sleep restless.

Meanwhile, 150 miles away, the day had started like any Friday. My cousin Mark walked his oldest son to the bus stop at the end of the driveway. James always left for school first, and on that December day, it was still dark. At the sound of flip-flops on asphalt, Mark and James turned to see 7-year-old Daniel bounding toward them in his pajamas; he had woken up early and sprinted outside to see his older brother off to school. Then Daniel and Mark snuggled on the couch, played foosball in the basement and then “Jingle Bells” on the piano. At 8:30, it was Daniel's turn to trek down the driveway. Mark remembers holding Daniel's little hand for the whole walk to the yellow school bus that took his youngest son to Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The next week is a blur...

READ MORE