Portland Magazine
October 26, 2023
Fellow Travelers
MIKE’S WIFE SAW the runner collapse before he did. It was their first night in Rome, on a trip with other UP alums, and they were standing on a bridge over the Tiber. He was focused on the beauty of their surroundings. St. Peter’s Basilica was lit up against the evening sky.
When Jane pointed to the fallen man, Mike hustled over to help. He’s a cardiologist and knew exactly what to do. He and another bystander traded off on CPR. Mike could tell that the man’s heart had a lethal rhythm. When the medics arrived, they shocked him with a defibrillator and a junctional rhythm returned. They found his pulse. Then they lost his pulse. After using a mechanical compression device, the EMTs intubated the man and loaded him onto the ambulance.
Mike returned to Jane, and they shed some tears. He didn’t think the man’s chances for survival were very good, but he’d done his best. He knew he’d be turning this experience over for the rest of his time in Italy. Also heavy on his heart was a phone call he was anticipating—the answers to a genetic test for a disease that ran in his family.
He was grateful to be able to talk all this through with the Holy Cross priest who was on the trip and to be surrounded by other UP alums. The group spanned generations and there was something comforting about that kind of continuity, that kind of community. He enjoyed the Italian food and wine and the fascinating lectures the historians gave. He loved learning about the art, all of its historic and sacred significance. (That said, he believes Jonah and the whale in the Sistine Chapel actually depicts Jonah and a tarpon. Mike’s an avid fisherman and stands by his interpretation.) He and Jane didn’t want to miss a thing. Their Fitbit said they were averaging 35,000 steps a day. They even climbed the Holy Stairs on their knees.
And then he got the call. The news was good. He felt immense relief and he allowed himself to think about future events he might get to be present for.
All this before the group was scheduled to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, in a small chapel a level below the main altar and above St. Peter’s tomb. Jane had volunteered Mike to do a reading. As he started in on it, his voice caught. The man on the bridge, the mystery of the gene, his son’s upcoming wedding, the letter in his hands from St. Paul, the presence of the tombs, the long tradition of the faith and its confluence with the long stretch of history—all of this was suddenly very present in the moment. His voice cracked as he felt the weight of all these thoughts pressing to the surface, and then he kept reading, grateful for the fellow travelers who had joined him.
JESSICA MURPHY MOO is the editor of Portland magazine.
Special thanks to Mike Widmer ’86 for sharing his story, and thanks also to the alums and parents of alums who joined history professors Brad Franco and Gary Malecha and Fr. Ed Obermiller, CSC, on the alumni trip to Italy. The Office of Alumni and Parents Relations also deserves a shout out for planning this wonderful experience.
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