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A Forrest Gump Career: Chance, Gifts, Support, and Privilege

Danny van Leeuwen Health Hats
24 min readMay 6, 2024

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Proem

As you may know, my production team includes Grandson Leon, who edits my audio transcript for readability for the 275 Health Hats, the Podcast, followers who prefer reading to audio or video. I call it an article-grade transcript. Leon and I speak often, when I drive or pick him up for school or he drops in for a visit. He critiques warmly and confidently. He often comments on stories and experiences in the episodes. Recently, Leon suggested that he interview me for an episode about my career. You’ve probably heard some of these stories before. In the last episode, I told you about being the first male public health nurse in Western Massachusetts. But you haven’t heard them all by a long shot. Expect more career stories over time.

Image from the movie Forrest Gump

Perhaps a theme for this episode is the unpredictability of life served by the gifts of spiritual health, the ability to find support, and the incredible privilege of birth and circumstances, setting me up to make choices that accrue to my benefit. Sounds like a Zelig effect (if you know Woody Allen) or a Forrest Gump effect (if you know Tom Hanks)

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Danny van Leeuwen Health Hats
Danny van Leeuwen Health Hats

Written by Danny van Leeuwen Health Hats

Empowering people traveling together toward best health. Pt with MS, care partner, nurse, informaticist, leader. Focusing on learning what works for people

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