Reader Digest Mac2020

COVER STORY

Find the Doctor You

TRUST

Rushed appointments.
Profits over patients.
Faulty diagnoses. There are
plenty of reasons to worry
about medical providers
today. A veteran RD
health journalist shares
hard-won lessons from
her reporting—and
from her family’s
own health crisis.

By Michelle Crouch

Photographs by
Hannah Whitaker

56 march 2020

Reader’s Digest

In 2011, my husband, Pete, began having strange
episodes of light-headedness. They lasted less than
a minute and often happened when he exercised.
He went to see his longtime primary care physician,
who suspected he was dehydrated.
rd.com 57

Reader’s Digest Cover Story

She prescribed Gatorade. But the cause of death in the United States— stylist: rebecca simpson steele, set stylist: mae lander, hair: takuya yamaguchi, makeup: allison brooke, nails: marcela mejias
episodes got more frequent and se- in fact, most of us will receive an in-
vere. One night at dinner with the correct or late diagnosis at least once
kids, Pete completely zoned out. in our lives, often with serious con-
He didn’t understand what we were sequences, according to a National
saying, and he wasn’t able to get any Academy of Medicine analysis. News
words out. headlines about outrageous bills, con-
flicts of interest, and depersonalized
We immediately called his doctor, care plant more seeds of doubt.
but we couldn’t get her on the phone.
Her nurse referred us to a neurologist, Doctors are keenly aware of the
but he had a six-week wait for an ap- problems, but many of the under-
pointment. After some begging, we lying circumstances are beyond their
got in sooner, and he sent Pete for an control. Electronic record keeping,
MRI. The scan showed that Pete had a boon to efficiency in many ways,
a brain tumor the size of a golf ball. takes an average of nearly six hours
of a primary care physician’s day—
“PHYSICIANS ARE more time than is spent with patients.
LITERALLY RUNNING Most face-to-face visits are now about
15 minutes—and down to only 8 min-
FROM ROOM utes in some parts of the country, says
TO ROOM.” Andrew Morris-Singer, MD, president
of Primary Care Progress, a nonprofit
Thankfully, after a long and harrow- working to improve primary care.
ing journey, Pete has fully recovered, “Physicians are literally running from
but my experience navigating that room to room,” he says. “We have phy-
medical crisis now helps inform and sicians tell us that they are constantly
inspire my work as a health-care jour- constipated because they can’t even
nalist. If I had to distill everything I’ve stop to go to the bathroom.”
learned over the years as a patient,
spouse, parent, and medical reporter What’s more, insurance companies
into one lesson, it’s this: Trust but have cut doctors’ payments, forcing
verify. them to see more patients or invest
in lucrative sidelines (such as selling
While I believe most doctors have supplements, medical devices, or im-
our best interests at heart, our sys- aging services) to keep their practices
tem is deeply flawed. Medical errors in the black.
are estimated to be the third-leading
These changes have “driven a huge
wedge” into the patient-physician
relationship, Dr. Morris-Singer says.

This is not a minor concern.

58 march 2020

TRUST TIP
The average

doctor
spends up
to six hours
a day on elec-
tronic record
keeping.
But you can
ask to see his
or her notes.

Research shows that without trust a knows you and your health history
patient might not feel comfortable is less likely to overprescribe or send
sharing information his or her physi- you for unnecessary tests. Finally, I
cian needs to provide quality medi- believe a doctor is more likely to make
cal advice. Patients who trust their an extra effort for you if you have a re-
health-care providers are more likely lationship. It’s just human nature.
to follow their treatment plans, have
fewer symptoms, practice healthier Building that relationship takes
behaviors, and be more satisfied with time and care, and sometimes that’s
their care. In addition, a doctor who still not enough. Pete had been see-
ing his primary care doctor for almost

rd.com 59

Reader’s Digest

a decade when he called about his When the exam is underway, ask
light-headedness, yet he still had to your doctor whether you can see the
wait three weeks for an appointment. notes he or she is typing (“Do you
Once he got in, she listened carefully mind if I take a look?”), suggests Lolita
as he described his symptoms, but Alkureishi, MD, of the University of
she was out the door 15 minutes later. Chicago, who has studied the impact
Would more time have yielded a more computers have had on the doctor-
accurate diagnosis or an earlier MRI? patient relationship. I tried this at my
It’s hard to know. most recent physical, and my doctor
didn’t seem to mind. I even pointed
Maybe we can do more as patients. out that the system still listed a pre-
Dr. Morris-Singer says it helps to scription I was no longer taking.
show your doctors that you recog-
nize the pressure they face. When Steven Feldman, MD, PhD, a der-
your physician comes into the room, matologist at Wake Forest School of
say something like, “How are you do- Medicine, has his own strategy for
ing? I know it can’t be easy being in building relationships with his pa-
health care these days.” Asking about tients. He discovered that they are
family, travel plans, or other personal more likely to take their prescriptions
details helps you connect on a hu- if he gives them a business card with
man level. his cell phone number and asks them

TRUST TIP
One doctor found
that giving out his
cell phone number

helps establish
trust. Online
patient portals can
also get you an
answer quickly.

60 march 2020 | rd.com

Cover Story

This year’s RD/IPSOS survey of most trusted brands produced 20 winners—
and one compelling insight: Of the 3,500 people who participated in the
survey, half said that trust was a top driver for their over-the-counter
purchases. These surprising product facts offer a sense of why that’s true.

allergy relief body lotion cough remedy

Claritin Aveeno Robutussin

The company offers a Known originally for The honey in the Honey
free service called Blue oat-based skin care, Cough + Chest Conges-
Sky Living that sends Aveeno has published tion medicine comes
members personalized clinical evidence sup- exclusively from Ameri-
allergy forecasts. porting the benefits of can honey companies
oats and other natural that abide by U.S. laws
antiaging skin care ingredients for 70 years. around honey sourcing
and beekeeping.
Olay cold & flu remedies
eye care
Olay tests its products NyQuil
on “lab skins”—artificial Visine
material designed to The nighttime cold and
mimic the properties of flu relief comes in for- Screen time overload
natural skin. It’s part mulas that include one is a reality for most
of the company’s push for severe symptoms, Americans, so Visine
to end animal testing another specifically for now makes drops to
in the skin-care and cough suppression, and relieve tired eyes (as
beauty industries. one that’s alcohol-free. opposed to those that
are just dry, itchy, or ag-
blood glucose contact lens solution gravated by allergies).
monitor
optimarc/shutterstock Bausch & Lomb
OneTouch
Every year since 1933,
The OneTouch Reveal the company has
mobile app (also avail- honored outstanding
able for your computer) high school science
can share your blood students. Winners are
sugar information di- automatically consid-
rectly with your health- ered for a $30,000
care professional. scholarship to the
University of Rochester.

Reader’s Digest Cover Story

foot care lip care recover from surgical optimarc/shutterstock
procedures.
Dr. Scholl’s ChapStick
natural sweetener
The company now offers In addition to lip balm,
custom 3-D-printed the company now makes Splenda
inserts made from foot 100 percent natural
scans users can take “lip butter,” which is When a researcher
with their cell phones. paraben-free and has no was asked to “test”
artificial colors or flavors. the compound that
headache/ became Splenda, he
pain relievers multivitamins misheard the request
as “taste” it. That’s
Tylenol Centrum when he discovered
its sweetness.
Inspired by customer Because they are made
feedback, the rede- with all-natural plant- sleep aid
signed packaging fea- based colors, Centrum
tures bottle caps that are MultiGummies may ZzzQuil
easier to open while gen- darken over time but are
erating less plastic waste. still safe to take. ZzzQuil is also approved
to treat motion sickness
heartburn/antacid national pharmacy/ and certain symptoms
drugstores of Parkinson’s disease.
Tums
CVS Pharmacy soap/body wash
Some women get heart-
burn for the first time Through its addiction- Dove
during pregnancy. prevention program,
Tums is the number one Pharmacists Teach, CVS The company joined
ob-gyn-recommended has provided 300,000 the Girl Scouts on their
brand of antacid. teens with free informa- Self-Esteem Project to
tion about drug abuse. promote positive body
herbal supplement image in young people.
nutritional drink/
Nature Made meal replacement sun protection

For two decades, the Ensure Coppertone
company has been sup-
porting and participat- Doctors recommend The development of
ing in clinical trials and specialized Ensure SPF levels in skin-care
sharing data with other immunonutrition products began in the
researchers and health- shakes to help your 1970s at Coppertone’s
care professionals. body prepare for and Solar Research Center.

