Posted: February 5, 2010

Susan Saunders had been in a horrific accident. Her liver was lacerated and was bleeding internally after she suffered a deadly kick from a horse. The kick also broke three of her ribs.

She credits Dr. John Agola with saving her life. Agola performed a three-hour life-threatening surgery to repair the damage by threading a catheter into her liver to stop the bleeding.

"After a successful coagulation, my children said he went out and hugged them while sharing the good news," Saunders said in a statement. "I never got to say thank you for saving my life and truly epitomizing talent, sacrifice and human caring."

Agola specializes in treating patients with blood vessel problems and brain aneurysms. He is the chief of staff at Sentara Southside Hospitals, which include Sentara Norfolk General and Sentara Leigh.

"I started in radiology and I was interested in the brain," Agola said. "The opportunity came up in my training to study the blood vessel treatments that I do today."

His long life exposure to medicine began with his dad, a doctor, and his mom, a nurse. Medicine can be difficult when patients have challenging problems.

"Sometimes we don't achieve what we want to achieve," Agola said. "We might see something we think we can treat but don't get the desired effect and the patients don't respond well.

"It's rewarding to meet patients after they recover and they go back to their normal life," he said.

He said he was pleased to hear how he had touched Saunders' life.

"It's flattering to be acknowledged," Agola said, "but I would in turn acknowledge my partners who do this sort of stuff every day. I truly appreciate being able to help people like Ms. Saunders." nib

- Lakesia Artis