|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Doing for OthersA Dozen Eggs, 12,000 Babies, and 10,000 Cancer Clinic Visitsby Lori Williams At age 75, Dr. C. Kenneth Landrum laughs as he tells the story of how his plans to be an engineer got derailed. After all, that career in a service profession has turned out just fine - thirty-four years as an obstetrician/gynecologist, a lifelong community leader in the Rio Grande Valley and for the past several years, champion of health care for children with cancer. A native of Kingsville, Landrum has spent most of his adult life in McAllen after graduating from Baylor College of Medicine in 1954. He remembers when the city was just a shadow of what it is now, and how he set up shop as the third OB/Gyn in a town of just over 30,000 people. It didn't take very long for him to settle on a new career path after hearing his dismal engineering prospects. He had two roommates who were pre-med in his freshman year at A&M. "I found myself more interested in what they were doing than what I was doing," he recalled. So after that first year, he brought up the subject to his family who supported his decision to change his major to pre-med. Baylor College of Medicine was his first choice. "If we were going to invest considerable funds in a project, they wanted to partner with someone who was 'top of the line.' I said, 'OK, I know just where to go.' I called Baylor." "When I applied to medical school there was a policy in place at Baylor that they took in only 86 students but they intended to graduate all 86. If you needed some help, they would get that for you," he said. "That was the reputation Baylor had. They had a good selective process and they felt anyone they accepted had the capability of graduating." Landrum spent the first year in a fraternity house and during his sophomore year he shared an apartment with three roommates. "We had two bedrooms and one bathroom for four boys and we thought we were in the lap of luxury," he laughed. "We each had our own dozen eggs that we boiled up on Saturday and on the way to school each day, we'd take two hardboiled eggs and that was our breakfast. But we each had our own dozen." In the summer of 1947, he met June Waite Poteet on a trip home to Kingsville, much to the delight of his mother and her best friend who had been "trying to set us up." They were married after his sophomore year at Baylor and while he continued his studies, June taught third grade. Residency was a little complicated. Landrum had decided on an OB/Gyn specialty because it combined internal medicine and surgery. But residency meant a lot of hours and very little pay. Worried about money, he asked the advice of a mentor at Baylor, Dr. Stuart Wallace, the Chair of Pathology. They had gotten to know each other well when Landrum was president of the sophomore class. "I told him I was looking for ways to finance my residency in OB/Gyn. And he said in his very quiet voice, 'Well, I believe I can help you.' I borrowed money from him from 1955 until I completed my residency in 1960. In fact, the two years I was in the Air Force (1957-59 at Hunter Air Force Base in Georgia) were sort of on his time." Not wanting to waste any time in paying back the money he owed, Landrum chose a position at a clinic in San Angelo after he completed his residency at Baylor. "I loved San Angelo - it was a nice town, but primarily, I needed to pay Dr. Wallace back. I didn't want to gamble on whether I was going to be successful or not." After three years and all debts paid, Landrum was on the lookout for a place to settle with his wife and two young daughters. "I started looking in the Valley. It was obvious to me of the need here. This was sort of an outpost at that time." For just over two years, he practiced by himself in McAllen without a day off until he brought in a partner, Dr. Daniel A. Chester, in 1967. He eventually retired from the practice of medicine in 1994. He guesses that he's delivered more than 12,000 babies. And it's not unusual for him to go to a wedding where he delivered both the bride and groom. Landrum's love for McAllen was evident as he drove through the city, pointing out landmarks and commenting on how much the city had grown over the years to its present-day population of 125,000. Through the years, he's held many community and church leadership positions, and still does today. He had a brief stint in politics - running for school board when he got angry that a bond issue hadn't passed - but for the two terms he served, he wasn't opposed. "My daughters went to public school so I said I served one term for Leslie and one for Mary." The Landrums had good friends in McAllen. In particular, Ken and June became close pals with another couple, Vannie and Carolyn Cook. Vannie was a very successful businessman and landowner and the four of them shared a close friendship, traveling and socializing together for many years. "Vannie and I were good friends. It was just a good relationship. In fact, when he had bypass surgery, I was there with him when Denton Cooley operated on him. I didn't scrub in but I was in the operating room with him. I told Denton Cooley I wanted to be sure he did it right. Yes, Vannie was a good friend of mine." When Vannie Cook died in 1988, Carolyn continued traveling with Ken and June. "We never went to any social function that we didn't ask Carolyn to go with us. June made sure she was always with us. This was after June had already been diagnosed with cancer. The fact is our friends have said that Carolyn and I didn't have as much to do with our getting together as June did. They said she had in mind that if she were to go first, then maybe Carolyn and I would get together. And I guess that's what happened." Ken and Carolyn were married in 1993. Vannie Cook had considerable wealth and that has been passed on to his family. That's something that Landrum wants to be sure is crystal clear. "I don't want there to be any misconception. The evidence of financial success that you may think you visualize is not a result of my work," he said as he agreed to a request to take photos at the Cook "480" Game Preserve. "What I'm showing you out here are things generated from Vannie's work - not mine."