TRUST TIP
There are web-
sites that will
show you how
much money

(if any) your
doctor has re-
ceived from
pharmaceuti-
cal companies.

to call him in three days to tell him tumor, the neurologist explained to
how the medicine is working. us, because it is usually benign. But
Pete’s was large, and it was wrapped
“They can’t believe I give them my around his carotid artery, pressing on
cell phone number. It establishes both his optic nerve and extending into the
trust and accountability,” he says. speech center of his brain.

Unfortunately, Pete’s difficulty get- The neurologist sent us straight
ting in to see both his primary care to a neurosurgeon, supposedly the
doctor and the neurologist dented our best in the city. He spent an hour pa-
confidence that he would get the care tiently answering our questions, but
he needed. And then things got scarier. his prognosis was terrifying: The tu-
mor needed to be removed, and the
The MRI showed that Pete had a
meningioma, the “good” kind of brain

rd.com | march 2020 63

Reader’s Digest

operation would likely leave Pete blind remove a brain tumor a few years ear- zhukov/shutterstock
in one eye and possibly without the lier. She encouraged us to get a sec-
ability to speak. With Pete’s episodes ond opinion from the neurosurgeon at
of light-headedness occurring more Duke University Medical Center who
frequently, the surgeon scheduled the had operated on her son. “He can do
surgery for the following week. things other surgeons can’t,” she said.

What happened next can be de- As a health reporter, I knew objec-
scribed only as a stroke of luck. Pete tively that a second opinion could be
and I reached out to the rabbi at our valuable. A 2017 Mayo Clinic study
temple for comfort, and she con- found that one in five people who sought
nected us with another congregant a second opinion went home with a
whose son had undergone surgery to completely new diagnosis. Another

TOP PATIENT FRUSTRATIONS

FOR THE PAST SIX YEARS, our annual Trusted Brands Survey has compiled a list
of the most reliable medical products and services, as determined in a national
poll. This year, we also looked at where medical care isn’t meeting expectations,
according to the 3,500 people queried. Our sister website, The Healthy, is using
the data to power a yearlong study of the challenges and promises of major
health conditions: heart disease, diabetes, depression, cancer, arthritis, and
more. To read these stories, go to thehealthy.com/2020solutions.

67% 52% 45% 39%
said they had to visit
of those with a have had to found value in many doctors
chronic condi- take their connecting
tion said getting health care with others before being
an accurate into their experiencing diagnosed
diagnosis can be own hands similar health and treated
frustrating. For rather than properly.
people with di- relying just on issues. Among people
gestive ailments their doctor’s suffering with
such as ulcers or treatment plan. issues such
irritable bowel as anxiety or
syndrome, it was depression, it
was 51 percent.
73 percent.

64 march 2020 | rd.com

Cover Story

66 percent got new information or a surgeon told us he used a different
revised diagnosis. A second opinion technique. It was lower risk, and it
can also reveal different treatment would spare Pete’s eyesight.
options.
If your doctor is irritated by your
Yet surveys show that more than decision to seek a second opinion, as
half of Americans don’t bother, even Pete’s local neurosurgeon seemed to
when faced with a major medical de- be, it’s a red flag that perhaps he or
cision. As Pete and I debated what to she is not the right fit. Smart doctors
do, I understood why. Duke is a three- won’t feel threatened or offended,
hour drive away, which seemed like says Robert Arnold, MD, chair of the
a hassle. We liked the local surgeon. University of Pittsburgh’s Institute
Most important, Pete couldn’t wait to for Doctor-Patient Communication.
get this thing out of his brain. “They know that once you get that
second opinion and come back, it’s
But the woman from our temple way better, because you will both be
insisted and even called Duke to get on the same page about the best way
an appointment for us. That appoint- to move forward,” he says.
ment changed everything. The Duke

TRUST TIP
Smart doctors won’t feel threatened if
you ask about getting a second opinion.

If yours gets irritated, it’s a red flag.

and perhaps give

TRUST TIP them insights into
Bringing flow- your case they

ers or cookies might not other-

to your medical wise receive.

team can help You should do

you connect on your homework

a human level. about your doc-
So does simply tors too. While
they may believe
asking how they are unbiased,
they are doing.

physicians are not

immune to money

or gifts (including

meals or speaking

fees) they receive

from pharmaceu-

tical or medical-

device companies.

A ProPublica

analysis found

that doctors who

take such pay-

ments are two to

three times more

likely to prescribe

brand-name drugs

To prepare for Pete’s appointment compared with those who don’t. You

at Duke, I started reading up on can look up how much money your

meningiomas. I tried to stick to fact- doctor has received (and from whom)

based websites published by academic on ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs site

medical centers, such as Johns Hop- (projects.propublica.org/docdollars)

kins, Harvard, and the Mayo Clinic. and the federal government’s Open

I also looked for condition-specific Payments site (openpaymentsdata

websites, especially those staffed with .cms.gov).

medical professionals. It may sound If your doctor is listed, that doesn’t

obvious, but being well prepared for mean he or she has done anything

appointments can help maximize what wrong. But you may want to ask

little time you have with your doctors whether the medications you are

66 march 2020

Cover Story Reader’s Digest

taking are made by those companies daughter. It said “Please take care of
and whether there are any cheaper my daddy.”
generic alternatives.
When they finally took Pete into the
Similarly, if your doctor offers a operating room, I shed tears for the
“cutting-edge treatment” not covered first time. We had done our homework,
by insurance, look it up before you pay followed every instruction, and chosen
up. I learned this lesson the hard way, the best doctor. Now Pete’s life was in
when my podiatrist recommended a the surgeon’s hands. Eight hours later,
series of laser treatments for the arthri- he was wheeled to the recovery room.
tis in my big-toe joint. Five treatments The operation was a success.
and $750 later, my toe actually felt
worse. “The treatments don’t work for A few days later, a biopsy revealed
everyone,” explained the doctor some- that the tumor was a rare aggres-
what apologetically before she rushed sive type of meningioma that exhib-
off to see her next patient. its cancerlike behavior. The surgeon
sent us to a Duke oncologist who
I later googled the type of laser ther- recommended radiation to prevent a
apy she’d used, and while some small
studies showed good results, others BEWARE OF
were inconclusive. More ominously, “CUTTING-EDGE
perhaps, the device manufacturer’s TREATMENTS” NOT
website touted its profit-producing
potential: “Start Creating a Cash- COVERED
Based Division in Your Practice with BY INSURANCE.
Laser Therapy.”
reoccurrence. She told us there were
When Pete was at the Duke hospi- different types of radiation therapy
tal for his brain surgery, we wanted to but little consensus on which was best
connect with his medical team even and to take our time making a deci-
though we would be there for just a sion while Pete healed.
short time—as with any relationship, I
believed that personalizing our interac- As I researched our options, a phy-
tions would help ensure the best care. sician friend sent me an article from a
health portal that medical profession-
I placed a family photo in the re- als rely on called uptodate.com. The
covery room, not just to comfort Pete information is dense, but it includes
but also to remind the hospital staff the latest evidence-based treatment
that he was a husband and a father to guidelines for almost every condition,
three young children. I delivered bags
of homemade chocolate-chip cookies
to Pete’s nurses. And we gave the sur-
geon a note from our eight-year-old

rd.com 67

Reader’s Digest Cover Story

and it helped me understand the dif- that situation helped build the founda-
ferent types of radiation. Patients can tion for a physician-patient relation-
access the site by paying a fee ($20 for ship that Pete values to this day. He
a one-week subscription), and I often treks to Duke to see her several times
subscribe when a friend needs deeper a year to make sure the tumor hasn’t
information than what he or she can returned. He often e-mails her with
find on free sites. general questions about his health—
even though he has a new primary care
After studying all the options, we physician—and she always takes the
talked with the oncologist and decided time to reply. They developed some-
to do the radiation closer to home thing simple yet precious in their time
rather than under her care at Duke. together: a sense of trust. RD
But her honesty and understanding in

TO GET THE BEST CARE, “TRUST BUT VERIFY”

TRUST-BUILDING MOVES
• See the same doctor, not just any doctor in a large practice, for your regular

checkups as well as when you are sick, if possible. You may want to look into
“direct pay” physicians, who charge a membership fee for care.
• Ask about office policies. How much time do they set aside for the first
appointment? (One hour is ideal; 30 minutes is more realistic.) How long is
the typical wait for an appointment? How do they handle patient questions?
• Share your concerns. If you have any doubts about your diagnosis or
treatment plan, don’t be shy about telling your doctor so he or she can try
to address them.

