I
n April 1991, the military wrote
to McGarity about Dr. Swan’s re-
quest. Theresa read the letter to
her husband, who was thrilled. “I
knew there was a doctor somewhere
who had saved my life,” he says. “I’d
always wished I could meet and
thank him.”
Dr. Swan was astounded when he
heard about his patient. “I was told,
‘He’s married, has two children, en-
joys scuba diving, and has taken
college classes!’” he recalls. “I said,
‘You’ve got the wrong man. My patient
has no legs, no eyes, badly damaged
arms, and had head trauma.’” The
Army insisted it had the right person.
Dr. Swan and McGarity spoke sev-
eral times by phone before deciding
to meet. Then, in September 1991—
23 years and four days after the
battle that nearly took McGarity’s
life—doctor and patient reunited at
McGarity’s home in Columbus, Geor-
gia. During a five-hour visit, Dr. Swan
talked about that night in Vietnam
and his doubts about saving McGarity.
“Even in my darkest moments of
pain,” McGarity told him, “there was
never a time I wanted to die.”
McGarity peppered the doctor with
questions, hoping to fill in the holes in
his memory. “I needed to find out the
facts,” he says. “I wanted to know how
close to death I was.”
The details seemed to help McGarity
get beyond his past. The flashbacks
and nightmares declined dramatically.
Theresa had hoped for that for years.Dr. Swan was also moved. He called
the meeting “the most dramatic event
in my career.” He was astonished to
learn that McGarity played piano and
trumpet, did indeed scuba dive, and
had completed a year of college. The
doctor refused, though, to take much
credit for the way things turned out.
“The older you get,” he says, “the more
you realize how little doctors contrib-
ute to patient outcome. The miracles
of modern medicine usually are not
man-made. Doctors are 5 percent.
God and the patient are the rest.”O
n January 30, 1992, Kenneth
McGarity was awarded med-
als for heroism that, because
of a mix-up, he had never received. In
an emotional ceremony at Fort Ben-
ning, Georgia, before 30 relatives and
friends—and Dr. Swan—McGarity
was presented with a Purple Heart,
an Air Medal, and four other awards.
It was a fitting tribute to a man who’d
spent every day of the 23 years since
his injuries overcoming adversity with
courage and valor.118 may 2019 | rd.com
Reader’s
Digest
Goes to
WarReader’s Digest Classic