Friday, July 25, 2008

Jocelyn Matsuo




The last time I saw Jocelyn Matsuo, she was a toddler in arms, the firstborn child of the neurologist I was working for at the University of Utah at the time, Fred (Fumisuke) Matsuo and his wife, cardiologist Ruth Ann Smith. I probably have a photo somewhere of me holding her at their then beautiful new home up in Summit Park outside Salt Lake City.

But that was over twenty-five years ago. Jocelyn was a beautiful child.

In March of 1999, a news item caught my attention. A Utah teenager, on a school trip to Costa Rica, had amazingly survived an attack by over 250 killer bees. The fifteen-year-old hiker who had stumbled upon the next of Africanized bees and lived to tell the tale?

Jocelyn Matsuo.

Her life spared from the bees' potentially fatal wrath, Jocelyn Matsuo is now a professional actor, performance artist and mime.

1 comment:

Nancy said...

Dr. Ruth Ann saved my life in 1982
She diagnosed a myxomia in the left atrium of my heart. Other doctors had diagnosed it as mitral valve prolapse, depression at turning 40 and empty nest syndrome. I could hardly walk. I was so weak. During that time, we talked about the differences in our lives. I had a son who had just entered the university and she was just starting hers.

I am so pleased to see her beautiful daughter! If you see this Dr. Ruth Ann, thank you again.

Nancy Taylor