VALID WAYS TO VERIFY representatives from pharma- artur marfin/shutterstock
• Do your own research. In addition ceutical companies to pitch their
products to the staff? Does the
to consulting well-known, reputa- physician have a financial interest
ble sites such as mayoclinic.org, in an imaging center, a surgery
hopkinsmedicine.org, and center, or special medical equip-
uptodate.com, reach out to your ment? If you’re uncomfortable ask-
own network of friends and family. ing your doctor or you just don’t
• Check credentials. You can find in- want to spend your precious face-
formation on malpractice or disci- to-face time on these questions,
plinary actions against physicians ask the office manager. Honest
at docinfo.org. Verify board certifi- communication involves the
cations at certificationmatters.org. entire practice.
• Ask about possible financial
conflicts. Does the office allow

68 march 2020

Reader’s Digest

LAUGH LINES

Never get into a lane-merging The worst thing
game of chicken with a about parallel parking

person who has a garbage is witnesses.
bag for a car-door window.
— @armyVet1972
— @MelvinOfYork

Now that I’ve The Somebody
removed my Highway to actually
windshield wipers
I shouldn’t be Howls complimented
getting any more my driving today.
parking tickets. They left a little
note on the wind-
—Mariah Scary shield that said

on twitter “parking fine.”

— @aadil

How is it that a The irony of
parking spot gets being hit by a

paid more per Dodge.
hour than I do?
— @rikpayne
— @markedly

jenny sturm/shutterstock

rd.com 69



DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

Miracle in Midair

Almost 80 years after it unfolded in the sky over San
Diego, a nearly impossible rescue mission remains one
of the most daring feats in aeronautical history

Virginia Kelly

rd.com | march 2020 71

Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life

t began like any other May parachuted overboard as part of the previous spread: courtesy rick lawrence (portrait). ap/shutterstock (plane). maytal amir/shutterstock (graph paper).
morning in California. The sky was exercise. paket/shutterstock (paper clip). reddavebatcave/shutterstock (classified document). archive.org (government document)
blue, the sun hot. A slight breeze rif-
fled the glistening waters of San Diego Nine of the men had already
Bay. At the naval airbase on North jumped when Osipoff, standing a few
Island, all was calm. inches from the plane’s door, started
to toss out the last cargo container.
At 9:45 a.m., Walter Osipoff, a Somehow the automatic-release cord
sandy-haired 23-year-old Marine of his backpack parachute became
second lieutenant from Akron, Ohio, looped over the cylinder, and his chute
boarded a DC-2 transport for a rou- was suddenly ripped open. He tried
tine parachute jump. Lt. Bill Lowrey, to grab hold of the quickly billowing
a 34-year-old Navy test pilot from New silk, but the next thing he knew he had
Orleans, was already putting his ob- been jerked from the plane—sucked
servation plane through its paces. And out with such force that the impact of
John McCants, a husky 41-year-old his body ripped a 2.5-foot gash in the
aviation chief machinist’s mate from DC-2’s aluminum fuselage.
Jordan, Montana, was checking out
the aircraft that he was scheduled to THE AUTOMATIC-
fly later. Before the sun was high in the RELEASE CORD ON HIS
noonday sky, these three men would
be linked forever in one of history’s CHUTE WAS LOOPED
most spectacular midair rescues. OVER THE CYLINDER.

Osipoff was a seasoned parachut- Instead of flowing free, Osipoff ’s
ist, a former collegiate wrestling and open parachute now wrapped itself
gymnastics star. He had joined the around the plane’s tail wheel. The
National Guard and then the Marines chute’s chest strap and one leg strap
in 1938. He had already made more had broken; only the second leg
than 20 jumps by May 15, 1941. strap was still holding—and it had
slipped down to Osipoff’s ankle. One
That morning, his DC-2 took off by one, 24 of the 28 lines between
and headed for Kearney Mesa, where his precariously attached harness
Osipoff would supervise practice and the parachute snapped. He was
jumps by 12 of his men. Three sepa- now hanging some 12 feet below and
rate canvas cylinders, containing am- 15 feet behind the tail of the plane.
munition and rifles, were also to be Four parachute shroud lines twisted
around his left leg were all that kept

72 march 2020

Lt. Col. John J. Capolino, a Philadelphia artist, painted this scene of Osipoff’s rescue in
the 1940s. It belongs to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.

courtesy national archives (photo no. 127-n-522950) him from being pitched to the earth. was starting to run low on fuel, but an
Dangling there upside down, Osi- emergency landing with Osipoff drag-
ging behind would certainly smash
poff had enough presence of mind to him to death. And pilot Harold John-
not try to release his emergency para- son had no radio contact with the
chute. With the plane pulling him one ground.
way and the emergency chute pulling
him another, he realized that he would To attract attention below, John-
be torn in half. Conscious all the while, son eased the transport down to
he knew that he was hanging by one 300 feet and started circling North
leg, spinning and bouncing—and he Island. A few people at the base no-
was aware that his ribs hurt. He did ticed the plane coming by every few
not know then that two ribs and three minutes, but they assumed that it was
vertebrae had been fractured. towing some sort of target.

Inside the plane, the DC-2 crew Meanwhile, Bill Lowrey had landed
struggled to pull Osipoff to safety, but his plane and was walking toward his
they could not reach him. The aircraft office when he glanced upward. He

rd.com 73

Reader’s Digest

and John McCants, who was work- and pounding hearts, the watchers
ing nearby, saw at the same time the agonized through every move in the
figure dangling from the plane. As impossible mission.
the DC-2 circled once again, Lowrey
yelled to McCants, “There’s a man Within minutes, Lowrey and
hanging on that line. Do you suppose McCants were under the transport,
we can get him?” McCants answered flying at 300 feet. They made five ap-
grimly, “We can try.” proaches, but the air proved too bumpy
to try for a rescue. Since radio commu-
Lowrey shouted to his mechanics to nication between the two planes was
get his plane ready for takeoff. It was impossible, Lowrey hand-signaled
an SOC-1, a two-seat, open-cockpit Johnson to head out over the Pacific,
observation plane, less than 27 feet where the air would be smoother, and
long. Recalled Lowrey afterward, “I they climbed to 3,000 feet. Johnson
didn’t even know how much fuel it held his plane on a straight course and
had.” Turning to McCants, he said, reduced speed to that of the smaller
“Let’s go!” plane—100 miles an hour.

Lowrey and McCants had never Lowrey flew back and away from
flown together before, but the two men Osipoff, but level with him. McCants,
seemed to take it for granted that they who was in the open seat in back of
Lowrey, saw that Osipoff was hanging
that was to go get him. How, we didn’t by one foot and that blood was drip-
know. We had no time to plan.” ping from his helmet. Lowrey edged
the plane closer with such precision
Nor was there time to get through
to their commanding officer and re- THE TIMING HAD TO
quest permission for the flight. Low- BE EXACT SO OSIPOFF
rey simply told the tower, “Give me
a green light. I’m taking off.” At the DIDN’T SMASH INTO
last moment, a Marine ran out to the THE PROPELLER.
plane with a hunting knife—for cut-
ting Osipoff loose—and dumped it in that his maneuvers jibed with the
McCants’s lap. swings of Osipoff’s inert body. His tim-
ing had to be exact so that Osipoff did
As the SOC-1 roared aloft, all activ- not smash into the SOC-1’s propeller.
ity around San Diego seemed to stop.
Civilians crowded rooftops, children Finally, Lowrey slipped his upper
stopped playing at recess, and the left wing under Osipoff’s shroud lines,
men of North Island strained their and McCants, standing upright in the
eyes upward. With murmured prayers rear cockpit—with the plane still going

74 march 2020

Drama in Real Life

100 miles an hour 3,000 feet above the Yet, five minutes later, Lowrey some-
sea—lunged for Osipoff. He grabbed how managed to touch down at
him at the waist, and Osipoff flung his North Island, and the little plane
arms around McCants’s shoulders in a rolled to a stop. Osipoff finally lost
death grip. consciousness—but not before he
heard sailors applauding the landing.
McCants pulled Osipoff into the
plane, but since it was only a two- Later on, after lunch, Lowrey and
seater, the next problem was where to McCants went back to their usual du-
put him. As Lowrey eased the SOC-1 ties. Three weeks later, both men were
forward to get some slack in the chute flown to Washington, DC, where Sec-
lines, McCants managed to stretch retary of the Navy Frank Knox awarded
Osipoff’s body across the top of the fu- them the Distinguished Flying Cross
selage, with Osipoff’s head in his lap. for executing “one of the most brilliant
and daring rescues in naval history.”
Because McCants was using both
hands to hold Osipoff in a vise, there Osipoff spent the next six months
was no way for him to cut the cords in the hospital. The following January,
that still attached Osipoff to the DC-2. completely recovered and newly pro-
Lowrey then nosed his plane inch by moted to first lieutenant, he went back
inch closer to the transport and, with to parachute jumping. The morning
incredible precision, used his propel- he was to make his first jump after the
ler to cut the shroud lines. After hang- accident, he was cool and laconic, as
ing for 33 minutes between life and usual. His friends, though, were ner-
death, Osipoff was finally free. vous. One after another, they went up
to reassure him. Each volunteered to
Lowrey had flown so close to the jump first so he could follow.
transport that he’d nicked a 12-inch
gash in its tail. But now the para- Osipoff grinned and shook his
chute, abruptly detached along with head. “The hell with that!” he said as
the shroud lines, drifted downward he fastened his parachute. “I know
and wrapped itself around Lowrey’s damn well I’m going to make it.” And
rudder. That meant that Lowrey had he did. RD
to fly the SOC-1 without being able
to control it properly and with most This article first appeared in the May
of Osipoff’s body still on the outside. 1975 edition of Reader’s Digest.

