In the fall of 1972, John Erickson was 16 years old, and things were not going well. It was his ninth emergency visit to a hospital in the last four years, and he lay unconscious after a seizure at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago. The doctors didn't know why their efforts continued to fail, but they finally told his parents nothing more could be done. A priest arrived to administer Last Rites. As a last-ditch effort, Erickson's parents approved a high-risk procedure in the hopes of buying their son at least a little more time. And miraculously, it did. Young John emerged from that...
In the fall of 1972, John Erickson was 16 years old, and things were not going well. It was his ninth emergency visit to a hospital in the last four y...