Since our last update we have been extremely productive at the Institute as is evident in the body of this report. All of us at the Institute continue to focus our efforts on the role of injury prevention within our society. We believe that through our efforts at the Institute, and through our efforts in the book, The Awakening of a Surgeon, individuals will learn that proactive thought and proactive activities are far greater and more important than reactive behavior and reactive thought. The concepts we have developed at the Institute, as well as in the book, can be applied to cancer, heart disease and for that matter Homeland Security. It is my contention that Homeland Security does not start and stop in some far off cave in some far off land. It is my contention that Homeland Security starts in every person’s backyard, neighborhood, school district and community.

Unfortunately, injury is an equal opportunity event that transcends age, gender, race, nationality and continental shelves. In fact, all of us on September 11, 2001 gained an appreciation of the significant ramifications that if we can prevent a particular event we can surely reduce unnecessary fatalities and injuries. In our country 140,000 Americans will die this year because of unintentional injury. Injuries that are sustained in motor vehicle events, unintentional firearms injuries, and sports and recreational injuries. 62 million Americans will seek healthcare for unintentional injuries this year alone. The vast majority of which are preventable. Just as we have awoken to the terrorists on and off our own shores that perpetrated their acts on September 11, 2001, we need to truly awaken to the terrorist of injury which leads to needless loss of life, pain, suffering, and lifelong disability.

The good news is that through our efforts at the Institute, many of us believe we are making significant inroads in informing the public of injury on an international basis and what can be done to prevent these very devastating injuries. Our prevention principles can be implemented if folks are willing to take the time and the effort to make a difference for themselves, their families and their communities.

I dedicated my book, The Awakening of a Surgeon, to my dad, my mom, my wife Libby and our two beautiful children. The purpose of the book is to empower every parent, grandparent and community leader and activist by providing each and every person information to make their families and their communities safer and healthier. The book is a testament to what my parents have been all about – dedication, sacrifice and perseverance. On January 28, 2003, I lost one of my best friends in the world, my idol, and one of my biggest supporters of The Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. My father, Ben Janda, died suddenly, yet peacefully. Both of my parents taught me from the very beginning to work hard, dedicate yourself to a cause and an issue, and follow it through. In addition, my parents taught me that sports were a microcosm of life. My father used to say that “sports don’t build character, they reveal it.” On February 1, 2003 I was asked to deliver his eulogy. I have had the fortunate opportunity of delivering hundreds of presentations over the years around the world, but this by far was the hardest and most important presentation I have ever given. In one of my early discussions with my father we discussed the issue of adulthood. He mentioned to me that one does not become an adult at 15 years of age when one gets his driver’s permit, or at 21 years of age when one can legally drink, or at 18 years of age when someone becomes eligible for the draft. He once told me that one becomes an adult when your first parent dies. Needless to say, I am now over 5 months into adulthood and I can easily say, I don’t like it and I surely wish I could return to the preadolescent phase of my life.

Sports were an important part of my dad’s life and my life with my dad. There are a couple parts of my father’s eulogy that I would like to share with you. My father loved being a great father. No matter how busy he was at work he always had time for his son. We spoke 3-4 times a week on the phone. We communicated by mail another 3-4 times every week for our entire lives since we have been apart when I went to college. He always attended any game I participated in. Any time I was on TV or radio, he always made the extra effort to watch or listen. But, what I remember most of my dad in the early years, was him always being willing to give me time after a long day at work. In the early years, my father would work fourteen to sixteen hours a day. When he would return home late at night he always had time to play catch with me. You see, my dad was a great baseball player in high school and college. He in turn helped me become a very good player throughout high school. It started early in life with him taking the time to play catch. Every night he’d come home and as he sat down to dinner I would start to get our gloves and ball ready so that we could play catch after dinner. Even when he came home late at night, while he ate dinner, I would set up the flashlights in the backyard so we could play catch. One particular evening after I set up the flashlights, when I was about eight, I ran downstairs to get a ball. I picked it off the top of his filing cabinet and joined him outside. Many times when we played, the only time you knew the ball was thrown at you, because it was so dark, was when the ball would hit you and could almost knock you over. It was amazing how he could so effortlessly throw a baseball, yet have it hit so hard in my glove and burn so hard in the palm of my hand. One night as we played catch I threw the ball to him. He caught it. He looked at the ball and said “Dave, we need to talk.” As I came over to him he said “Dave, I didn’t anticipate us talking about this at this point, but now is better than any other time. You see, this baseball you just threw to me Dave, was a ball that was given to me by my father to give to you. This ball was signed by somebody who never signed baseballs, or any piece of paper for that matter, but somehow your grandfather got him to sign this ball. This ball was signed by Shoeless Joe Jackson, Dave, and this is one expensive ball. So it probably would be best that we not play with it.” My father always had time for me whether I was four years old playing catch or forty-four years old just to talk. He always made time for family, friends, and above all, his son.