Chew on This

Bubble gum, made in 1906, was originally called Blibber-Blubber.

history.com

rd.com 75

“If you want me to give 110 percent, I want a 10 percent raise.”

All Mary, aren’t you?” A coworker was telling
in a Day’s I smiled. “No, sorry, us all about her trip to
Las Vegas. “That
WORK I’m not.” sounds great. Where’d
“Are you sure? You you stay?” asked a
Sometimes honesty colleague.
isn’t the best policy. look just like someone
I know named Mary.” “I can’t remember,”
A patient showed up she said. “But I think it
at our medical office “Well, I hope she’s began with an s.”
and asked, “You’re young and skinny.”
“Was it Caesar’s?”
“No,” he said, set- —Darrell Berger
tling into his chair. Johnsonburg,
“She looks like you.” Pennsylvania
—Janice Grudowski
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

76 march 2020 Cartoon by Phil Witte

Reader’s Digest

New hire: Some man put all these WORK-LIFE
files on my desk. Isn’t there an employee BALANCE—
here to take care of all this petty stuff ? WHAT’S THAT?
Older associate: Yes, there is. You.
✦ I have dealt with so
—stupidcoworkers.com many difficult customers
over the years that I
sarah2/shutterstock Me: Why aren’t you Never lie on your used to angrily call my
smiling in your school résumé. You might dog “Sir” when I was
pictures? get caught by hiring mad at him.
Child: Because I’m managers, like these
at school. fraudsters did: —confessionsofa
Me: So? ✦ One applicant hotelworker.com
Child: Can I see your took credit for writing
work ID? computer code that ✦ Customer: You close
Me: OK, never mind. was actually written by at six thirty, right?
— @RodLacroix the manager conduct- Barista: Yes, but we close
ing the job interview. emotionally at six.
While taking a clinical ✦ Another applicant — @sehnaoui
history from an elderly reported being an anti-
patient, I asked, “How’s terrorist spy for the CIA ✦ Once, I went into
your love life?” during the years when my supervisor’s office
he would have been in five minutes before we
“I don’t know,” he elementary school. opened to ask him a
said. “I’ll ask my wife.” ✦ Yet another reported question. He was lying
He got up, walked into studying under on the floor with a pillow
the hallway where his German philosopher and blanket and the
wife was sitting, and Friedrich Nietzsche, lights turned off. He just
shouted, “Hey, the who, by then, had been said, “I’m not here yet.”
doctor wants to know dead for 117 years. I work at a public library,
if we still have sex.” by the way.
—careerbuilder.com —Mary Ellis on facebook,
His wife shouted via buzzfeed.com
back, “No, the only Your funny work
thing we have is Medi- story could be worth
care and Blue Cross.” $$$. For details, go to
—Sivaprasad rd.com/submit.
Madduri
Poplar Bluff, Missouri

rd.com 77

FIRST PERSON

78 Photographs by Joleen Zubek



redhead named Wendy. Her place was just
a couple of miles away. She was always smiling
when I pulled up. She gave me exactly what I wanted.
Every time I left, I swore I wouldn’t come back.

Wendy was my favorite, but she in your car, you can get the Double
wasn’t my only one. Sometimes I went Whopper and the onion rings and the
across town for a quickie with a guy in chocolate shake, and nobody knows
a clown suit named Ronald. but the cashier who hands you the
bag. Every car I’ve owned has ended
Fast food is my deepest addiction. up with salt in the cracks of the pas-
Since I was 16 and got my first car, I’ve senger seat and leftover napkins in the
spent endless hours idling in drive- glove box.
through lanes, waiting to trade my
money for my fix. I did some deeply One time I was in the drive-through
depressing calculations and figured and called out my regular order. “I’ll
out that I’ve spent at least $30 a week have a number two combo, medium-
on fast food for the last 35 years. That sized, with a Dr Pepper, and—”
comes to somewhere around $55,000,
enough for a bass boat or a new The cashier cut in. “And a junior
kitchen, with some left over to stash bacon, right?”
in the bank. Instead, I have invested
it in Big Macs and big pants. If you’re “Right.”
addicted to anything and want to get Wait, what?
one solid measure of how much it has I was at the anonymous fast-food
hurt your life, do the math. joint, ordering in the most anonymous
way possible. But I went there so often
Next time you go to a fast-food joint, that the cashier knew what I wanted
take a slow walk around the parking just from hearing my voice. I’d become
lot. You’ll find the spaces filled with a regular.
customers eating in their cars. That’s I told myself I was never going back
where the junkies hang out. Alone again.
I was back in a week.

80 march 2020

First Person Reader’s Digest

Everybody needs a third place—a an introvert who learned to talk to
bar or a coffee shop or a bookstore— strangers because I love my work as
to feel comfortable that’s not work or a reporter and how it makes me feel. I
home. Willie’s Wee-Nee Wagon in my adore my wife and family and friends.
hometown of Brunswick, Georgia, But I spent so much time alone in
was my third place for a lot of years. my room growing up, so much time
I went there to meet friends. I went alone when I was single, so much time
after getting in trouble with my folks. working the day shift as a newspaper
I took dates there. I slunk back there reporter while my wife, Alix, worked
after getting dumped. I went when I nights. Aloneness has become my
didn’t know what else to do. I’d sit on natural state. That’s not who I want to
the hood of my car, and somebody I be, but it’s who I am.
knew would eventually show up.
On those days when the gravity of
A couple of weeks after my sister, solitude tried to pin me down, fast
Brenda, died at the too-young age of food would serve as a little bridge to
63, I drove 40 miles from her place to the other side. Sometimes, in a cre-
Willie’s. I ordered a dog and some fries ative rut, I’d take a drive to get out of
and a tea and ate in the car. I grieved the house and see things with a fresh
for Brenda and felt a little better. eye. I’d almost always end up in a
drive-through. Maybe I’d sit in the car
This sounds pathetic, I know, but and people-watch. Maybe I’d take my
one of the things I always got from
fast food was companionship. I’m OTHER PEOPLE SOOTHE
THEIR PAIN WITH A
BOTTLE. I SOOTHED

MINE WITH A BURGER.

food home. But at least, I’d tell myself,
I’d been out among people.

This is the cruel trick of most addic-
tions. They’re so good at short-term
comfort. I’m hungry. I’m lonely. I
need to feel a part of the world. Other
people soothe these pains with the
bottle or the needle. I soothed them
with a burger and fries.

I did some more math one day, and

rd.com 81

Reader’s Digest First Person

it just about knocked me over. On because I broke the addiction before
a really bad day, I might eat it broke me.
6,000  calories—roughly the same
amount the average adult tiger con- And then I finally did. I did it. I gave
sumes. And it goes without saying that up fast food for Lent.
I wasn’t spending half my day chasing
down wildebeests. On Fat Tuesday, the day of feasting,
I got Wendy’s one last time for lunch.
How does a human being end up On Ash Wednesday, Alix and I went to
weighing 460 pounds? Six thousand the evening service at our church, and
calories at a time. I made a vow that I was done with all
the fast-food chains—anyplace with a
For the last few years, every time drive-through, ketchup packets, and
I bought fast food, I kept the receipt food that comes in a bag.
in my billfold. The idea was that one
Why then? Mostly because Brenda’s
I DON’T KNOW HOW death shook me. I saw what it did to
MUCH GUILT WEIGHS. the rest of us for her to leave so soon.
BUT THAT MORNING, I I don’t want to put my family through
FELT SOME OF IT LIFT. that again. I want all the time I can get
with the people I love.
of those meals would be the last fast-
food meal I ever ate, and I wanted Since my last binge, I have stayed
the receipt as a reminder. The weary away from McDonald’s, Taco Bell,
ritual: I would buy something from KFC, and their kin. There has been one
the drive-through, toss the old receipt exception: the day I took my mom
from my last meal, and replace it with to the doctor and she decided on the
the newest mistake. At my worst, I way home that she wanted biscuits
swapped it out twice a day. at Hardee’s. When your mama wants

