Doctor Begins Residency At Hospital That Saved His Life 9 Years Ago

A young doctor’s story has come full circle.

This fall, Kevin Morton, 31, started his medical residency in surgery at the same Detroit hospital that saved his life almost a decade ago, CNN reports.

When he was 22, he was shot during a robbery and had injuries so severe that an early prognosis gave him a 10 percent chance of survival. Yet thanks to the care and mentorship of his surgeon, Dr. Dharti Sheth-Zelmanski, he’s now paying it forward.

“When you get a second chance at life you have a new-found purpose,” Morton told The Washington Post. “I want to be like [Sheth-Zelmanski]. I want to be in the position to do what she did for me for others. Maybe there will be someone else who will come in with potential and all they need is a fighting chance.”

Back in 2007, Morton was juggling college courses and working full time at a Detroit Arby’s. He had just closed up and was heading to his car when a man shot him in the stomach, robbed him and ran away, per CNN.

Morton tried driving to a nearby police station but passed out on the way and swerved off the road. A witness called an ambulance, and Morton was rushed to Detroit’s St. John Hospital.

Morton was in bad shape when he arrived. The bullet had hit a major blood vessel and artery, and one of his lungs collapsed. But Sheth-Zelmanski, who was working that night, refused to give up on him.

“Whether we call it intuition, experience or a miracle ... we put some extra sutures in and the bleeding stopped,” Sheth-Zelmanski told NBC News.

Morton faced a long road to recovery after his surgery. He had to stay in the hospital for six weeks and, because of injuries to his digestive system, he had difficulty eating. His weight plummeted from 160 pounds to 107. He was fed through an IV for an entire year after his surgery.

But Sheth-Zelmanski checked in with him the entire time.

“Most surgeons only see patients during the operation, and maybe a follow-up appointment,” Morton told CNN. “[Sheth-Zelmanski] was very involved post-care. She kept my family in the loop and continued to check in even after I left the hospital. She was very motivating.”

The experience and Sheth-Zelmanski’s compassion inspired Morton to go back to school in 2009 and switch his focus from pharmaceuticals to pre-med. That same year, he married his high school sweetheart, Sherry, and Sheth-Zelmanski attended their wedding. In 2012 he was accepted into Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. When he graduated last May, Sheth-Zelmanski was at the ceremony.

Now he’s working at St. John’s, in the very same facility where his life dramatically changed.

“I try to block out the past, as a healing process,” Morton told CNN. “But from going through that experience, I feel like I can connect more with my patients.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said incorrectly that Kevin Morton is already a surgeon. In fact, he merely began his medical residency in surgery this fall.