Growing from a Naïve Kid to a Responsible Young Man with ATO (Bill Douglas)

http://www.atogatech.org/s/604/index.aspx?sid=604&gid=1&pgid=258&cid=1010&ecid=1010&crid=0&calpgid=61&calcid=793
From ATO publication:


When Bill Douglas ’87 came to Georgia tech in 1982 he was new to the Greek system, but a friend helped introduce him to the promise of pledging ATO.

“I was a freshman pledge in 1982. I had come from a small high school and rushing a fraternity was a totally new concept,” Bill said. “I met Tom Noonan ’85 standing on a corner outside the ATO house and he told me I had to see the place. In retrospect, he had to be one of the best salesman I’ve ever met.”

Bill pledged ATO just a week later.

The dorm was near the football stadium so rather than the usual interview process, Bill hung out with the brothers, playing basketball, running up the steps of the stadium, and spending time around one another. Overall, he said it didn’t feel like an interview process.

“I hadn’t really known what a fraternity was up to that point, but it just felt like the right move to pledge,” Bill said. “Later on, Tom became my big brother.”

Though Bill described himself as naïve about the Greek system at the time, he was quickly impressed with the ATO brothers and their relationships to each other.

“The bonds of friendship were real and tight,” Bill said. “At the risk of sounding like a girl, they were on genuine, intimate terms. They knew each other.”

Bill recalled that the ATO brothers planned football weekend events, and far from the stereotype of fraternity brothers over indulging in party behavior, the trips were family friendly with their sisters, brothers, and parents able to come along and enjoy the fun the ATO brothers had together.

“It was like friendship on steroids, with all the closeness magnified” Bill said. “It wasn’t just a bunch of guys getting drunk. It was genuine.”

Once Bill made it through the pledge process, he really began to appreciate the strength and diversity of the ATO brothers. He said it wasn’t like other fraternities that would recruit based on the strength of the person’s grades or how good they were at basketball or soccer. The brothers each had their own strengths and together made for a stronger chapter.

“The mix of degrees was all over the board, with every kind of engineering student, management students, and future architects,” Bill said.

Though ATO had a powerful mix of skills and interests, it had an overall focus on success that helped Bill get through the early part of his tenure at the university.

“I did not do well my first quarter. The brothers helped turn my grades around during my second semester,” Bill said. “We had Word, a program within ATO that included studying class materials we had archived from brothers who had been through the classes. Upper classman who had been in the same program would tutor me. It was informal and powerful – I could just walk into the house and say I needed help and our Scholastic Chairman kept a list of people that specialized in different areas and could be called on to help me.”

When Bill struggled with chemistry, a brother who went by the moniker “Moose” (whose real name Bill can’t recall, as the nickname was so ubiquitous) became his mentor. When Bill got stuck on differential equations two other brothers sat him down and helped him. In return, when Bill became a junior he provided mentoring and participated in study groups for younger brothers. Despite the strong focus on academics, Bill recalls a strong focus as well. “

“We had ridiculously good parties that pulled girls from all sides of campus and Atlanta, but it was still your responsibility to have grades first,” Bill said. “Particularly I remember having a huge Hawaiian party for which we built a three-story structure, dug a pool in our yard, and had thousands of people attend. We made a logo for the party, printed customized cups and t-shirts, and generally went full out.”

As an active brother, Bill never passed up the opportunity to help out within the chapter. For example, he served as Hawaiian Party Chairman which an important responsibility was considering the scope of the event.

In addition to the “killer” parties, Bill fondly recalls the mischief the brothers got up to when hanging around the house.

“There were other fraternity and sorority houses visible from our house, so as a little practical joke we created a sort of catapult of sling shot and placed it on our roof,” Bill said. “We used it to launch water balloons at the other houses and they traveled quite a distance to hit those houses. It was all in good fun.”

Bill’s business travel hasn’t brought him back to campus over the past ten years, but he is active in the alumni association and keeps in touch with the brothers from his era. Though he’s more likely to reach out by phone, Facebook has been useful for setting up possible rendezvous with the other brothers.

“Facebook is convenient because I can put out there that I’ll be in Las Vegas on any given week and see if anybody else will be around.

Bill lives in Denver, Colorado where he is an entrepreneur managing three separate ventures. He has a son who is interested in Georgia Tech, but Bill believes it’s most likely his son will want to stay in Denver.

“I look fondly back on my time with ATO,” Bill said. “It helped change me from a naïve young kid to a mature young man in my five years with the fraternity,” Bill said. “Georgia Tech provided the academic growth but it was ATO that helped me grow into a man.”

Bill is a single dad living with two teenage boys. He would like to hear from more brothers from his era and may be contacted at bdouglas@essentialink.com or 720-259-4975.

