An Ode to Thomas Higgins

I don’t exactly remember when or how I met Thomas and Meghan Higgins, which is sorta weird since they are such memorable folks at both first meeting and even more memorable as you get to know them.  But I think it’s also fitting, because they are the kind of people that simply get absorbed into your life effortlessly with their genuine friendliness, enthusiasm, passion, and warmth that makes them so easily friendable.  

A month ago the avalanche community in Utah was horrified by daily morning report by the Utah Avy Center that the day prior a local skier slipped on the ice that had formed in an unusual mid-winter rain event, slid and tumbled over a cliff, and was badly hurt and evacuated (the avy center often warns of the potential for “slide-for-life” conditions that are characteristic of long bouts of high pressure/no storm).  The report we saw said it was a 59 year old male skier, and  – as always when an accident occurs in the pretty tight community of Wasatch backcountry skiers – we felt not only bad in general but also wondered if we knew the victim.  It took a day for the crushing news to reach us:  not only did we know the victim, but it was Thomas.  And to say that he was hurt badly is a woeful understatement; the list of injuries is long and none are insignificant:  ribs, sternum, lungs, jaw, face, teeth, deep hypothermia awaiting the rescue, and – most significantly – head and brain damage.  We know that area well, and that cliff band is huge; there’s a long, steep, and committing couloir that slices down through it, but adjacent to the cooly the cliffs are tall and jagged, and if I stood at the bottom and someone asked me “would someone survive a tumble over that cliff band?” I would say absolutely, positively not.  So it’s a miracle that he’s alive.  

I think there are two good measures of people’s constitution:  the number of relationships they have, and – more so – the depth of those relationships.  Meghan set up a Caring Bridge account for Thomas very quickly and has been putting up simple, but thoughtful and powerful posts almost daily as Thomas has been in the Intensive Care Unit and now into a therapy-based place.  As a bit of a measure of the reach of Thomas and Meghan, the site has – in a month-  generated nearly 60,000 visits!  To be sure, my daily visits to the site account for 30 of those, but, if my math is correct, 60,000/30 equals an absolute shitton of people out there who are hanging on every word and indeed, as Caring Bridge likes to say, sharing their love for this fabulous family in such a challenging time. 

As with many bizzy people, I haven’t spent nearly enough time with Thomas in my life, though honestly I can say that my capacity for time with him is unlimited.  He’s busy because he’s a trauma orthopedic surgeon who makes a living literally rebuilding people’s bodies and lives, and he’s good enough that he gets pulled in many different directions.  The Higgins family did a 6 month stint in Kenya once when their kids were pretty little so that Thomas could not only help bolt broken people back together but more importantly teach the locals how to do the same. Since then he’s done the same in earthquake -hammered and social-unrested Haiti, other African countries, and most recently in the Dominican Republic and a place you may have heard of recently that needs a bit of help: Ukraine.  At the latter he was pretty much in The Zone and was putting blasted soldiers back together.    

A few quick anecdotes regarding Thomas:

Last summer Thomas rode with Ashley and me up to Sun Valley for a few days of much-need escape from SLC’s work and heat for some recreation, and at one point he apologized and asked if we would mind if he made a call.  Of course no problem.  Being in the car it was easy to hear his conversation, and it was clear that he was talking to a patient of his.  A bit of advice, a bit of tech talk, and a bit of reassurrance.  He then called a colleague to ensure that this patient was going to be well-taken care of.  When he finished we were curious about the details, and it turns out it was an 80+ year old woman who was having some fairly significant orthopedic surgery and was very active and concerned about her ability to maintain her lifestyle, and Thomas wanted to reassure this octogenarian that she’d still be able to rip about.  The follow up call was to remind his team that she was an atypical aged patient and treat her as such.  It’s the kind of deep attention that Thomas has for his patients that he was empathetic to her desires and was willing to take time out of his vacation to assuage her concerns.  