Every so often, I’d pull out the latest
receipt and look at it. Most days the
ink was still fresh. I’d think about that
day when I’d pull it out and it would
be so old that it was yellowed and
faded. I’d think about the day when it
wouldn’t be a symbol but just a use-
less scrap of paper. I’d think about the
day when I could throw it in the trash,
not needing the reminder anymore

82 march 2020

biscuits at Hardee’s, you get biscuits one of those is its own jolt of pleasure.
at Hardee’s. I trust that God gave me Let me be clear: I am still a sinner.
a pass.
There is a Dairy Queen five blocks
That was March 9, 2016. I stuck the from our house, and sometimes on a
receipt in my billfold. That Hardee’s summer night, I’ll dive into a Blizzard
receipt is still in my billfold. The ink with Oreos. (Not a meal, though!)
is so faded, I can barely see what I ate.
I’ve never tried this hard before.
That summer, for the first time in I thought it was hopeless because
my life, I bought a scale. It tops out at I thought I was hopeless. I used to
400 pounds, and the first few times I worry that I was lying to myself about
stepped on, the digital readout said being able to stick to a healthy diet
ERROR. Then, on the last day of Au- and get in shape. Now I see that I told
gust, I stepped on and when I looked myself a bigger lie: that I wasn’t worth
down, the readout said 399. the trouble.

I don’t know how much guilt These days my pants are falling off
weighs. Guilt and shame are the hard- for the right reasons. They used to fall
est weight to shed. But that morning, off because my gut was so big that it
I felt some of it lift off me. pushed my waistband down to my
knees. Now they fall off because the
I’ve had cravings, sure. One day in waistband is too big. When I rent a
September, I drove from Charlotte to car, I don’t have to try out three or
Harlan, Kentucky, for a story. I got four until I find one where the seat
there late and hungry. I drove down belt buckles. When I go to the mov-
the main drag, and all the bright lights ies, I don’t have to flip up the armrest
were temptations: Arby’s, Taco Bell, between the seats.
Pizza Hut, and my former sweetheart
Wendy. I just about gave in. Then I Perhaps best of all, I have performed
found a Food City supermarket. I got a a magical antiaging trick: I’ve erased
some of the worry lines around Alix’s
turkey sandwich from the deli. I’m eyes. When we go out to eat and I skip
not going to pretend that it was the burger for the grilled chicken, she
as good as a Quarter Pounder, smiles and says, “What have you done
but when I got home, I was with my husband?” When she hugs me
able to put an X in that box now, her arms go all the way around
on the calendar where me. To feel her fingertips touch at the
I am marking the days small of my back is a pleasure no meal
I have held on to can match. RD
my pledge. The
calendar is now from the elephant in the room: one fat man’s quest
a big unbroken to get smaller in a growing america by tommy
string of X’s, and each tomlinson. copyright © 2019 by tommy tomlinson.
reprinted by permission of simon & schuster, inc.

rd.com 83

YOU BE THE JUDGE

OUTRAGEOUS

VERDICTS!

A favorite RD feature is back,
with four rulings that infuriated

their losers. Do you agree?

By Vicki Glembocki

illustrations by Magoz Studio

84 march 2020

The Case of the
Broken Lottery Machine

You might say that Pauline McKee is
a slot machine veteran. At 87, she had
been working the slots for more than
six decades. But the “Miss Kitty” ma-
chine at the Isle Casino Hotel in Wa-
terloo, Iowa, was new to her. That’s
where McKee was playing on July 2,
2011, when, at around 10 p.m., she
wagered 25 cents on a spin and won
$1.85. But that wasn’t all. A special
message also popped up on the game’s
screen: “The reels have rolled your
way! Bonus Award—$41,797,550.16.”
McKee and her daughter, who was

rd.com 85

Reader’s Digest You Be the Judge

playing nearby, excitedly called over “Malfunction voids all pays and
a casino attendant. The supervisor plays.” As a result, the casino refused
on duty took a photo of the screen, to pay the $41.8 million.
told McKee she needed to make a
few phone calls, and gave McKee $10 On January 26, 2012, McKee sued,
to continue to play while they waited claiming, primarily, that the casino
for more information. The supervisor had breached a contract by not pay-
even paid for McKee’s hotel room for ing her the bonus. That October, the
the night. district court announced it wouldn’t
move forward with the case since the
The next day, McKee received a rules of the game, which McKee had
note from the general manager of access to, formed the relevant con-
the casino, who described the situa- tract. Ultimately, McKee appealed to
tion as “unusual.” She comped all the the Iowa Supreme Court. “Whether the
rooms McKee’s family had stayed in— casino intended it to happen or not,
McKee, a widow and grandmother of Mrs. McKee didn’t do anything wrong,”
13, had come to Waterloo from her said her attorney, Steve Enochian. “She
home in Antioch, Illinois, for a fam- played the slots like the casino wanted
ily reunion—and explained that she’d her to, so it needs to pay.”
contacted the Iowa Racing and Gam-
ing Commission (IRGC) to inspect the Did the casino owe Pauline McKee
machine. $41.8 million?

IRGC sent Miss Kitty’s hardware THE VERDICT
and software to Gaming Laborato- In April 2015, before a jury could hear
ries International, a testing lab. The the case, the Iowa Supreme Court
logs on the machine showed that dismissed her claim. And it wasn’t
the game misinterpreted a notice because paying would have sent the
from the casino’s central system as casino into bankruptcy, as its attorney,
an award bonus. Miss Kitty was ca- Stacey Cormican, noted to the press.
pable of displaying a max bonus of Since Miss Kitty’s rules didn’t “provide
$10,000, but bonuses weren’t tech- for any kind of bonus,” Justice Edward
nically listed as possible prizes in M. Mansfield wrote, “McKee had no
this Miss Kitty’s rules—which McKee contractual right to a bonus.” So the
hadn’t read but were accessible by casino awarded her the $10,000 max,
tapping a button on the screen. In right? No. A thousand? A hundred? No.
other words, the computer had mal- She only ever received what she had
functioned, and the jackpot McKee won on that spin—$1.85. As McKee
thought she’d won was, as the IRGC complained to the Chicago Tribune,
put it, “not valid.” A sign posted on “That’s terrible.”
the front of the machine was plain:

86 march 2020

The Case of the Pet Raccoon the family, along with two kids, two
cats, koi, and chickens. They walked
Kellie Greer was walking in Cottage her on a leash, trained her to use a
Grove Park near her Seattle home in litter box, and built an enclosure for
June 2010 when she spotted two new- her in their backyard. They called her
born raccoons. She’d already come “human-friendly.” In fact, she regu-
across a dead adult raccoon in the larly posed for photos with the neigh-
road, which she assumed was their bor kids, Seattle police officers, and
mother. Still, she waited several hours even Washington Department of Fish
to see whether an adult raccoon would and Wildlife (WDFW) game wardens,
return for the babies, and when none whom the family ran into on annual
did, she brought the tiny orphans fall camping trips to Icicle Creek park.
home. One died that night, but the
other held on. Kellie called the Pro- During one trip in November 2017,
gressive Animal Welfare Society and the Greers stopped for gas in Cou-
15 animal rehabilitation centers in lee City. While Chris pumped, Kellie
the area. None, she says, had space for walked Mae around the parking lot. A
the raccoon. So she and her husband, WDFW officer, Glenn Steffler, pulled in
Chris Greer, decided to keep her. They behind the Greers and asked whether
named her Mae. they had a permit to possess a wild
animal; it’s illegal to keep raccoons as
For seven years, Mae was part of pets in Washington. Chris fibbed and
said yes.

