The Wrong Road Home

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  Mark 8:36

The Wrong Road Home is a story of treachery and deceit inspired by a Miami Herald, Sunday Edition, front-page exposé that was the talk of South Florida two decades ago. It is the story of Derek Donahue, a surgeon who practiced medicine for 20-years-first in Ireland, and then the United States-girded with nothing more than a Chicago School System GED, and several counterfeit medical diplomas! For weeks, Oprah's producer pursued the "doctor" to come on her show, as did Bill O'Reilly, then the host of the nightly TV magazine, Inside Edition.  

Impossible, will undoubtedly be the reader's initial reaction-and understandably so-but The Wrong Road Home is the classic cautionary tale of the Faustian bargain once struck, allows for no turning back. Derek Donahue's dream of becoming a "doctor" was indeed realized over time; not by embarking upon the legitimate path of college and medical school, but by heeding a siren's song which lured him to the wrong road taken, one filled with illegal shortcuts and false promises. And his dark bargain came with a dispiriting warning.  He would forever forgo the love and companionship of a wife, children, and friends, so as to never inadvertently expose his secret.  But the day of reckoning came when he offered a neighbor a helping hand-an innocent act that soon thrust him into the glare of unwanted public scrutiny. And as Derek Donahue's life spiraled down into a living hell of his own making, he was finally forced to plumb the depths of his soul for the answer to a question he never had dared ask of himself. Why?