Speaking of “his patients” many of our friends have taken advantage of his vast knowledge and generosity with his time for all things medical.  When Ashley got a significant tick bite….she called Thomas.  When our pal Geoff had some issues with his heart…he called Thomas.  When I realized my ear canal was closing down, when I had a bad cut, when I flew into the SLC airport as Europe and the US both exploded with Covid in March 2020 my first call was to Ash and my second…was to Thomas.  Even though we all have other friends who are ER and GP docs….we call Thomas.  When I actually had an orthopedic issue (a knee injury in an early ski season crash) not only was my first call to Thomas – who was entering the OR for a procedure – but within 5 minutes I got a call from the Orthopedic Center asking if I was available for an appointment….the next day.  When the doc I saw asked when my accident happened he hmmmed for a moment, looked at me thoughtfully, and said “you seem to be well connected.”  Yes I am; to Thomas Higgins.  

One thing that has historically drawn Thomas away from home a bit is to go give presentations on his work to folks around the globe.  One of his projects was coming up with a new way to address a broken tibial plateau, which is a bad injury.  By coincidence, our old friend Benj broke his tibial plateau by mistaking an aspen tree for a bamboo race gate while skiing in Utah, and partly due to Thomas’s work Benj has been able ski as hard as ever and carry a way-too-heavy pack in burly no-trail terrain on our northern packrafting trips.  I’ve asked Thomas about it, and he just brushes it off as esoteric gibberish, but I do know that it’s vastly improved the outcome for this injury.  A lot of docs would  -understandably – make the development of something like this into their marquee, career-defining moment; but for this humble son of a New York firefighter fixing people is what he figures is simply what he’s expected to do.  

A few years ago Ashley was cleaning out her dad’s books as he was getting ready to move into an assisted-living place and came across a pretty ancient version of the venerable Gray’s Anatomy; “The Doctors’s Bible” first written in 1858.   We tossed a lot of books in that purge, but we both knew instantly that the Gray’s Anatomy had to live, and the person whom we both instantly thought of who would appreciate it most was Thomas.  Ash gave it to him, and Thomas was stunned; his own version had been given to a resident who then disappeared into the nether with it. Fast forward a few years and Ash’s dad had moved to Utah, and soon after the move Thomas was determined to take time out of his schedule to meet Big Al.  The meaning of that moment – a retired  – and equally-humble -orthopedic surgeon in his final days chatting with a younger, equally-successful peer in the prime of his career over their shared affinity for a dusty and dated, yet revered reference book was a powerful moment that we’ll never forget. 

A little over a year ago – in another dry start to a ski season – Ashley and I decided to spend a few days in Moab riding and hiking in the runup to Christmas.  We heard that Thomas was also down there, and we sent him a note telling him our deal and asking what he was up to.   Turns out he needed some time to think out in the vastness of the beautiful southern Utah desert (a fine place to do so) and wanted to go for a hike.  Turns out that “a hike” was a 25 mile loop in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in the cold, short days of December.  And instead of busting back to Moab for a motel room (we had a place, but he hadn’t yet gotten our message) he just slept in the back of his Toyota truck…..as the temps dropped well-into the teens!  We were fortunate enough that after a shivery night he was keen to connect for yet another memorable (and much shorter!) hike in Arches’ famously-dramatic Fiery Furnace:

As we were in the final throes of getting ready for this Big Trip that we’re on a couple of our friends were kind enough to host small gatherings for us, and Thomas wasn’t available for either of them, but reached out and was quite keen to get together.  The three of us hiked up Mount Wire, with Thomas regaling us with tales of the great folks he met, worked with, and worked on in Ukraine and the Dominican Republic.  He was also quite keen to hear about our upcoming adventures; he is one of the rare folks who’s as interested as he is interesting and has such a quick wit and a big laugh that he makes everyone feel both heard and that they are funny!  We parted with big hugs and Ash and I were grateful for the opportunity to connect with him before we left.  

As mentioned above, Thomas’s accident was bad, and to say that he and his family’s life has changed as a result is a big understatement, with the brain injury recovery the biggest question mark.  No doubt the road to an uncertain future is undoubtedly long and challenging.  But like Thomas – who’s famously tough as nails – his family is also full of unusually tough, resilient, resourceful, and optimistic folks, and as Meghan keeps saying in her Caring Bridge posts, there’s a lot of progress happening every day.  Of course, that progress will wax and wane, but if the collective power of community has some oomph – and I believe that it does – Thomas should be buoyed along well by his vast social and professional sphere that is thinking and pulling for him with all their hearts.