Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription. This is my life with aphasia. They have one thing in common being mocked by Will Flanary, an ophthalmologist known to millions in the medical world as Dr. Then one morning in 2013, Flanary woke up and felt a lump in his testicle. In middle school, he went to summer camp at a local university and got his first hard look at the field of medicine. [4] While attending Dartmouth, he was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that neurologist Anna Nordvig was among those who had reacted to Will Flanary's videos. The paramedics broke down a door and carried Flanary, who is 6 foot 4, from his bed to a hardwood floor downstairs.
I like knowing theres an end to my day when you get to go home. After surviving testicular cancer twice, Will suffered a cardiac arrest out of the blue last year, and his wife, Kristin - whom he calls his 'superhero' - saved his life by performing CPR. All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright 1994-2023 by WebMD LLC. A: Humor is how I process grief and tragedy in my life. She first came across Dr. Glaucomflecken four or five years ago. Being funny was always meant to be a hobby rather than a vocation, but the surging popularity of Dr. Glaucomflecken has turned into a business in its own right. If I didnt find the humor in this awful situation, the gravity of it all would crush me. Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to essential biotech, medicine, and life sciences journalism, Subscribe to STAT+ for less than $2 per day, Unlimited access to the health care news and insights you need. Since pulling back that eyelid of anonymity, "I'm a real person now to people," Flanary says. [2] Biography [ edit] But five years later, in 2015, he discovered a lump on his other testicle. In December 2015, he made his first (anonymous) contribution to GomerBlog, in the form of a satirical news report headlined "Ophthalmologist Accidentally Agrees to See Inpatient Consult. What is included with my Audible Premium Plus membership? Im fortunate to have this nice job that gives me a nice living thats always there, he said. It meant that he would have to go on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of his life." Like many things involving TikTok, the Dr. Glaucomflecken phenomenon was born out of boredom. After surgery to remove the cancer, they were ready to move forward. Will Flanary, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, at home in Portland, Ore. Aye Grsz for STAT Reprints W ill Flanary's days are spent conducting eye exams and cataract surgeries at a private practice. Then, on May 12, 2020, he went into cardiac arrest (not heart attack) and was saved by his wife, Kristin, who performed CPR. For Flanary, who survived two bouts of testicular cancer, the videos have been therapeutic, but they have also allowed him to fundraise over US$100,000 for First Descents, a non-profit that provides outdoor adventures for young adults impacted by cancer and other serious health issues. After surgery to remove the cancer, they were ready to move forward. He always "punches up." Medical school can be brutal, and its making many of us suicidal. "It meant that he wouldn't be able to have any [more] children. Gaur Gopal Das. Flanary declined to disclose his comedy income, but he gets ad revenue from YouTube, and hes recording three or four Cameo videos a night at $180 a pop. Eyeballs aside, he had found the perfect specialty for him. Titles added to your Library with a credit are yours to keep, even if you cancel. That combined dedication to learning the inside details of medicine while practicing the outsider art of satire might explain what makes Dr. Glaucomflecken work. William Sharp. Flanary is alive because his wife, Kristin, noticed his irregular breathing and performed CPR until an EMT could arrive and shock his heart back into regular function. You know, youre just going to spiral and its gonna affect your real life outside of the internet, he said. Here are some of our top picks to get you started. 'Its really helped me because I enjoy making people laugh,' he told the outlet. She saved my life.
Ultimately, performing comedy live became too challenging to keep up as my medical career progressed, so I turned to social media. 2021-4-21 Follow. In them, he dresses up as different types of doctors and acts out funny and awkward made-up scenes between the doctor and a patient. Sort by: $36.00. Merchandise is in development, and hes plotting a way to translate what works on TikTok into a longer-form episodic format. OK, OK, send me all your consults, he told the audience. Once at the hospital, he underwent hypothermia treatment, which involved cooling his body for 24 hours to reduce damage to the brain. That's funny, but it's kind of my passion Let's check out this video! 'Life was just more complicated at that point.'. Will Flanary, 36, who is anophthalmologist from Oregon City, Oregon, has not let his health problems bring him down. A: Every specialty in medicine has a kind of personality, an essence, and theyve been the same since the beginning of modern medicine. It does highlight how wonderful family medicine doctors are though. Commenting is limited to medical professionals. Things would gradually get a little more pointed, with jokes at the expense of disinterested emergency medicine doctors, overeager medical students, and, in a running theme, well-paid and under-worked ophthalmologists. Power of Social Media with Family Physician Dr. Mike | Knock Knock, Hi! The duo headed to Hanover. The characters bounce off one another, either to illustrate some irksome aspect of medicine or simply to be the butt of a joke. Flanary said he wants his peers to see themselves in his satire, to come away feeling like somebody understands. But he also hopes poking fun at the profession might help nudge doctors away from what can be a monastic self-regard. This resonates with a lot of people.. Sometimes there is someone so good at something that there is universal agreement we are witnessing something special. I started doing the video format at the right time especially with the pandemic, more people have been on