![[Photo of Dr. Klitzman appears here]](klitzman.gif)
Bruce
Klitzman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
Associate Research Professor, Dept. Biomedical Engineering
Assistant Res. Professor, Dept. of Cell Biology
Senior Director, Kenan Plastic
Surgery Research Laboratories
Research Park Building 4, room 0016, Circuit Dr, Box 3906
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, NC 27710 USA
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phone: 919-684-3929 or 919-684-6686
email: Dr. Klitzman
Dr. Klitzman was the 1998-1999 President of:
Dr. Klitzman also founded the North
Carolina
13th Annual Meeting
was held November 4, 2011
For more information about the group, go to: www.ncterm.org
Newspaper picture from 1997 showing Page Klitzman cheering on the winning Madagascar
Page graduated from Jordan
High School
Page in front of the statue of The Little Mermaid while
studying in Copenhagen
Page is now a PhD student in the
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University
of Florida in Gainesville
Rachel
Hardee Klitzman, 25, died unexpectedly Sunday, August 9, at home in
Rachel
was an inveterate caregiver, always nurturing and supporting those in need. She
was a radiant spirit who adored her family and friends, with a special knack
for keeping in touch with everyone. Rachel was brimming with enthusiasm over
her upcoming marriage to Stephen, looking forward to beginning a family of her
own with him. She loved to travel with her family and friends, and was equally
content staying at home to play games.
In
addition to her parents, Rachel is survived by her sister
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered 9:30 AM
Saturday from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, with Fr. Steven Patti
presiding. Interment following in
Rachel’s
Time (by her Dad)
We
mortals are burdened with the notion of time. When an unexpected death occurs, we
can’t help but focus on the tragedy of a physical life cut too
short. There is nothing wrong about
the sadness and grief over it and the events that now will never happen: the
beautiful children, grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews that she and
Stephen were poised to create together, or the suffering patients to whom
Rachel would have brought such loving and hopeful care. Those are indeed tragic. And there is nothing we can do now to
generate those.
But
we should also never minimize the reality of our spiritual life, which has no
end. There are people in our own
lives who have touched us or been touched by us in a deep spiritual way. This encounter may have been just for a
moment or several moments in the physical world, but the memory and impact of
that brief encounter will last indefinitely. For many of us here, we were truly
blessed to have known Rachel even if for a shorter physical time
than we would have liked.
We
teach the medical students that the heart is not very good at healing, which
was fatal for Rachel. The hole that
Rachel now leaves in our hearts will heal only a small amount over time. But knowing Rachel even briefly added a
soft part to our hearts for which we are eternally grateful. Hardee, Page and I were very blessed
that Rachel always stayed close to home, even if separated by some physical
distance. Rachel knew that distance
or physical time were but small impediments to maintaining a family connection.
The
joy that emitted from Rachel as she talked about and prepared for her wedding
to Stephen was electric. Fr Dan was
going to preside at Sacred Heart Cathedral with the reception to follow at
Rachel’s
memory, impact, and love will endure; THAT will never end. In the same way, God always was and will
always be. God is timeless. People seeking to understand God often
ask , “Why does God take so long?” Or “How long do people have to
wait to get into heaven?”
Well, God doesn’t do it that way. God does it with spiritual
preparedness. We enter heaven when
we are truly ready, not by a calendar or some “spiritual review
board”. That is God’s
time. When you touch someone
spiritually as Rachel did, it is forever.
I
know Rachel is in Heaven now; Rachel’s time is now God’s time.
