The Picture of Generosity

It would be a mistake to equate Terry's early determination with rigidity. He has remained flexible throughout a life that has presented him with many unexpected events. The first detour Terry navigated was his field of academic study. He started as a mathematics major, but midway through a book report in a German literature class, Terry heard a comment that caused him to rethink his future.

"The professor stopped me midway through my report on 'Steppenwolf' - Hermann Hesse's esoteric novel - and said, 'This is very good, but it's very concrete. I think you would do well in medicine.'"

It wasn't the first time Terry had heard such a comment. His family friend and primary care physician in Waxahachie had frequently suggested Terry should consider becoming a doctor. Terry decided that the universe was trying to tell him something. "With the additional encouragement from the German professor," he says, "I finished the mathematics courses I needed to get my degree then wound up doing my last year and a half on campus in pre-med."

From the Forty Acres, Terry headed to UT Southwestern Medical School to earn his medical degree. He left after graduation for a residency program in Utah with the intention to stay for four or five years, then come back home to the Lone Star State. Once again, life had a surprise in store. While in Utah, he met Lee Anne Dunn, a nurse in the hospital's endoscopy lab, and he followed his heart on a new path. After completing his fellowship, Terry accepted a job offer; several years later, Lee Anne accepted his marriage proposal. "I lost my passport and never got back to Texas," Terry jokes.

Terry finished his training in gastroenterology and hepatology in 1983 and began what he thought would be a conventional gastrointestinal medical practice. In 1986, however, he was asked to collaborate with the transplant surgeons at Salt Lake City's LDS Hospital in caring for the state's first-ever liver transplantation patient. From that point forward, Terry devoted his medical practice to being a transplant hepatologist - a decision that eventually would take on special significance.

In 2002, after more than 15 years of specializing in liver transplantation, Terry ironically found himself in need of his own services. If not for the generosity of an organ donor, Terry would have succumbed to a highly aggressive tumor that had compromised his liver.

"There's certainly not a week - or sometimes even a day - that goes by that I don't think back to that event and the incredibly loving and courageous donation that a family decided to make," says Terry. The experience has left him with a deeper understanding of the importance of philanthropy.