A new kind of pool... not March Madness!

Here's a unique new pool, and it's not March madness: How much will the medical bills total for my skiing accident?

(Total billed to the insurance company by medical providers: not my out of pocket. And, no, I don't know the total yet either. I only have the bills up to the point before I got on the helo and the number is $41K so far.)

Submit your number now via email, linkedin, or FB!

Winner gets a Starbucks card! (I know, that's cheap... I have some bills to pay! lol Thankfully, those are limited by "out of pocket".)

I think we'll all be shocked at this number, whatever it ends up being, but we should all appreciate having health insurance and great health care!

--- Bill
http://www.facebook.com/bill.douglas.co
http://www.linkedin.com/in/billdouglas

P.S. Thank you for all the help, prayers, and well wishes. I am doing very well and recovering quickly. Feeling so much better. Life is a Gift!

Recovery is humbling and grounding experience. Life is good.

I am doing much better than just a week ago, and so much better than 18 days ago. I know I'm getting used to the pain and how to move my body in order to minimize it, but I really am getting better.

Actually worked out today and felt good. 30 minutes of solid cardio at 9200' elevation and a good lower body lift.
Sleeping is still a challenge, but i won't be complaining about anything.

Yesterday I visited my first trauma hospital (the one in the mountains) to pick up all my ski gear.... eery. Took this picture of the flight for life chopper; not the exact one I flew in (mine was larger so the trauma surgeon and nurse could go with me) but it sits in the exact spot I took off from. I don't remember being there at that hospital that day, but those awesome folks assured me I was there and told me again I shouldn't be walking, and maybe shouldn't be alive. I am one grateful dude.

Ventured to Peak 7 and from afar saw the spot where I crashed. Humbling. The knot in my stomach was indescribable. Was a deeply emotional and quite grounding experience.

Like I said, I am so grateful to have survived and to be recovering quickly.
Life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed, pursued, and shared.
I am grateful to share my experiences.... my life..... with all of you!

Life is a gift that I treasure.

On Feb 22, 2011 the USA Today included me in a story about near death experiences changing people. In the article I was quoted: "Life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed, pursued and shared. Failure happens, but life and health are worth so much more."

For me, my "near-death" experience came almost two decades ago.... and I thought/prayed that one was enough. Seriously, who could have that kind of experience again?

The very next day after that article ran, I was pursuing life with vigor when I was critically injured skiing. I am so grateful to still be alive, grateful to have family and dear friends, and grateful I will someday recover to appreciate another day spent pursuing life with them.

Here's the full story of my skiing accident 2/23/11:

Wed morning about 9:35, Breckenridge, peak 7, near the bottom of groomed blue run.
Clear blue skies, no wind.
Skiing with Larry Douglas (no relation) and his step father.
First run of the day. I was wearing a helmet.

The last thing I remember was cruising down through long arcing turns, following Larry. Came over a small knoll and saw moguls to the left and a groomed run to the right with a tall, padded, permanent snowmaker dividing the two sides of the run. There was a 5' elevation drop down to the mogul side. Usually I turn on the back side of obstacles. I didn't want to be carrying air into those moguls so I started a right turn to head to the smooth side.

I remember having to turn quickly, given I couldn't see this thing when I was above the knoll, and then seeing that snowmaker coming at me in a bad way. I was trying to avoid this thing but couldn't. There was nothing I could do to change my course. The next thing I remember is ski patrol shouting "Don't get up. Don't get up. You're on a backboard with a neck brace." They rolled me over and into the ski patrol sled. All I could see was blue sky and the chair lift above me.

From here things are blurry for me. Learning the facts has stirred some memory, but the whole day seems about 15 minutes long.

Rode down in the sled to Breck emergency center. I made no sense to the staff there. Had very little memory of basic facts like my age, day of the week, and where I was. The pic below is me, still with ski garb on, at the Breck ER.

So, they put me in an ambulance and took me to St. Anthony's Summit Hospital in Frisco where I was given chest xrays and a ct scan with contrast of my torso and neck.

The ER doctors were calm until those results came back. The fractured ribs they could deal with; a collapsed lung at that altitude meant that I was getting a chest tube and a ride to Denver in a helicopter (Flight for Life). Dr. explained to me why and everyone was rushing around.

I remember looking at the Dr. and asking "Is this serious?" and he answered something to the effect of "Yes, very serious sir. We have to get to down to Denver immediately". I'm thinking a few broken ribs shouldn't be a big deal, and instead I get a life-threatening situation speech from the senior doc there.

