Phi Kappa Tau Brothers Initiate Sick Member Before Risky Surgery

Bogey Wells11 years ago

Around the country, Greek life takes a lot of flak, so it is always refreshing to report a story showing the true brotherhood in fraternities. Far too often, the overwhelming opinion of a fraternity is that it is nothing more than a place to rage and destroy whatever you can get your hands on. Thankfully, the brothers of Phi Kappa Tau at Wright State University realize that it is much more than that.

On Feb. 11, Wright State student Abdelrahman Mohamad was rushed to the hospital after being overcome with severe headaches in his dorm. Mohamad said he immediately knew something was wrong.

From The Guardian:

I had an unusual pain in my head. It was so painful that I was on the ground holding my head from pain. I figured that was not just a headache and something was wrong.

When he arrived at the hospital, the doctors informed him that he had suffered a brain aneurism and would have to have emergency surgery immediately. Unfortunately, his surgery failed and he was placed in the ICU. When the doctors said his second surgery only has a 50 percent success rate, his Phi Kappa Tau brothers knew they had to do something.

Mohamad is from Egypt and was an associate member of Phi Kappa Tau at the time of his aneurism. When asked about his family by doctors and nurses, he pointed to his many brothers who filled his room. He shocked the medical staff when he told them he had only known these men for one semester, yet his bond with them was so great.

Phi Kappa Tau National President Steve Nelson gave Mohamad’s brothers special permission to initiate him into the fraternity before his second operation.

Mohamad said he was ecstatic at becoming an initiated brother, so much so that it began to cause issues with his treatment.

It was so sweet, I could barely remember what they told me but I remember getting so excited that my blood pressure kept getting high and that they had to stop many times so the nurse could come in and fix it up.

Thankfully, his second surgery was a success and his family was able to visit him just a few hours later after traveling from Egypt. The Wright State Greek community was able to collect and donate $775 to his family to help relieve the burden of their travel expenses. Once he was finally released from the hospital, Mohamad visited several Greek organizations during their weekly chapter meetings to thank them for their support during this life-threatening ordeal.

Kudos to the brothers of Wright State’s Phi Kappa Tau chapter for being an example of what a fraternity truly represents.

[via The Guardian]