About the Author

Doc Mingo is a physician, teacher, artist, poet, entrepreneur, philosopher, father and husband. He proudly served the entire community as one on Chicago’s South Side for nearly 30 years to care for his all his neighbors, money and insurance be damned. His Physician’s Health Cooperative was proud to bring dozens of providers to the underserved, taught and performed innovative advanced therapeutic endoscopy to nearly a dozen hospitals, created good paying jobs for hundreds, and full spectrum care and surgery for tens of thousands of his Southside brothers and sisters. After a near death cardiac arrest and four months in the ICU, he saw heaven, came back, came out of a coma, came off all the machines, came out of the closet, lost 160 pounds, and has changed his methods of caring for his neighbors. After decades of using words to heal, these stories and images represent more than just attempts to entertain or share an idea. These stories are also meant to heal. As a proud father of two beautiful and wise daughters, he firmly believes the most important lessons to ever teach are to always seek to do good, never to do harm, speak your truth with gentility, never to give up, and never to surrender. Every gray cloud has a silver lining. Curses can be blessings in disguise. With tenacity, hope and faith all things are indeed possible in a universe filled with love and magic by the waters’ edge.