Shot four times, man thanks God for second chance to help others

Six years ago, while Americans were mourning the Sept. 11 attacks, Tom Wright was recovering from his own encounter with terrorism.

Wright is the chief operating officer of Delnor-Community Hospital in Geneva. In August 2001 his home was invaded by two armed young men who shot Tom four times. He looks back on it now and still gets goose bumps, but he also laughs a lot and displays a sense of amazement at how things have turned out.

"I felt threatened," he says, "like there was going to be shooting regardless of whatever response I gave, so I tried to defend my family and myself."

Wright is not a physically imposing man, and he laughs as he pictures the bizarre scene he's describing. "I thought I'd try to disarm them … in the dark."

He was shot four times: in the arm, leg, chest and back. Two teens were convicted in the attack -- Joseph Hauschild of Elmhurst and Ethan Warden of St. Charles -- which occurred shortly after the death of Wright's son.

"Everything happened so fast. I didn't have any immediate reaction to being shot while I was wrestling with them," he said. "But as I finally hit the floor and realized I had been wounded, my immediate response was prayer. It was a very simple one: 'Well, dear God, is this the way it's supposed to end?'

Then Wright's life-long Christian faith kicked in. "I had the almost immediate assurance that I wasn't going to die. I actually said, 'No, I guess I'm going to live.'

"I never lost consciousness. I was able to pray, I was able to communicate, I was able to make silly jokes in the ambulance. It was quite the faith experience."

His calmness still amazes him. "Everyone else was more fearful than I was. I looked down at my arm and said, 'I guess they can fix that.' I was kind of worried about the chest wound, but I said, 'Well I'm not spurting out any blood.'"

Wright had plenty of support from his family. But he is still in awe over the help he had from colleagues and friends. The people he worked with and friends from two churches were there en masse. Relatively new members of Batavia Covenant Church, the Wrights had been active for years in the Winnetka Covenant Church, and the turnout of supporters was astounding.

"I didn't realize until a year or two afterward how many people were present and praying," he says. "People from the Winnetka church packed up and came here and camped out in the emergency room and ICU. My pastor at Batavia Covenant said, 'You realize you don't have to worry; everyone else is praying for you now.'"

Some people might take an event like this as a spiritual wake-up call, and friends have asked if it was that for him. Wright says no. He does add, however, "It was almost like having your life lived as a replay, finding out while you're still alive the impact you've had on people.

"I was getting cards and notes from kids I had coached in Little League or in soccer, and from many other folks who are just people. You don't know how many lives you've affected over time."

That the intruders left him wounded but alive was miraculous. "I actually yelled out from the floor, 'You killed me; now just get out of here.' They must have had enough and left."

While it may not have been intended as a wake-up call, Wright believes divine intervention did play a big part in his survival.

"My life was spared for some good reason, and I believe it's to continue doing what I did in the past and to try to take it forward," he said. "I do consider that my life was spared. The danger was close enough that there had to be some angel just directing the bullet in the right way.

"Hearing from people about the impact I've had on their lives, I was glad to be alive and itching to get back into action. I'm more charged up now than ever to try and make a contribution."

During each of the next two years, Wright went on a weeklong mission trip, helping needy people in Missouri and then in Mississippi.

Just recently he was on a work crew at Riverwoods Christian Center in St. Charles, demolishing an old building. As he swung the sledge hammer he was praising God that he was physically able to be doing something for someone else. "It isn't everybody that gets a second chance," he reflects.

"I see another phase of my faith growing. I work in health care, making a difference in people's lives every day. I'm in the people business, and there's a lot of faith that goes on in this organization every day. I'm proud to be a part of it."

Proud to be helping people, and glad to be serving Jesus. Those are two themes that dominate Tom Wright's life today.

His harrowing experience in August 2001 remains a vivid memory for him, but should it ever start to lose its luster there is a bullet still lodged deep in his abdomen and serving as a reminder that he is a man who has been given a second chance … a man with a purpose.