台美人醫師陳榮良伸援 美街友重當發明家

台美人醫師陳榮良伸援
美街友重當發明家

從醫療器材的發明人淪落成無家可歸的街友，再從被打、被搶的絕望街友變成發明家，被無數媒體追逐，甚至和好萊塢簽下一紙電影合約…，麥可．威廉斯（Mike Williams）的傳奇故事，在短短三個月內紅遍全美。目前他忙著為街友和災民建造可舒適居住的「移動艙（Pods）」，為街友設專用社區奔走。

 

麥可．威廉斯故事 轟動全美

 

而在這個故事裡改變威廉斯命運的人，則是今年七十二歲、來自台灣的泌尿科醫師陳榮良。他為受傷的威廉斯動前列腺手術，鼓勵威廉斯重拾發明長才。總是默默助人的陳榮良，突然成為媒體矚目的英雄；美國公共電視台以及ＡＢＣ電視網的熱門調查採訪節目「20/20」相繼採訪他，加州州長布朗打電話給他，希望合作幫助街友，美國白宮的幕僚也和他聯絡。好萊塢的電影公司則告訴他，影片中要扮演他的演員已經找好了。

 

故事的起頭原本是一個悲慘世界。今年六十歲的威廉斯曾經擁有二十項發明專利，包括牙科醫生專用的口腔手術攝影機、心臟手術攝影機。但是長年照顧得了阿茲海默症的姻親，再加上投資錯誤，使他在二○○九年陷入破產狀態，隔年，二十八年的婚姻也因此告終。在前妻再婚、三個兒女都無力收留他的情況下，他帶著電腦，隨身衣物還有五歲孫女送他的馬克杯開始開車流浪。最後付不起貸款，連車也賣了。

 

發明人淪為街友 曲折又離奇

 

睡在垃圾桶邊的威廉斯從來沒有想過，自己有一天需要靠領政府的糧食券、餐廳裡不要的食物和偶爾的乞討為生。他常因為感到羞恥而哭泣。原本威廉斯以為自己已跌到谷底，沒想到去年他在加州沙加緬度的一處公園睡覺時，兩個陌生男人搶了他的電腦，還把他打成重傷。

 

身為虔誠的基督徒，威廉斯想起自己有錢時也是樂善好施、熱心助人，忍不住質問上帝，自己到底做錯了什麼？讓神對他如此生氣？繼續在街頭流浪必死無疑。威廉斯為了生存到處求醫和求援，可是受盡白眼，一家醫院的急診室甚至告訴他：「九十天以後再回來。」最後他在一個病患建議下向救世軍求援，在社工人員協助下得到一個床位。住進救世軍，他發現自己前列腺也嚴重受傷，他又在救世軍幫助下，到陳榮良開業的醫院接受手術。

 

陳榮良當推手 成就不凡傳奇

 

結果陳榮良不但救了他的命，還救了他的人生。威廉斯說，陳榮良以愛和尊重的態度為他治病，在聽完他的故事之後還願意幫助他。知道威廉斯有一個專為街友和災民建造「移動艙」的新發明構想後，陳榮良主動表示願意當他的合夥人，投資建造移動艙，還為威廉斯租了一間每個月一千美元的公寓，讓他可以正常生活。身為第二代基督徒的陳榮良說，父母從小帶著他上嘉義朴子教會，經常告訴他： 「施比受有福。」錢對他來說並不是太重要。

 

威廉斯去年十二月把自己的經歷發表在加州的一份地方報紙上，見證這是上帝給他的一個神蹟。接著《舊金山紀事報》和《洛杉磯時報》跟進報導。然後事情就像滾雪球般掀起熱潮。「一對不可能的夥伴」，有媒體這樣形容棕髮藍眼的威廉斯和靦腆低調的陳榮良。

 

現在這對不可能的夥伴正以驚人的速度，展開了拯救街友的任務。

 

〔駐美特派員曹郁芬／華府十八日報導]

A Doctor's Kindness Gives Homeless Inventor A Second Chance

NPR StaffJanuary 27, 2013

In California in the early 1980s, a cracked tooth sent Mike Williams to the dentist's office.

When Williams asked to see the tooth, the dentist said he had a mirror but that there was no camera or anything to show people the insides of their mouths. So, Williams invented one: the first intraoral camera.

His invention was a big success, and it led to other medical technology ventures that made him millions of dollars. Williams' career as an inventor and entrepreneur took off, but it wouldn't last.

