David Lindsay

Ms. Townley
Composition; Period 7
11 February 2016
Journey of a Lifetime
Determination, skill, passion, and intelligence are words often used to describe Dr. Kirk
Hutton, MD. I have always faced each difficult situation with a positive attitude, a must win
philosophy, and a strong faith. This quote is shows exactly what Dr. Hutton is about. His
positivity and his work ethic almost never seem to fail him, whether it was on the football field,
in medical school, or now in the operating room.
Dr. Hutton is an orthopaedic surgeon at OrthoWest on 144th and Center, near Oakview
Mall. He grew up in Plattsmouth, Nebraska working in his parents restaurant. They owned and
operated a local A & W where he was forced to work. He accredits his work ethic to his parents
coercing him into working at the restaurant. He believes that watching them run the restaurant
helped him to develop the people skills that he uses in his everyday life.
After high school, Dr. Hutton attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he
majored in biology. There he played wide receiver for their football team. This is also where he
earned Academic All-American both his junior and senior years. Dr. Hutton believes that playing
football in college had an incredibly positive effect towards his grades. He said they forced him
to manage his time very well and helped him to stay focused on his priorities. He earned a 4.0
GPA during all of his eight semesters at UNO which he firmly believes is because he chose to

play football there. At first, Dr. Hutton wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon instead of an
orthopaedic surgeon. Cardiothoracic surgery is involved with internal surgery of the organs in the
thorax or the chest cavity. Orthopedic surgery is surgery involving the musculoskeletal system.
There was a specific event, however, that changed his mind about the field of surgery that
he wanted to enter. It was his junior year at UNO and he dislocated his shoulder, tearing plenty
of the cartilage surrounding it. As he was lying on the field, he was worried that he would never
get the chance to play football again. Dr. Mike Walsh was the surgeon who operated on him.
After his next season, Dr. Walsh performed surgery on the opposite shoulder. These injuries to
his shoulders are what made him want to specialize in shoulder surgeries which are mostly what
he does now. Dr. Hutton was so pleased with being able to play again that he wanted to help
others be able to do the same thing. Dr. Walsh ended up hiring Dr. Hutton at Sports Medicine
Center in Omaha after his residency in Dallas. Sports Medicine Center is now called OrthoWest
where they both still work today.
As for Dr. Huttons daily work, typically he spends half of the day in the operating room
and the other half is spent in the office working on patient visits and check-ups. He gets to the
hospital around six oclock in the morning. If he is starting with surgery, he gets prepared for that
which starts roughly at seven. If he starts in the office on that specific day, then he does
paperwork until the office opens at 7:30 AM. Patients with complications or multiple issues that
he must deal with can cause his hours to change. Also, if he has a surgical procedure where an
abnormality is found in the patients anatomy then his hours can change. Dr. Hutton is blessed
enough to have never made a costly mistake while operating on a patient. He lives by the saying,
If you have not had any complications, you have not done enough surgery.

Although his life might seem like it went exactly how he wanted, Dr. Hutton does have
regrets in his life. The thing I regret the most about my career is the hours that I have spent
working as my kids were growing up. His competitive nature and his desire to be the best in
medicine have frequently caused him to miss out on events and activities with his family when
they were young.
Dr. Hutton has also had some difficult times throughout his whole life. While in college,
he was required to take classes in order to get into medical school. Some of these classes were
not his strengths which required him to work harder than he anticipated. Many of these classes
were classes that I didnt enjoy, but I knew that I had to take them and get a good grade. These
struggles are what show who he truly is. They are what allow him to shine through to many
people who aspire to be like him.