My father loved sports and he loved being an athlete. My father was a great pitcher in high school and college. He threw many, many no hitters in his favorite sport, baseball. He used to say, “Sports do not build character, they reveal it.” He turned his interest in baseball, into my interest in baseball. At one point in my career I became a very good baseball pitcher in high school. I never threw a no hitter but, I threw a number of one hitters and two hitters. On one particular day I threw a three hitter as a pitcher and at the plate I went three for four. I hit two grand slam home runs and hit a double with two men on base and had ten RBI’s. However, my third time up at bat I grounded to the short stop with men on second and third and ended the inning. At the end of the game when I came out of the dugout, there was my dad there to hug me and to congratulate me. He congratulated me on a “great game” and then he asked, “So Dave, What are you going to remember about today’s game?” I said, “ What I am going to remember most is when I hit that second grand slam home run the outfielder threw his glove on the ground when the ball went over the wall.” He looked at me and said, “ Dave, That will be a great memory, but what I also want you to remember is how it felt when you grounded out to the short-stop with men on second and third.” You see, this was time for another one of Ben’s life lessons. He said “If you only remember your successes in life you will never grow, you will never improve, you always must remember your successes but, you must also must remember when you come up short because that is the only way you will become better whether it is baseball or whatever you might choose in life.” When it came to any sport he always transcended that sport into a higher meaning in life.

He took me to my first baseball game at two months of age and to numerous baseball games throughout my life. I also watched many games with him on TV and listened to many games on the radio with him. The past several years however, one of the things we did when he visited our house was that we would watch baseball movies. One of the individuals on our Advisory Board at the Institute, whose name is Bill Kinsella, wrote a book “Shoeless Joe Jackson”, about the same fellow who signed that baseball that my dad and I played catch with. That book, “Shoeless Joe Jackson”, was made into the movie, Field of Dreams. I bought the movie for dad and we watched it. At one point in the movie I heard my dad crying. We were at the part of the movie where the main character, Kevin Costner, plays catch with his father who comes out of the cornfield. I looked at my dad because this was so unlike him to be crying like this. I said, “Dad, what is wrong!” and he said “Dave, I love life and love everything in life, but what I miss most in life is playing catch with my dad.” You see this past Tuesday, January 28, 2003, was a devastating day for the Janda Family. It was what September 11th was to our country. Our skyscraper, our World Trade Center, collapsed in our home. However, on Tuesday morning, January 28th I feel something very special happened in our house. You see my mom was in the house, my dad was in the house, and God sent my father’s father to our house with two gloves and a ball. And when my father died, he died playing catch with his father. This can only explain how he passed so peacefully, so effortlessly, and with a smile on his face. My father fought every day of his life to do good, to move the ball down the field. But on that day, God presented him an opportunity that he had missed for many years and he graciously accepted it.

It is now my turn to continue to do good in the memory of Ben Janda. Fourteen years ago I launched on a mission that was driven from a very terrible event in my family when my daughter became critically ill. I have dedicated my life every day for the past fourteen years, to The Institute and to prevent unnecessary pain and suffering around the world. This effort will not stop. Through this book, The Awakening of a Surgeon, it is my goal to empower every parent, grandparent, community leader, activist by providing the necessary information to make every family, every neighborhood, every community in the world safer and healthier. I and the Institute have lost a tremendous ally in my father, on the other hand, I and the Institute have gained a very powerful guardian angel.

Warm Regards,

David H. Janda, M.D.

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