Tuesday, December 12, 2006

A Dramatic Talk-Sample Speech, "A Christmas Ride With My Kawasaki Girl"

This speech was delivered at the NXP Toastmasters Club in their December 12, 2006 Toastmasters Meeting.

A Christmas Ride with My Kawasaki Girl
(A Dramatic Talk, Speech Project #4 in The Entertaining Speaker Manual, Dec.12,2006, NXP Toastmasters Club, Philips Semiconductors, Calamba, Laguna. Evaluated by Bobbie Galang, ATM-S)


INTRODUCTION

Hello! Is there anyone here who ever had a chance to ride an ambulance? Not a parked, stationary ambulance, but a live ambulance with the lights blinking and the sirens blaring (gesture lights and sirens).

(If someone answers, ask if as a patient or passenger) Well, to those who have not had the chance to ride one, let me ask you this. Do you find it infuriating when an ambulance zigzags through traffic and pushes its way like a bully, only for you to find that there is no patient and no passenger inside? It’s just the ambulance driver driving like a bully?

Long ago, I had that feeling. But that was until I personally had the chance to ride an ambulance myself. Good evening everyone.


BODY


Strange Illness

Eight years ago at around this time of the year, my third daughter, Sandra, suddenly became ill. She has had high fever for 3 days and my wife and I just could not understand what was causing it. We’ve given her medicine but still she was crying most of the time. She was only two years old and could not speak well yet (gesture speaking).




My wife and I could only guess that she was in terrible pain. So we brought her to her pediatrician in a hospital in Muntinlupa. Sandra had some rashes on her tummy and swelling in the lymph nodes.

But other than those outward signs and the high fever, there wasn’t anything else. A blood check-up was done on her. Dengue and Scarlet fever were both ruled out.

The pediatrician was baffled by my daughter’s illness and so she consulted with other doctors and looked up her medical journals and books all through the night.


Disturbing News

On the following morning, Christmas Day, the pediatrician gave us some disturbing news. She could not conclude what the illness was and there was nothing more that she could do. We were at the hospital lobby at that time and I remember the nurses were finalizing their Christmas decorations.

Amidst the Christmas carols that were playing softly in the background, my wife broke into tears. (long pause) It wasn’t because we didn’t have money but because of our fear of the unknown.

Will Sandra get better? Will she live a normal life? I had to hold back my own tears because one of us had to make rationale decisions – and that would have to be me.

The pediatrician advised us to take little Sandra to Makati Medical Center to get more tests as soon as possible. She said the tests were needed to confirm what she suspected – a relatively rare disease called... the Kawasaki Disease.

Have you heard of it? This disease was first described by a Japanese doctor named Dr. Kawasaki in the 60’s and that it mostly attacks children under the age of 5. She said that to be correctly diagnosed, 6 out of the 10 known symptoms had to be present.


Riding the Ambulance

We didn’t have much time. I ran around to ask for an ambulance (body movement). The only available ambulance that was radioed was just coming back all the way from Fabella Medical Clinic in Manila.

After releasing the patient in Fabella, it is now empty. Although empty, the ambulance driver still used the siren to zigzag and bully its way through traffic. It had to, if only to get back as soon as possible to fetch us.

And so my wife and I and a hospital nurse transported Sandra to Makati Medical Center inside the ambulance. The ambulance driver drove like crazy. With the siren on, we zigzagged through traffic (zigzag gesture).




We were very fast. From Muntinlupa, we reached Makati Medical Center in 20 minutes – and this was the time when there was no Skyway. Upon arriving at Makati Med, the nurse who was with us endorsed Sandra’s records to the emergency staff.

She returned to the ambulance and the ambulance quickly drove off. My guess is that it received another radio call to pick up another patient.


Expensive Human Protein

At Makati Medical Center, it was confirmed. Sandra HAD the Kawasaki Disease. Three needles were quickly injected on Sandra to administer intravenous fluids. One of the fluids was contained in a vial around this size (gesture) and was worth 8,000 pesos at that time.

Why so expensive, you may ask? The fluid contains an extracted human protein called Immuno-Gamma Globulin. The purpose of this fluid is to boost the immunity of a person in an instant.

Sandra needed 10 vials because at that time because she has become too weak. That’s 80,000 pesos in all just for the tiny vials. At the hospital, all the other symptoms of the Kawasaki disease eventually manifested.

Her lips and tongue became very red. It is called the “Strawberry Tongue Syndrome”. Her body fluids were running low. An echo cardiogram showed her heart became swollen and enlarged which contributed to her pain.

I have here a picture of Sandra with the strawberry lips. No, she isn’t sleepy. Her eyes have become dry because she had no tears. It was painful for her to keep them open.
(show picture in hospital)



End of Treatment

Thankfully, after a month in the hospital, all the symptoms gradually disappeared. Her enlarged heart shrunk back to its normal size and we took Sandra home. Sandra fully recovered at home and 8 years later, here she is now in a recent picture.
(show picture 8 years later)


Sandra lives a happy healthy normal life and continues to be a model pupil in her class.


CONCLUSION

Nowadays, when I see an ambulance that looks empty but barrels its way through traffic, I am more understanding, more patient, and immediately give way - regardless if the ambulance has a patient or not. Because somewhere out there, someone may be in distress and is anxiously waiting for this empty ambulance just like we did 8 years ago in an unforgettable Christmas day.

Advanced Merry Christmas to you all and have a pleasant evening!




Sample Speeches in The Entertaining Speaker

Sample Speeches in the Old Program

Sample Speeches in Pathways

Anonymous said...

Good!

Anonymous said...

muchas gracias

sugarLoise said...

Thank you for sharing!