"The real estate market destroyed a lot of my financial capabilities, and my home went into foreclosure [in 2009]," Williams tells NPR's Robert Smith. "I had a group that defrauded me in Florida, took about $2.5 million from me in a scam, and it just kept going and kept going and I couldn't stop it."

His world was crumbling. Then his wife asked for a divorce.

To me, a patient is a patient, no matter what kind of status [they] have. They need the help, [and] we can give him the help.

Dr. Jong Chen

"I packed my car, told my kids to come and get what they wanted and I basically hit the streets," he says.

The successful inventor had become homeless.

For a while, Williams lived out of his car and kept a journal on a laptop. Once he fell behind on the car payments, he took shelter in a dumpster. The situation hit him hard.

"I found out that I was really nothing, and that was very hard for me to grasp; the fact that no one wanted me around," he says. "I was something nobody wanted to see or be involved in, and that crushed me."

One night last August, Williams was sleeping in a Sacramento park when two men began kicking and beating him. They beat him until he passed out, taking his belongings and leaving him with severe injuries.

Williams walked to the emergency room. He didn't have health insurance, and he says he waited for hours before seeing a doctor.

"Little did I know that that beating would be the beating that changed my life," he says.

A Second Chance

Williams' injuries eventually led him to Dr. Jong Chen.

He went to Chen complaining of pain in his lower abdomen; it turns out he suffered prostate damage that required surgery. Before the operation, the two men struck up a conversation, and Chen asked him how he became homeless and what he did before that.

"And I started telling him the story," Williams says. "And I said, 'As a matter of fact, I'm the inventor of that little wire catheter you're using.' "

Chen thought it was a waste that an inventor like Williams was on the street, so he devised a way to help him. He later called Williams at a local Salvation Army shelter and asked to take him out to breakfast.

"He said 'I want you to bring your patents. I want you to bring whatever you're working on,' " Williams says.

They went to breakfast, and Williams talked of about his idea to invent a secure, safe place for the homeless and people that are displaced in society.

"I want to give them a safe place to live," he says he told Chen.

Williams came up with the idea while resting in one of the only safe places he could find: a dumpster. He'd even drawn up the plans for a self-contained survival pod — a 6-foot by 6-foot structure with a single bed and a chemical toilet.

Chen signed on, and they formed a company to start working on a prototype pod. They also envision other applications — FEMA could use them for emergency housing, and airports could rent them to travelers with long layovers.

All of that got started with an unusually generous contribution.

"To me, a patient is a patient, no matter what kind of status [they] have," Chen says. "They need the help, [and] we can give him the help."

Chen got Williams out of the shelter and back on his feet. He helped him get an apartment, new clothes and treated him to meals when the two would meet.

Williams says he is humbled by the second chance he's been given by the generosity of one man, and says it's people like Chen who are truly helping people.

"[Dr. Chen] is truly an amazing man," Williams says. "I'm just telling you, [he] is the example for America."

ROBERT SMITH, HOST:

This past week, one of our producers read a story in the Los Angeles Times that seemed almost like a movie pitch. Fade in - interior - California, early 1980s. Mike Williams is an inventor without an invention. A cracked tooth has sent him to the dentist's office, and he asked if he can see it.

MIKE WILLIAMS: Don't you have any cameras or anything to really show people their teeth? And he goes, no, no, we don't need that. We've got a mirror. And I'm going, well, how are you going to show me my teeth then? And he goes, you know what, Mike, that's an excellent idea.

SMITH: Eureka. Mike Williams set about inventing the first intraoral camera, and it was a big success. From there, he formed a company and sold it.

WILLIAMS: For about a million dollars.

SMITH: Other medical inventions followed.

WILLIAMS: And from there, my career took off. One day, David Letterman called me and said, I just read about your little camera. Can you come on down to Rockefeller Center in New York and bring your cameras to the studios and set them up?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")

DAVID LETTERMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, for the first time anywhere, the Late Night Monkey Cam Mobile Unit, Zippy. Paul?

SMITH: I forgot about the monkey cam. The monkey cam was amazing.

WILLIAMS: Yup.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")

LETTERMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's easy to see that this technology has limitless applications.

SMITH: Mike Williams was successful, appreciated, in demand. But just like in a movie, it wouldn't last. Jump cut to the 2000s.

