“… Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.” —1 Chronicles 28:20 (ESV)
The above Bible verse is one of many Dr. Michael Cheatham has received on his cell phone since the deadly nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. Forty-four gunshot victims were admitted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, and Cheatham—the chief trauma surgeon there—worked tirelessly alongside his colleagues trying to save lives.
A quick glimpse at his phone between surgeries or while racing from the ICU to the emergency room offered a boost as he received encouraging Scriptures and messages from all over the world. Franklin Graham also kept the tragedy top-of-mind by opening his recent Decision America Tour rallies with prayers for the victims, families and the doctors.
“We all received a number of words of encouragement like that which got us through a really difficult time,” Cheatham recalled.
That difficult time began early on June 12.
Around 2:15 a.m., Cheatham was startled awake by his cell phone. Orlando Regional had just admitted 20 gunshot victims. They needed him. Immediately.
Cheatham lives fairly close to the hospital. He hustled to his car and up the street where he saw a police cruiser at every intersection.
“There was just a sea of blue lights completely blocking Orange Avenue,” Cheatham said. “I couldn’t even get close to the hospital, and I’m surrounded by police cars and ambulances all with their lights on and sirens on. Luckily, one of the police officers stopped me.”
The officer directed the doctor to take another route to the hospital which was only a block or so from the club, still an active crime scene at the time.
“They basically had created a back way to get to the hospital because otherwise I would have been driving by all the shooting,” Cheatham said.
Cheatham followed an ambulance into the Level 1 trauma center accustomed to seeing “the sickest of the sick.” Gunshot wounds, stab wounds, crashes and so on are all familiar territory for the doctors there.
The emergency room was packed—nothing new for a weekend—but at that moment every available bed was full. Cheatham walked in to see occupied gurneys solemnly draped with white sheets. On one gurney, the sheet covered all but the deceased woman’s beige high heels. That’s an image Cheatham thinks will stay with him forever.
Cheatham looked at his partner, “What would you like me to do?”
Some gunshot victims needed surgery, so that’s where Cheatham began his day. He prayed while he scrubbed in and got to work, sometimes silently praying for wisdom and guidance as he operated.
The doctors operated again and again. Surgeons have performed almost 60 operations since the shooting. As of Wednesday, 20 patients had been discharged and 15 remained in the hospital (12 in stable condition and three in critical care). Nine patients died, many upon arrival, although one passed away en route to surgery. Cheatham said that particular patient’s heart stopped and did not respond to CPR.
That young man—one of the 49 people killed—has since been memorialized with a photo and a wooden cross set up along the lake on the hospital grounds. After the incident, the area became a makeshift memorial where visitors would pause by the crosses, sometimes adorning them with flowers, messages and other mementos.
The first time Cheatham made it to the memorial was Wednesday—10 days after the shooting. He prayed with two Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains during the quick respite, and he also saw that young man’s cross among the 48 others.
“It’s starting to sink in, the magnitude of it all,” Cheatham said. “You hear on the news how this was the worst mass shooting in American history. You hear there were 49 deaths, but when you see these 49 crosses lined up along the edge of the lake, it’s a much more tangible reminder of just the sheer devastation that so many families endured.”
The families are what struck Cheatham the most.
“So many of the families did not know, some for over 24 hours, if their loved one was either alive or dead,” said Cheatham, who wears a silver cross on his lapel as a silent testimony to his faith. Sometimes, patients or families spot it, sparking conversations about faith.
“We did not know how many victims were still inside the club the following day, so we had many families that were absolutely distraught, and we really focused on the families. We prayed for the families.”
The scene reminded Cheatham of New Orleans, where he completed a medical mission shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
“I saw the same kind of devastation and despair in those families, the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” said Cheatham, who just completed medical mission work with Samaritan’s Purse in the aftermath of the 7.8 earthquake in Ecuador. Cheatham also is on the board of directors for Samaritan’s Purse, a role he’s held since 2008.
Cheatham has been exposed to large-scale disasters before, but says “to think of 49 people dying senselessly like that is traumatic for all of us.” The sobering reality of the incident made the texted and emailed Scriptures even more powerful for the doctor. He particularly appreciated one sent by fellow Samaritan’s Purse board member Jim Oliver that featured 1 Chronicles 28:20. It was just the reminder he needed.
“Just the knowledge that God is with us in these situations and He’s not going to forsake us,” Cheatham said. “No matter how bleak things may look, we know that we have a support there that loves us and will help us through the darkest of times.”