rd.com 87

Reader’s Digest You Be the Judge

But Steffler checked the records and The Case of the Halal KFC
discovered the truth. A week later, an-
other officer knocked on the Greers’ In 2016, Afzal Lokhandwala’s busi-
door. Kellie invited him in. There was ness was booming. He owned eight
Mae, lying on the sofa. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) fran-
chises around Chicago, most serving
“I need to take her,” the officer said. large Muslim populations. They knew
“Today?” Kellie asked. Yes, he said. that Lokhandwala was also a practic-
Mae ended up at Center Valley ing Muslim, and they knew that all
Animal Rescue in Quilcene. She had the chicken-on-the-bone he sold was
a broken tooth and had been too do- halal. To be certified as halal—i.e.,
mesticated to ever return to the wild. “permissible”—the chicken had to
If she couldn’t be used for educational be slaughtered, distributed, and pre-
purposes at the rescue center, she pared according to Islamic religious
might be euthanized. On December 5, standards.
2017, the Greers sued for custody of
Mae. At the Thurston County Supe- Lokhandwala emigrated from India
rior Court hearing in April 2018, Chris in 1989 and landed a job as an assis-
turned to the WDFW’s attorney and tant manager at a South Side KFC. He
said, “We don’t understand why you worked his way up to manager, then
want her now.” to franchisee, opening his first KFC in
2003. His franchise director, Ken Taft,
Should Mae the raccoon be returned helped him find a halal-certified, KFC-
to the Greer family? approved poultry slaughterhouse,
and KFC had “full knowledge and ap-
THE VERDICT proval” of his marketing the chicken
When the hearing officer decided against as halal on signs in his restaurant. In
the Greers, they wept in the courtroom. fact, Lokhandwala says, several KFC
They appealed—and lost. “This raccoon execs visited his restaurant “regularly.”
is not in good shape,” announced the
judge nearly a year after Mae had been In 2006, Lokhandwala opened a
taken from the Greers. This was the second franchise, and with KFC’s ap-
final ruling and, according to WDFW proval he advertised that the restau-
attorney Neil Wise, the right precedent. rant was halal in the newspaper and
Otherwise, he said, “What’s to stop on TV. He opened a third franchise
everybody from grabbing animals out of four years later. In 2012, he opened
the wild and making pets out of them?” five more, in Muslim communities.
Once no animal shelter would take her,
the ruling made clear, the Greers should But in October 2016, Lokhandwala
have simply left Mae to die. received a letter from KFC’s corporate

88 march 2020

headquarters saying that his halal sales were down 20 percent. An attor-
advertising could confuse custom- ney for KFC, Daniel Weiss, filed a mo-
ers who had been to other KFC shops tion to dismiss all claims because the
that didn’t offer halal chicken. Then, franchise agreement gave the company
in December, a KFC lawyer informed “the absolute right” to prohibit any ad-
him that he was violating a 2009 KFC vertising of its product.
policy that prohibited franchises from
making religious claims about KFC Should KFC let Lokhandwala
products. He was told to stop market- continue to advertise halal chicken?
ing his chicken as halal.
THE VERDICT
Lokhandwala had not been aware U.S. district judge John Robert Blakey
of this policy, and it had never been dismissed the case outright on January 23,
mentioned when he was negotiat- 2018. “Under the franchise agreement,
ing with KFC about opening the five defendant has every right to bar plaintiff
franchises based entirely upon offer- from advertising his products as halal,”
ing halal chicken. Had he known, he Blakey wrote, “even if defendant al-
says, he never would have purchased lowed that advertising in the past.”
those stores. He was now at risk of los- Lokhandwala was dumbfounded. “You’d
ing $1 million a year in sales. think that a company in the business of
selling product to as many people as
In August 2017, Lokhandwala sued possible would want to reach out to cer-
KFC, claiming breach of contract and tain communities,” notes his attorney,
asking the court to stop KFC from Michael Goldberg. “It made no sense.”
preventing him from advertising its
chicken as halal. Already, he claimed,

rd.com 89

The Case of the Towering Sioux Falls Board of Historic Pres-
House ervation proposing to raze their
1920s Tudor house and build a new
Pierce and Barbara McDowell had 4,000-square-foot structure. The ar-
lived in their historic home on South chitect who’d drawn the renderings
Second Avenue in Sioux Falls, South had taken into account the state’s
Dakota, for 24 years. Built in 1924, it special requirements for new con-
is on the National Register of Historic struction in historic areas. The board
Places, one of several such build- approved the plans.
ings in their McKennan Park neigh-
borhood, which is itself a registered The Sapienzas’ contractor, Dick So-
historic district recognized for its rum, revised the plans in accordance
“well-maintained houses” with “co- with the city’s zoning restrictions for
hesive character.” height and setback from adjacent
properties, but he didn’t realize that
The McDowells welcomed new historic regulations were different.
next-door neighbors, Josh and Sarah Sorum took his plans to the city’s
Sapienza, in 2013. The next year, the historic-preservation office, but the
Sapienzas submitted plans to the employee he needed to get approval
from was out, so he left the plans
there. They were never formally ap-
proved by the preservation board.

Two months later, in August, Pierce
McDowell and Josh Sapienza met for
drinks. Later, Pierce sent Josh a text:
“I have to forewarn you that my wife
is really suffering about all of this.
The home is just way too big for the
lot ... not your problem or fault ... just
a tough gig for us.” On October 22, the
city issued a building permit; the plans
did conform to its standard height and
size requirements. Still, no one coor-
dinated with the historic-preservation
office, even as the foundation was
poured in November.

Over the next six months, as
the house was constructed, the
McDowells were shocked by how
close the new structure was to their

90 march 2020

You Be the Judge Reader’s Digest

property and, specifically, to the “What more could Josh and Sarah
chimney of their own historic wood- Sapienza have done?”
burning fireplace. They called the
fire department, which inspected the Should the Sapienzas be required
house, only to turn around and ticket to revamp—or demolish—their new
the McDowells for a code violation, home?
ordering them not to use the fireplace
or risk responsibility for damages that THE VERDICT
might occur. “This is a difficult case,” noted Justice
Steven Zinter, one of a five-judge panel
The McDowells hired attorney that heard the case. Chief Justice David
Steve Johnson, who, on May 8, 2015, Gilbertson asked whether the lower
sent the Sapienzas a cease-and-desist court’s ruling was basically “a demolition
letter. Still, construction continued. order,” and the Sapienzas’ lawyer sug-
The 4,000-square-foot house ulti- gested that his clients compensate their
mately stood 44.5 feet high, exceeding neighbors for the fireplace and lost prop-
the regulations for historic buildings erty value rather than tear down their
and towering over the other houses entire house. But in January 2018, the
in the neighborhood by an average of supreme court affirmed the circuit court’s
more than eight feet. The McDowells ruling: Even if the McDowells could be
sued, claiming the Sapienzas had compensated, that “would not remedy
been negligent and asking the court McKennan Park’s continuing and long-
for injunctive relief—either make the term loss of its historic character.” In May,
house compliant or knock it down. A a giant crane knocked down the Sapien-
circuit judge agreed. zas’ home. As Sarah Sapienza watched
the demolition, she maintained that
Of course, the Sapienzas appealed, she had paid a steep price for a flawed
arguing to the state supreme court process, telling a reporter, “The city
in October 2017 that they’d followed made a mistake; the historic board made
the rules—they got all board approv- a mistake. I did not make a mistake.” RD
als and all the proper permits. Their
attorney, Dick Travis, asked the court:

What Will They Call It Now?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is getting taller! In 1990, engineers closed the 185-foot
white marble building for a decade to make structural adjustments that corrected
the lean by 17 inches. Recently, the Italian government announced that the tower

had recovered 1.57 more inches largely on its own (and thanks to its shored-up
foundation). At this rate, the tower will be perfectly straight—in 4,000 years.

rd.com 91

NATIONAL INTEREST

92 march 2020

Reader’s Digest
rd.com 93

Some 1,500 students attend Santa Fe High School; many are conservative Christians.

girls’ PE class noticed the new stu- The girl with the black hair smiled previous spread: joleen zubek, courtesy joleen cogburn (inset images). this page: brian goldman
dent. She had long black hair and ma- back. “I’m Sabika.”
hogany eyes, and she sat by herself in
the bleachers, staring curiously at the Jaelyn told Sabika her full name was
other girls in their shorts and T-shirts Jaelyn Cogburn. She was 15 years old,
doing jumping jacks and push-ups. It a freshman, and new to the school, so
was September 11, 2017, and after two she didn’t know many people. Sabika
weeks of cancellations caused by Hur- said her full name was Sabika Sheikh,
ricane Harvey, classes had resumed and she was a foreign exchange stu-
at Texas’s Santa Fe High School, some dent from Pakistan. She was 16, a ju-
35 miles south of Houston. nior. She didn’t know anyone at all.

Just one student approached. She The bell rang, and Jaelyn and Sabika
had straw-blond hair and turquoise moved on to their other classes. At the
eyes, and she wore a blue T-shirt with end of the day, Jaelyn hurried out to
a Bible verse, Matthew 4:19, printed the parking lot, where her mother,
on the front: “Follow Me, and I will Joleen Cogburn, was waiting. “Mom,”
make you fishers of men.” Jaelyn asked, “where’s Pakistan?”

The girl with the blond hair smiled. Despite its proximity to Houston,
“I’m Jaelyn,” she said. Santa Fe, with a population of 13,000,
feels like a small town. Deeply con-
servative, the town attracted national
attention in 2000 when school officials
appealed all the way to the U.S. Su-
preme Court to defend their practice
of conducting public prayers before
football games. (They lost.)

