Children’s Hospital saved his life 28 years ago. Now Daniel Cook is helping build its expansion.
The construction project manager looked up his medical records so he could find and thank those who cared for him after a devastating injury when he was 11
June 5, 2019
Daniel Cook at his workplace, the upper floors expansion of Children’s Hospital. Photo by John Russell
Daniel Cook, a project manager for Turner Construction, was nervous and excited when he learned four years ago that he would be a lead project engineer on the four-floor expansion for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
He was eager to do the job well, not just because it was a complex building project that would serve the community now and for generations to come, but because Children’s Hospital saved his life 28 years ago.
As the finishing touches are put on the first expansion floor, set to open the end of June, Cook is in awe of the opportunity to be part of such a construction feat and of the fact that he can give back to the hospital — and many of the same doctors and nurses — that gave him a chance to pursue the life he now has.
His injuries were devastating: a compound fracture to his femur; a broken cheekbone and wrist; a concussion; multiple facial and oral lacerations; a ruptured kidney and internal bleeding. He lost consciousness and doesn’t remember anything about the fall.
“This is the type of experience not many people get to do in their career — a vertical expansion,” Cook said. “We’re tying into an existing hospital. The hospital still has to be able to operate while we build up. This doesn’t happen very often.”
The accident
In July 1991 Cook was an adventurous 11-year-old, and as a typical adolescent, that sometimes meant pushing the limits a bit.
Preparing for a family vacation to Florida, Cook’s mother, Betsy Wentworth, headed to the grocery store to buy food for the trip. He and a friend were left to their own devices and the boys thought it sounded like a good idea to climb through a second-floor window onto the roof of the house. Cook remembers that he wanted to try out some new binoculars.
The rooftop excursion did not go as planned. Cook slipped and fell off the roof — about a 30-foot drop.
His injuries were devastating: a compound fracture to his femur; a broken cheekbone and wrist; a concussion; multiple facial and oral lacerations; a ruptured kidney and internal bleeding. He lost consciousness and doesn’t remember anything about the fall.
Now a dad himself with two children, Graham, 3, and Ellie, 2, Cook sees the hospital from his parents’ perspective now; how worried they must have been; how grateful they were for his care.
He was taken to the local hospital in Lebanon, and doctors there, seeing the severity of his injuries, had Cook flown by LifeFlight to the “children’s hospital within the hospital” at Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH), which predated the current freestanding pediatric facility.
In the VUH ER, Cook was stabilized, and within hours, a surgical team whisked him away to the operating room. John W. Brock III, MD, now chief of surgery of Children’s Hospital and director of the Division of Pediatric Urology, along with Walter Morgan, MD, assistant professor of Pediatric Surgery, removed Cook’s right kidney due to the severe trauma it had suffered. They also repaired the vena cava blood vessel in the abdomen that carries deoxygenated blood to the heart.
That was enough major surgery for anybody, but Cook’s body needed still more repair.
Brock and Morgan handed off his care to the Orthopaedics team, led by the late Neil Green, MD, which set his right leg with pins. Following that, the Ear, Nose and Throat team, including Jay Werkhaven, MD, repaired the lacerations inside his mouth and on his face.
Following that marathon of surgery, Cook was brought to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He stayed at Children’s Hospital from July 20, 1991, to Aug. 1, 1991. Following discharge, he spent several weeks at home recovering, using a wheelchair, then a walker as he healed.
He missed his first semester of middle school, but he knew he was lucky to be alive.
Fast forward
Now 39, Cook’s return to Children’s Hospital as part of the construction project may be chance or perhaps fate. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, but he didn’t end up following a career in his major. He worked in sales for a while and then moved into the construction industry when he took a job in construction equipment rentals. Eventually, he took a position at Turner Construction, where he worked his way up to his present job.
When the Children’s Hospital expansion was added to his work portfolio in 2016, Cook decided it was time to learn more about his accident. He requested all his records: 30 pages of doctors’ notes, some typed, some handwritten, detailing his almost two-week stay in the hospital.
Now a dad himself with two children, Graham, 3, and Ellie, 2, Cook sees the hospital from his parents’ perspective now; how worried they must have been; how grateful they were for his care. Those thoughts are especially poignant because Cook’s mother died suddenly in March. “More than anyone, I know mom would have loved to see this story finished. It would have meant the world to her,” he said.
When the Children’s Hospital expansion was added to his work portfolio in 2016, Cook decided it was time to learn more about his accident. He requested all his records. Thirty pages of doctors’ notes, some typed, some handwritten, detailing his almost two-week stay in the hospital.
But what he really wanted what to see were the names of those who cared for him, and there they were: Walter Morgan III, MD; John W. Brock III, MD; Jay Werkhaven, MD; the late Neil Green, MD; Marta Hernanz-Schulman, MD —among many others.
Word spread quickly about Cook and his desire to thank his care team. Morgan, still at Children’s Hospital, called him and they met in person.
“It’s the coolest thing to tell him ‘thank you’ and to show him a photo of me with my own family now, my wife, Ashley, and my kids,” Cook said.
He met Brock at a topping out ceremony for the expansion and shook his hand. “It meant the world to me,” Cook said.
Cook says he is excited to see the finished results and eager for patients to occupy the rooms, getting quality care, just as he did three decades ago.
Brock was appreciative that after so many years, his patient was now healthy and such an important piece of the hospital’s growth.
“I was so humbled by the fact that he took time to find his medical records to learn about his care team and to know that this is such a special project for him to work on. To see him healthy and doing so well is a complete validation of who I am and why I do what I do,” said Brock, the Monroe Carell Jr. Professor.
“When I met him, I could see the complete gratitude that he has his life because we, as a hospital and a team, made a difference for him as a child. It is an honor to work alongside such outstanding individuals as Drs. Walter Morgan and Jay Werkhaven who have been an integral part of Children’s Hospital history and impacted the lives of so many children. The fact that I was part of Daniel’s team is pretty special for me.”
Now, just before the opening of the first floor of the expansion, Cook says he is excited to see the finished results and eager for patients to occupy the rooms, getting quality care, just as he did three decades ago.
“Being just weeks away from the new 10th floor opening, I am now even more excited for today’s and tomorrow’s patients, the nurses and doctors, and everyone else who has had a part in this project,” he said.
“The final result is an example of everyone working together to ensure those in need will have a local resource with unbelievable capabilities to meet their needs. It just happens that the building is beautiful as well. I will be forever grateful to have played even a minor role here,” he said.
