HE SAVED HER LIFE WHEN SHE WAS 9. NOW THEY WORK TOGETHER - 'He Inspired Me to Be a Doctor'

CHILDHOOD CANCER ALMOST KILLED TAE BUTLER, BUT DR. TED MOORE TREATED HER WITH CARE AND KINDNESS. SHE'S PAYING THAT FORWARD

- CHRISTINE PELISEK

When 9-year-old Tae Butler was facing cancer treatments at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, her physician Dr. Ted Moore surprised her with a gift that changed her life. “He gave me my first stethoscope,” says Tae, who endured grueling four- to six-week hospital stays after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, a blood and bone marrow cancer. The gift and the care behind it helped Tae cope with the pain. “He taught me how to use the stethoscope to listen to the heart,” she says. “Instead of just coming in, listening and leaving, he was like, ‘Do you want to try?’ Hearing a heartbeat is so cool, especially as a kid. I always felt that he made sure that I understood what was happening.”