In a hurry, they stripped me down, started 3 IV's, stuck on the EKG monitors, etc. then put me under anestesia (for the chest tube insertion). While I was under they took me to the roof to put me in the helicopter with a trauma nurse, a surgeon, and several pints of blood in a cooler. I woke up as they were trying to figure out how to get my feet to fit under the pilot's seat; guess they're not used to 6'5" passengers.

I could barely stay awake for the 20 minute flight but the nurse was clear that I could not fall asleep. "Don't focus on the rotors out the roof window because it'll make you puke", I was told. With ear protection on, strapped to a backboard, I focused out the window at the blue sky in order to keep my eyes open. I couldn't see a single mountain but I was told the view was beautiful.

The chopper landed at St. Anthony's Central and before the rotors fully stopped the crew got me out and onto a hospital gurney. A quick elevator ride down to the ER later, there was a flurry of activity around me. Two doctors and about 4 nurses took the "hand off" after the ER Dr. that flew with me presented the case and answered questions.

Summary diagnosis:
Concussion
Pulmonary contusion
Mediastinal hematoma
3 fractured ribs, left side
Fractured sternum
Fractured clavicle & separation
Acidosis
Collapsed lung
Torn labrum
MCL damaged

The latest set of doctors did more tests and scans. I went in and out of consciousness without much recollection. Apparently I texted immediate family and made a few phone calls. It was very hard to speak due to cognitive struggle. This pic is me, in the ER.

Was pleasantly surprised to see visitors while I was in the ER. I remember friends laughing/talking and thinking "This sounds like a nice party. Wish I was standing up and could be part of it!" There were pictures taken and abundant humor/conversation filled the room from some very special people. They asked questions of the doctors who frequently checked on my status.

Was admitted to an ICU room later that night. Diet was restricted to nothing (IV fluids only) in case they had to do chest surgery, so I was resolved to being hungry. I could not move my legs.

At the ICU shift change my new nurse was Tom. Tom was the motivator. He came into the room and informed me that by the end of his shift I would be upright, without a neck brace, walking around, off the IV pain pump, and eating solid food. I remember him saying "You're gonna do this or I'm gonna kick your ass". I laughed and it worked. Tom was right and everything he predicted came true.

I'll skip the details and go to bullet points from here:
Speech pathologist administered a challenging test in ICU that I was surprised I passed.
Neck brace removed Thursday mid morning.
Had several visitors while I was in ICU. Special people exhibited patience and spent the day with me.
Was moved to a normal room Thursday afternoon when it was determined no surgery would be required.
Had many more visitors while I was in this room. Visitors made time fly and pain diminish.
Friday was painful, slow, arduous, exhausting day. Reality and whiplash set in on top of coming off IV pain meds.
Was cleared Fri evening by physical therapy after learning how to stand, walk, and conquer the stairs.
Saturday morning was told it'd be another day in the hospital for me, but by noon I had improved so much they took out the chest tube. At 4 PM the xray showed the lung stayed inflated and in position so they released me at 5:00.

I am so grateful that I was able to walk out of the hospital that day.

I am grateful for family and to the special people that came to visit and that pitched in to help during this mess. I cannot thank you all enough.

After being told several times by surgeons and nurses that I should be paralyzed or dead, the emotions and feelings of walking out the doors of that hospital in any condition were overwhelming.

Life is a gift. I am blessed.

--- Bill Douglas

P.S. Please pardon the improper grammar and broken English. I was going for brevity.

"Life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed, pursued and shared. Failure happens, but life and health are worth so much more."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2011-02-22-sicknesstohealth22_CV_N.htm

USA Today article excerpt:

Wake-up bite

The impetus to grab control of one's professional life doesn't necessarily have to come from a long, lingering illness. Any severe health scare can be a wake-up call.

Bill Douglas' enlightenment came soon after a coral snake's venom entered his body and attacked his central nervous system.

"In a matter of minutes I went from alive, well and healthy to paralyzed and near death," says Douglas, who was bitten while building a deck on his parents' Fort Lauderdale home in 1991.

He was given anti-venom, then spent several days in intensive care. There, he had lots of time to reflect on his life.

"I emphatically decided that the corporate life wasn't for me," says Douglas, now 46. "There were too many dreams within me that had yet to be pursued."

After he was released, he promptly quit his job at a Florida utility company. "I realized that I didn't want to be the guy in the corner office in 20 years," he says. Instead, he wanted to make his own schedule and live life on his terms.

He has since launched firms in areas such as sales, service logistics and information technology.

The health scare "was the jump-start of my entrepreneurial career," Douglas says. But even more than that, it taught him to value those around him, to say 'yes' when unexpected opportunities appear — and to have perspective when things go wrong.

"Life is a gift, meant to be enjoyed, pursued and shared," he says. "Failure happens, but life and health are worth so much more."