online. But your video focused on the students who dont match, and how theyll be okay. Dr. Glaucomflecken 2.6M views1 year ago Shadowing the Hospital Pharmacist Dr. Glaucomflecken 3.3M views1 year ago First Day of Cardiology Dr. Glaucomflecken 4.4M views1 year ago First Day of. "It was almost like stand-up in a way," he says. Not to be confused with, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, "The internet's funniest doctor is in on the joke", "Doctor who had testicular cancer twice in his 20s urges men to 'check yourself', "MD Class of 2022 Selects William Flanary, MD, (aka Dr. Glaucomflecken) as Its Commencement Speaker", "TikTok star Dr. Glaucomflecken uses humour as prescription in hard times", "How Dr Glaucomflecken Overcame Death to Get Internet Laughs", "How America Can Rebuild the Community Bonds It Needs to Face the Next Pandemic", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dr._Glaucomflecken&oldid=1141489996, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 09:24. "It became a way to roast him publicly, basically," she says. The second time around was a little bit more difficult, just physically and mentally and emotionally and I needed something to help me cope with the fact that I had already had cancer twice and I was only at that point 29-years-old, he said. It was my coping mechanism. Q: I watched some reaction videos from doctors. He practices in Oregon City, Oregon and lives in Portland, Oregon. Oregon ophthalmologist Will Flanary, better known in social media circles as his comedic alter ego Dr. Glaucomflecken, recounted his May near-death cardiac arrest experience and the heroic efforts of the 9-1-1 dispatcher, Flanary's wife, and the responding EMS crew who worked to revive him. 3h Replying to @mkarolian and @DGlaucomflecken Spring 2020, aka early Covid, tiny @LGlaucomflecken rocked the CPR, so he's to educate & entertain us still 5 He and his wife shared two kids at the time, and they weren't sure if they wanted more. They think that by portraying the character that way, Im dissuading people from entering that field, which I dont buy for a second. Lillian Gissen For Dailymail.Com. To hear more, attend ReSS 2020: Survivorship at 9 a.m. Saturday. What is this world? In the years since, Flanary has raised more than $50,000 for the organization. There, they had their second child. "I got on to see, where are you all the time? Q: What did you think when you learned you had a cardiac arrest? He then enrolled at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where he discovered his interest in ophthalmology. Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. "A lot of doctors take themselves very, very seriously.". I can make a second career out of finding testicular cancer which would be really weird for an ophthalmologist to do. He paused. Diagnosis Compression gonioscopy is key to properly diagnosing an acute angle closure. What humor does is it allows you to take that thing and you just break it apart. Q&A with William A. Flanary, MD, aka Dr. Glaucomflecken, provides a glimpse into his experience surviving cardiac arrest. And it feels good to be laughing with someone that knows what youre going through and knows the things that have been happening inside your own head that you havent put out into words.. Thankfully, Will was able to remove the testicle through surgery and was fully cured. Robert Greene, How to Talk to Anybody, Anytime, Anywhere, Written by: Since then, it has evolved to incorporate satire of the US healthcare system, academic publishing, and the interpersonal conflicts that are pervasive in the medical system. "It was exhausting," Kristin recalls. "[7] He has received many speaking opportunities since revealing himself as the creator of Dr. Glaucomflecken, including as the commencement speaker for the graduating class of Yale School of Medicine and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in May 2022. "What I post, what I say, what I advocate for, has a little more weight behind it." Sabrina December 6th, 2022 Birthday But Flanary had no illusions that the world wanted to hear self-serious rants from a private-practice physician in the Pacific Northwest, so he made his points the best way he knew how: making up characters and writing jokes at their expense. But cancer is not the only challenge Flanary has faced. Whenever hes uncertain whether a given joke might go too far, he refers to a simple guiding principle: Be sure to punch up. If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here. A: It went well.
And you present that to other people and you share a laugh about it on your own terms. At this point, I feel back to normal. You will receive email when new content is published. Telling jokes helped me to navigate the challenges of living as a cancer patient in my 20s. Since then, it has evolved to incorporate satire of the US healthcare system, academic publishing, and the interpersonal conflicts that are pervasive in the medical system. If this is your first time posting, please read the sub rules. Dont forget that before you are a physician, you are a human, she said. Chris Widener, Written by: And it does help you put a different perspective on things.. "You get that dopamine rush.". Daniel Kahneman. It didnt go well. You can also listen on any Alexa-enabled device. His wife performed CPR on him for 10 minutes before paramedics arrived and resuscitated him. Flanary churns out original content every few days. One of Flanarys most popular videos, which pokes fun at anesthesiologists, has over seven million views. Daily Briefing On May 11, 2020, William A. Flanary, MD, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist, went to bed like every other night. That's how they found First Descents, a nonprofit outdoor adventure program for people aged 18-39 with cancer or other serious health conditions. His gasp for breath woke up his wife, who performed CPR for 10 minutes until paramedics arrived and resuscitated him, according to an interview with Today. Glaucomflecken, a term for a sign of glaucoma. Social media star and comedian Dr. Glaucomflecken, aka ophthalmologist William E. 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