Joleen and her husband, Jason
Cogburn, live with their six children

94 march 2020

National Interest Reader’s Digest

hand lettering by maria amador (three of whom are adopted) on prayer that warbled from loudspeakers
three and a half acres in a comfort- attached to the nearby mosque.
able two-story home. Every Sunday,
the family attends Santa Fe Christian Karachi, a sprawling port city on
Church. Joleen has homeschooled all Pakistan’s southern border with a
the children, following a Bible-based population of some 15 million, is
curriculum. often called one of the world’s least
livable cities. The roads are choked
Jaelyn, the oldest birth child, was with rickshaws, motorcycles sputter-
shy. Outside of her siblings and a ing clouds of exhaust, and wagons
couple of girls from her church youth hitched to donkeys. Millions of resi-
group, she stayed mostly to herself. dents dwell in slums without water
But that summer, she had surprised or electricity. In 2002, Karachi made
her parents, telling them that she
wanted to go to Santa Fe High. international headlines when Wall
Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl
Joleen and Jason assumed that their was abducted on a downtown street
daughter would have trouble adjust- and later beheaded.
ing to life at a public high school with
1,500 students. Instead, Jaelyn came Still, Sabika loved Karachi. She
home on that first day smiling and loved piling into her father’s green
talking excitedly about meeting a girl Toyota Corolla with her family for the
from Pakistan. She googled Pakistan 15-minute drive to the beach. She
and read that almost all the country’s eagerly anticipated visits to the mall.
200 million residents are Muslim. And she looked forward to playing
badminton on the roof of their apart-
“You know, Mom,” Jaelyn said, “I’ve ment building with her sisters, Saniya
never met a Muslim.” and Soha, and her brother, Ali. With
the aromas of spice-laden dinners
“Well, maybe God has put you to- wafting from neighbors’ apartments,
gether for a reason,” Joleen said. “Who the children would play until the sun
knows? Maybe the two of you will be- set, when the call to prayer sounded.
come friends.”
Sabika had not yet reached her first
That same night, at the home where birthday when Al Qaeda attacked the
Sabika was staying with her host fam-
ily, a Pakistani-born Muslim couple,
she called her parents, 8,500 miles
away in Karachi. Sabika’s mother,
Farah Naz Sheikh, and her father, Ab-
dul Aziz Sheikh, who goes by Aziz,
had been up with their three other
children since dawn—awakened, as
they were every morning, by the call to

rd.com 95

Reader’s Digest National Interest

United States on September 11, 2001. Jaelyn asking Sabika questions based
As a teenager, disturbed by the char- on what she had read online. Was she
acterization of her country as a breed- really not allowed to eat pork because
ing ground for extremism, she told it’s considered unclean? (Correct.)
friends and family that she planned Would she allow her marriage to be
to join Pakistan’s foreign service and arranged by her parents? (Most likely,
become a diplomat. She wanted to though she would want to meet him
show people that Pakistanis were not first.) And did she truly believe that
terrorists and that there was nothing the Koran was the final word of God?
to fear about their faith. (Of course, Sabika said.)

In the fall of 2016, Sabika’s cousin Jaelyn showed Sabika the Bible app
Shaheera Jalil Albasit told her about on her phone, and Sabika pulled up
a U.S. State Department program that her Koran app, along with a digital
provides funding for high school stu- compass, which she relied on to face
dents from countries with large Mus- east toward Mecca for her prayers.
lim populations to study in the United
States for a school year. Aziz and Farah “They were the odd couple, the
feared that their daughter would be Christian girl and the Muslim girl,”
disparaged by anti-Muslim Americans,
but they agreed to allow her to apply. says their PE teacher, Connie Monte-
mayor. “In a way, it was a perfect pair-
Sabika was one of roughly 900 stu- ing of opposites.”
dents selected. She was ecstatic. When
she received the news that she would In October, Jaelyn invited Sabika to
be sent to Santa Fe, Texas, she and her house to meet her family. “Wel-
her parents went online and looked come to Texas!” Joleen said, giving her
at photos of the town and the high a hug. Over the next few weeks, Joleen
school, a long, boxy redbrick building drove Sabika and Jaelyn to the movies,
alongside Highway 6. a high school football game, and the
theater department’s performance of
On the day she left, in August Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
2017, Aziz and Farah arranged for a
sadaqah, a ritualistic sacrifice of a After Sabika shared with Jaelyn
goat, to protect Sabika from harm. that she wanted to experience life in
Then the family piled into the Corolla a non-Muslim home, Jaelyn asked
to take Sabika to the airport.

After their first-day meeting, Jaelyn
and Sabika became fast friends. Ev-
ery day during fourth period, they
walked laps around the gym, with

96 march 2020

The Cogburns were already raising a large family, but they made room for Sabika.

brian goldman her parents whether Sabika could live pastor talked about Jesus being born in
with them. “Honey, I’ve already got a manger to a virgin, and she watched
six children to raise,” said Joleen. But the congregants observe the Last Sup-
she noticed a pleading look in Jaelyn’s per by drinking grape juice and eating
eyes that she had never seen before, wafers. She rose with everyone else to
and soon it was arranged for Sabika sing contemporary Christian songs,
to live with the Cogburns. and she closed her eyes during prayers.

She was given an upstairs bedroom. For Christmas, Joleen bought Sabika
She hung a Pakistani flag on the wall, last-minute presents: a camera, a
and on her door she taped a draw- scrapbooking album, a ring deco-
ing she had made of an airplane fly- rated with a crescent moon, pajamas,
ing over a globe. Beneath the airplane sweaters, and socks. And the week
she had written, in English, “Up in the after, Sabika went with the Cogburns
clouds, on my way to unknown things.” to a Christian retreat center in West
Texas. There, word spread that Sabika
Each evening, after Sabika prayed was a practicing Muslim, and a teen-
and called her parents, she and Jaelyn age boy confronted her, snidely asking
would talk late into the night. Jaelyn whether she was a terrorist. “Stop it!”
would quote the Bible, and in turn Jaelyn snapped. “Sabika’s my friend!”
Sabika would quote the Koran.
“You’re friends with her?” the boy
On Christmas Eve, a few days after pressed.
she moved in, Sabika said she wanted
to go to church with the Cogburns. “We’re best friends,” said Jaelyn.
She wore an ankle-length, traditional
Pakistani dress and sat next to Jaelyn. Just as she had been in Pakistan, Sabika
She listened in bewilderment as the was a straight-A student. In physics,

rd.com 97

Jaelyn’s mission is
to share Sabika’s
message of love.

she made nearly perfect grades. In In January, she and brian goldman
English, she dutifully read American Jaelyn learned that
classics such as Of Mice and Men, The a schoolmate had
Crucible, and The Great Gatsby, and killed himself. And
she wrote a research paper on the on Valentine’s Day,
#MeToo movement. (“One of the best they got alerts on
students I’ve ever had,” says Dena their phones that a
Brown, her English teacher.) In his- deadly shooting had
tory, she gave a presentation about occurred at Marjory
Pakistan in which she described the Stoneman Douglas
friendly people and delicious food. High School in Park-
And she left an impression in other land, Florida. Sabika
ways. “I don’t know how to explain was familiar with
this exactly, but you felt happy around school violence. Over
Sabika,” says Montemayor. “She never the years, the Taliban
argued, and she never got upset. She had forcibly closed schools that edu-
was a peacemaker. I used to tease her cated girls in regions of Pakistan. But
and call her my Nelson Mandela.” why, she asked Jaelyn, would an Amer-
ican boy, blessed with privileges most
Occasionally, Sabika did encoun- Pakistanis saw only on TV, go on such
ter tragic aspects of American life. a rampage? If he was having a hard
time, didn’t he have anyone to talk to?
Couldn’t his family have helped?
During one of her calls with her par-
ents, Sabika opened up about the side
of American high school life that trou-
bled her. Some of the students seemed
so lonely, she said. They weren’t close
to their families the way Pakistani
children were. Aziz and Farah asked
Sabika whether she felt safe, and she
assured them there was nothing to
worry about. She and Jaelyn were to-
gether always. “We will never put our-
selves in danger,” she said.