WILLIAMS: The real estate market destroyed a lot of my financial capabilities, and my home went into foreclosure. I had a group that defrauded me in Florida, took about $2.5 million from me in a scam. And it just kept going and kept going, and I couldn't stop it. Just everything crumbled. And then my wife asked for a divorce. And when she asked for a divorce, I packed my car and told my kids to come and get what they wanted, and I basically hit the streets.

SMITH: Mike Williams, successful inventor, was now homeless. For a while, he lived out of his car, kept a journal on a laptop. But once he fell behind on his car payments, he took shelter in a dumpster.

WILLIAMS: I found out that I was really nothing, and that was very hard for me to grasp, the fact that nobody wanted me around. They really didn't want me sleeping next to their cars or in their backyards or out in the parks. That I was something nobody wanted to see or could - even be involved in. And that crushed me.

SMITH: And I understand that one night, you were sleeping in the park and - well, tell me the story.

WILLIAMS: Well, this particular night, I was roaming the streets of Sacramento. And down on the capital city state mall, there's a very large rose garden there. And I thought, man, this would really be a nice place to just hang out. So I hid underneath the fountain of the rose garden. I had my laptop in a bag. And about 1 o'clock in the morning, I was woken up with two guys that were kicking me and trying to pull me out and grabbing me. And I fought as best I could, but they kicked me so hard that I passed out. They gave me severe hernias and destroyed my prostate.

And I laid there. I just laid there and cried. And, of course, I lost my laptop. I lost all of my notes and all of my pictures from the streets and whatever. I got up, and I walked to Sutter emergency room. And I waited there for 19 hours. I was a homeless guy, didn't look too good, didn't smell too good, and in a lot of pain and no insurance. And finally, they took me in. And little did I know that that beating was truly the beating that changed my life.

SMITH: It changed his life because Mike Williams' injury would eventually lead him to Dr. Jong Chen.

DR. JONG CHEN: He come into my office complaining all of the pain in the lower abdomen.

SMITH: Before Dr. Chen performed surgery on Williams' damaged prostate, the two struck up a conversation.

WILLIAMS: He asked me, he says, well, what did you do with your life? How did you become homeless? And I started telling him the story. And I said, as a matter of fact, I'm the inventor of that little wire catheter that you're using.

CHEN: And I asked about his education background. I said, well, what a waste - this gentleman, you know, walking on the street.

SMITH: What a waste. Dr. Chen saw a way to help Mike Williams get off the street.

WILLIAMS: And he called me at the shelter one day, and he asked me out for breakfast.

CHEN: He almost cried, you know? I said, oh, go ahead. It'll be on me.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: So he said, I want you to bring your patents. I want you to bring whatever you're working on. And so he picked me up. We went to McDonald's. And he said, well, what are you doing now? What's your new invention? And I told him I want to invent for the first time a secure, safe place for homeless people and people that are displaced in our society. I want to give them a safe place to live.

SMITH: Mike Williams came up with this idea while resting in one of the only safe places he could find: a dumpster. He'd drawn up plans for a self-contained survival pod.

WILLIAMS: It's six feet wide, six feet tall. It's got a single bed in it. It's got a chemical toilet.

SMITH: And Dr. Chen signed on. He agreed to form a company with Mike Williams and start creating a prototype pod. They envision other applications too. FEMA could use these shelters for emergency housing. Airports could rent them to travelers with long layovers. And it all got started with an unusually generous contribution.

CHEN: To me, a patient is a patient no matter what kind of status you have. They need the help, we can give him the help.

WILLIAMS: Dr. Chen not only took me out of the shelter, he took me downtown and got me a really nice apartment. He took me to Macy's and bought me all new clothes, a whole new wardrobe. He still treats me for free. He just can't do enough. Truly an amazing, amazing man.

SMITH: So, Mr. Williams, this is an amazing opportunity. Very few people get even the first chance that you got to invent something and build a company around it. You've been given another chance with a new business partner, a new idea, a new start on life. How do you personally change the way you approach the world?

WILLIAMS: With humility and prayer every day.

SMITH: You weren't humble before?

WILLIAMS: I was humble, but I was rich. And I think that's probably what the problem is with our leaders, is that once you have a separation of class and you're rich, you can be humble, you can say all the right things, you can pretend like you care, but are these people really the ones that are pulling people out of the streets, give them a second chance, give them a job, loving them the way Dr. Chen love me because they're rich. And I'm just telling you that Dr. Chen is the example for America.

SMITH: That's inventor Mike Williams who, along with Dr. Jon Chen, is developing a portable housing pod for the homeless. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.