In 1972, Cook and a group of community leaders began planning for a radiation treatment center because, at that time, if you needed radiation treatment, San Antonio, Houston or Dallas were your closest choices. Cook established a foundation to support the effort, which brought much-needed radiation treatment to the Valley. After his death, the foundation was named the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Foundation. The foundation continued to support projects and several years ago, the board, with Landrum as chair, began looking for a major cancer-related project to support. Different groups had approached the foundation and they were considering projects when the board gave Landrum a directive. "If we were going to invest considerable funds in a project, they wanted to partner with someone who was 'top of the line.' I said, 'OK, I know just where to go.' I called Baylor." The BCM Alumni Office very quickly brought Landrum together with Dr. David Poplack, director of Texas Children's Cancer Center, a joint program of Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital. The two worked out a plan that resulted in the opening in 2001 of the only pediatric hematology and oncology clinic in the Valley. Landrum knew the need was there. He didn't expect it to grow as rapidly as it has. In the first year, the clinic saw four times as many patients as projected. Dr. Juan Carlos Bernini, the clinic's medical director, quickly was joined by a second physician, Dr. Rodrigo Erana. To date, the clinic has seen more than 1,600 patients and nearly 10,000 clinic visits.
"He never lets us forget that," said Laura Martinez Ilgun, the clinic's director of development and public relations. "That is very important to Dr. Landrum." Children from across the Valley and Mexico travel to McAllen for cancer care previously not available this close to home. Story after story is told of families who found much-needed relief in being able to face their child's battle with cancer on home turf rather than living out of a motel in Houston or San Antonio. Landrum shrugs at his role as champion for all these children and their families. But he does admit that a good part of the success of his life has been in recognizing the need to be there for others. Landrum worries about people who don't seem to have a purpose, who "haven't really developed an interest in doing something worthwhile for people. "After all," he said quietly. " We all need to be doing something for others." |
Patient CareWhen Executives Become 'Ill-Suited' ResearchEducationThe Responsibilities of Residents Coat Pockets Full of Knowledge Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentCollege News
|
||
Volume 1, Issue 2, Summer 2005 |
|||
 |
|
BCM Home | BCM Intranet | Privacy Notices | Contact BCM | BCM Site Map © 2005-9 Baylor College of Medicine® |
|
| Last modified: October 10, 2008 |
In his freshman year at Texas A&M University, Ken Landrum was called in for a meeting with the dean of engineering and told that roughly two-thirds of his class was "more qualified to become an engineer." Landrum was advised to try "some sort of service profession."
And it was Vannie Cook's vision and his friendship with Landrum that eventually came together again several years ago in a project that is helping hundreds of children battling cancer in the Valley.
While the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children's Cancer and Hematology Clinic is serving far more children than expected, Landrum has insisted on one very important principle - that no child would be turned away because of the family's inability to pay. And so far, the clinic has been true to that goal.