A physician canoed through floodwaters in Houston Saturday to perform surgery on a 16-year-old boy suffering from a potentially debilitating condition, according to ABC 7.
After receiving a call that a teen needed emergency surgery at Webster, Texas-based Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, Stephen Kimmel, MD, hopped in his car to drive to the hospital. He was quickly halted by rising waters. However, two volunteer firefighters came to his aid with a canoe. Using the canoe as an emergency medical vehicle the trio paddled through the strong current in the dark.
Once the current calmed down, Dr. Kimmel waded nearly a mile through waist-deep water to the hospital.
"Sometimes you have to do whatever it takes. This young man's life would have been changed for the worse forever if we hadn't been able to perform surgery when we did. In the end, it all turned out very well," Dr. Kimmel said, according to ABC 7.