CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Condolences are pouring in for a top Chicago doctor who drowned Sunday while trying to save the lives of two boys in the choppy waters of Lake Michigan.
Dr. Donald Liu, who was a surgeon-in-chief and professor of surgery and pediatrics at Comer Children's Hospital, was on a weekend getaway with his wife and three children when he saw the two boys struggling in Lake Michigan off Cherry Beach near St. Joseph, Michigan. He helped the boys get to shore, but Liu could not overcome the strong rip current which pulled him under.
This was a doctor who dedicated his life to his work and helping kids, including Kristina Mastrino's son, Drew. He suffered from a rare and life-threatening intestinal disease and was being treated by Dr. Liu for more than three years.
"We consider him to have saved Drew's life eight times," Kristina told FOX Chicago News. "In our times of anxiety, he would always tell us ‘it's going to be okay.'"
Today, after learning his doctor had died, Drew thanked his doctor with an illustration showing both of them together under the sun.
Of course, tributes poured in for Liu Sunday as news of his death spread among Chicago's medical community as well.
"Don's death personifies a life that was devoted to saving children," the dean of the University of Chicago's Medical School, Dr. Kenneth S. Polonsky, wrote in an email to colleagues Sunday.
Liu's friend and colleague, Dr. Jeffery Matthews, says Liu was "a brilliant surgeon, a compassionate human being, a family man, and the most wonderful physician you could ever imagine."
A second-generation Chinese immigrant whose parents were both doctors, Liu retained close links to hospitals in China. He joined the University of Chicago department of surgery as a pediatric surgeon in 2001 and was made chief of pediatric surgery and surgeon-in-chief at Comer Children's Hospital in 2007.
He was an expert in Hirschsprung's Disease — a congenital gut disorder — an outstanding surgical oncologist, skilled at removing tumors from children's chests and abdomens and an accomplished researcher and teacher who pioneered minimally invasive surgery in children, colleagues said. Patients across the nation and even overseas would seek him out, they added.
His many achievements saw him rated one of Chicago's top doctors by Chicago Magazine earlier this year. He told the magazine, "Those children without hope and with diseases that can't be taken care of at other places — they come here [to Comer]. At the end of the day, the biggest impact you can make in anything is through kids."
Polonsky noted that Liu for all his many honors, Liu "always put his patients and their families first."
"Words cannot express the sorrow we are all feeling at this time," Polonsky added. "This is a devastating loss personally and professionally."
Details on Dr. Liu's funeral are still pending.
Kristina Mastrino said she plans to honor him at a fundraiser for her son later this month by releasing a prayer balloon and having a moment of silence.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