98 march 2020

National Interest Reader’s Digest

Sabika was scheduled to return to Ka- She placed it beside Sabika’s and said
rachi on June 9, 2018, which meant she wanted to pray with her. Sabika
that she would be spending most nodded and dropped to her knees.
of Ramadan, the holiest period of
the Islamic year, with the Cogburns. “Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah,”
Sabika explained to them that every Sabika recited.
day during the monthlong obser-
vance, Muslims are required to fast “Dear precious Lord and Savior,
from dawn until sunset. They are thank you for this day,” Jaelyn began.
not allowed to engage in thoughts or
behaviors considered impure. It is a The morning of May 18, Sabika and
time of introspection and commu- Jaelyn ate a predawn breakfast, and
nal prayer. Jaelyn, Joleen, and Jason then Jaelyn drove them to school in
said they wanted to fast with her. “It the family’s old green pickup. They
was our way of honoring Sabika,” says sat in the truck and chatted until the
Joleen. “It was our way of letting her bell rang. Sabika asked whether they
know how much she was loved.” could hang out a little longer. Jaelyn,
though, had a test in her first-period
And so, on May 16, the first day of biology class.
Ramadan, Jason, Joleen, Jaelyn, and
Sabika woke earlier than usual and ate “We’re already late,” Jaelyn said.
“Let’s just go.”
a full breakfast before the sun rose. At
school, Jaelyn and Sabika still walked Minutes after Jaelyn took her seat
laps during PE, but they didn’t take a in class, the fire alarm sounded. “It’s
sip of water. That night, Joleen pre- probably just a drill,” her teacher said.
pared a dinner of chicken spaghetti, Jaelyn exited the school through a side
and the family waited for sunset. door with other students. Once out-
side, she saw several police cars speed
After dinner, Sabika went upstairs past, sirens screaming. She overheard
for her evening prayer, and as she un- a teacher say there had been a shoot-
furled her prayer mat, the bedroom ing in the art room. Panicked, Jaelyn
door opened behind her. There stood borrowed a phone to call Sabika, but
Jaelyn, holding her own prayer rug. it went straight to voice mail. She tried
again, over and over. She ran from one
student to another, asking whether
they had seen Sabika. She called her
parents. “I can’t find Sabika!” she
screamed.

Soon, news helicopters were hover-
ing overhead. Local television stations
broke into their regularly scheduled
broadcasts to announce that an active

rd.com 99

Reader’s Digest

shooter was at Santa Fe High School. He ushered Jaelyn and Joleen into an
Half a world away, Aziz, Farah, and empty room to tell them Sabika was
dead. Jaelyn collapsed to the floor,
their children had just finished iftar, and Joleen began screaming.
the evening meal at the end of the day-
long fast. Aziz turned on the television After the Cogburns drove home,
to catch the news, and he saw on the Jason composed himself and walked
ticker that there had been a shooting outside to call Aziz, who was stand-
at a Texas school. He switched to CNN. ing in his living room, surrounded by
On the screen was a photo of the same friends and relatives who had heard
high school that Sabika had seen on about the shooting. Farah sat with the
her computer when she'd learned she children on the sofa. After speaking
was going to Santa Fe. with Jason, Aziz lowered his phone.
He turned to everyone in the room
Aziz called Sabika 24 times in a row. and said, “Sabika is no more.”
He finally called Jason, who had driven
to the high school with Joleen. The two In all, eight students and two teachers
men had never spoken. Talking slowly were murdered, and thirteen others
so that Aziz could understand him, were wounded. A junior at the school,
Jason said Sabika was missing and that Dimitrios Pagourtzis, confessed. That
as soon as he was given more informa- morning, he had carried two guns to
tion, he would call back. school under his trench coat. He went
to the school’s art lab, pumped the
Jason, Joleen, Jaelyn, and other shotgun, and started shooting.
families who were still looking for
their children were sent to a nearby For days, mourners gathered on
building that officials were calling a the high school’s front lawn. The Cog-
“family reunification center.” Peri- burns went to a memorial service that
odically, a bus arrived with students the Islamic Society of Greater Hous-
who had been inside the school since ton held for Sabika. More than 2,000
the police lockdown. The Cogburns people showed up. Jaelyn, her head
watched each student step off the bus, covered with a prayer shawl, told
hoping Sabika would emerge. the crowd in a trembling voice that
Sabika was “loyal to her faith and her
At 1:30, the final bus arrived, carry-
ing students who had been in the art
room. Joleen asked whether anyone
had seen Sabika, and someone said
she had seen her go into the class-
room but hadn’t seen her come out.
By then, only ten families remained
at the reunification center. Jason got
a call from a friend at the hospital.

100 march 2020

National Interest

country. She loved her family, and she herself over and over, hadn’t she talked
couldn’t wait to see them. She was the with her best friend a little longer?
most amazing person I’ve ever met. I
will always miss her.” In her bedroom, Jaelyn spent hours
in prayer, begging God to “make a
Sabika’s casket was wrapped in the way” for her, and in June, just after
green-and-white flag of Pakistan and her 16th birthday, she told her parents
flown to Karachi. A Pakistani honor that God had heard her prayers.
guard placed the casket in a van,
which transported it to the Sheikhs’ “What does God want you to do?”
apartment. A throng of people had al- Joleen asked.
ready gathered. When someone asked
how Aziz was feeling, he said, simply, A year earlier, Jaelyn had embarked
“My heart drowns.” on a ten-day mission trip with her
church’s youth group to the impov-
Sabika was taken to a small cem- erished Belizean village of Teakettle.
etery to be buried, not far from her She had volunteered at an orphanage
grandparents. Aziz turned her face to and worshipped at a tiny tin-roofed
the west so that she always would be Baptist church. Now she was con-
looking toward Mecca. vinced that God was calling her back.
Just like Sabika, she told her parents,
Joleen asked the pastor at their she wanted to live for a year with a
church to hold a service for Sabika. It host family and attend the local high
was a peculiar request—a memorial school. She wanted to volunteer at the
for a Muslim at an evangelical church. orphanage and spread a message of
But during Sabika’s time in Santa Fe, love to the Belizean people.
the congregation had come to adore
her. More than 100 people attended, “We knew that if Jaelyn stayed
singing Sabika’s favorite songs. around Santa Fe, nothing would get
better,” says Jason. “The only way one
After the service, Jaelyn was in bet- gets through tough times is to serve
ter spirits. But as the days passed, she other people.”
had trouble focusing on anything but
Sabika’s death. Joleen reminded her And so, in August, Jaelyn and Joleen
of a famous passage from the book of flew to Belize and drove to a part of the
Psalms: “Weeping may endure for a country that tourists rarely see: its in-
night, but joy comes in the morning.” terior, thick with rain forests and tiny
villages, where dirt streets are lined
Jaelyn, though, was haunted by with shanties and smoke from cook-
one thought in particular: if only. If ing fires lingers in the air. Joleen stayed
only she’d stayed with Sabika in the to help her daughter settle in. Once on
parking lot, Sabika likely wouldn’t her own, Jaelyn acclimated to her new
have been in the art room when the routine, though she continued to ex-
shooting started. Why, Jaelyn asked perience flashbacks of the shooting. At

rd.com 101

Reader’s Digest National Interest

the end of each day, she called home, Aziz visits his daughter every day. “Sabika khaula jamil
read her Bible, and drifted off to sleep. is with Allah,” he tells his other children.
On Sundays after church, she liked to
go swimming in a river with the chil- She shared the despair that still
dren from her host family. haunted her.

In December, her school in Belize I know what it’s like to hurt, to have
announced its annual poetry contest. pain, to gain, to lose.
Jaelyn decided to write about Sabika. It
would be the first time she told anyone I know what it’s like to live when
there about the shooting back home. death has come so close.
The day of the competition, the entire
student body gathered at the outdoor When she finished, her fellow stu-
chapel to hear the contestants read dents gave her a standing ovation. Jae-
their work. The themes were, for the lyn broke into tears again and slowly
most part, typical of teenage life: a walked back to her seat.
girl’s lamentation about other girls
who pretend to be friendly but really During one of their nightly phone
aren’t; a boy’s adoration of his brother. calls, Jaelyn told Joleen that she did
not plan to return home when the
When it came time for Jaelyn’s school year ended.
reading, she shuffled to the stage and
stood in silence, rivulets of tears form- “I believe God is calling me to stay
ing across her face. A minute passed. in Belize,” she said.
Then another. Jaelyn finally looked up
and announced the title of her poem: “For another year?” Joleen asked.
“Why I’m Here.” She began: Jaelyn explained that she felt as
if she was making a difference. She
I’m an American girl in Belize living was getting the chance to do for oth-
her life alone. ers what Sabika had done for her and
keeping Sabika’s spirit alive.
You’ve never seen me. I’m unheard “Is there anything better I could
of and unknown. do with my life?” Jaelyn asked.
“Anything?” RD
She described her friendship with
Sabika. texas monthly (may 2019), copyright © 2019 by texas
monthly, texasmonthly.com.
I swear I’ve never been closer to a
person. Nor will I ever be.

She was like an angel sent from God
and came to set me free.

She recounted the shooting.
A boy went to school with a gun in
his hand.
He started shooting. And I just ran.

102 march 2020 | rd.com

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104 march 2020 | rd.com

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