Author: Aletha Cress Oglesby, M.D.

As a family physician, I explore the HEART of HEALTH in my work, recreation, community, and through writing. My blog, Watercress Words, informs and inspires us to live in health. I believe we can turn our health challenges into healthy opportunities. When we do, we can share the HEART of health with our families, communities, and the world. Come explore and share with me.

Keith Wheeler-a Cross and a Heart

Keith Wheeler posted a joyous New Year message, but faced unexpected health challenges in January 2024. Diagnosed with severe heart blockages, he bravely confronted surgery with unwavering faith, surrounded by love and prayers. Just days after the procedure, Keith was already inspiring others with his recovery and gratitude for life’s blessings.

Happy New Year! Happy 2024!

We pray that your new year will be overflowing with the beauty and majesty of the glory of Jesus, and the nearness and intimacy of His presence!

God bless you!

Keith Wheeler, Facebook post January 2, 2024

But the rest of January didn’t quite turn out the way Keith and his fairytale princess wife Nicole planned. In some ways, it turned out much better.

I have been writing this blog for nine years and my favorite posts are the ones I wrote about Keith Wheeler, starting with this one.

Keith Wheeler- a cross and a collarbone

Keith walks around doing what he simply calls “serving God, loving people.” He started in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Good Friday 1985 and thought it was going to be a one-time event. But he felt God wanted him to continue carrying the cross around the surrounding towns, then the rest of Oklahoma, and on into surrounding states. And then he just kept walking- and carrying the cross.

Keep reading

After he experienced a bout with COVID-19, I wrote another article based on an interview we did by phone. It’s hard to interview Keith because he doesn’t like talking about himself. His favorite subject is Jesus. What else would you expect from a man who has literally walked around the world carrying a 12-foot-long cross?

Keith Wheeler-a Cross and COVID

No, I wasn’t mad at God, I know that bad things happen to everyone. Jesus said that whoever wants to save their life should lose it, (Luke 9:24) so I know that either way I would be with Him. Jesus is my hope, my confidence, and peace, in all my life, including COVID.

Keep reading

I finally met Keith in person when he spoke at a church near my home. I don’t know which I enjoyed most- shaking hands with him or touching the massive cross that has been all over the world blessing everyone who sees or touches it.

Keith Wheeler holding his cross with Dr. Aletha
photo by Raymond Oglesby

A Heart and a Hospital

So I was alarmed when my husband told me he saw a Facebook post saying Keith was in a hospital. I had to check it out myself and was even more concerned.

Keith’s symptoms suggested a heart problem; tests were being done to see if he needed surgery.

Here’s what he wrote on January 27 from his hospital room

Dear family and friends! Well… unfortunately, it seems like I’m not going to be able to go to Africa at this time. It looks like I’m going to need to go in for my 28,000 mile “radiator flush”!

For the past two weeks, I have been having some health challenges. I have written them off, or marked them up as wear and tear from the journey. I was sent to the emergency room two weeks ago while I was speaking in New York.

Things seemed like they were improving, but everything took a sharp turn for the worse a few nights ago. I’m in the heart hospital.


KW, Facebook January 27, 2024

And Keith was right. He isn’t going to Africa anytime soon. Again, here’s the story in Keith’s words.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get the news we had hoped for. They performed a heart cath on me and found 100% blockage in my “widowmaker” and 80% in another. They weren’t able to put in a stent. So, I have to have open heart surgery (double bypass) this week….

KW, Facebook, January 30, 2024


If you think Keith was feeling sorry for himself, or was mad at God, or thought God was mad at him-well, you don’t know Keith.

I’ve always felt that perspective is such a gift! It seems to always put everything into perspective! Truly, things can always be better… But they can always be so much worse!

In the big picture, I’m doing great! I’m so much healthier than many other people in our world! I’m probably much healthier than most of the other people in this hospital! I’m probably much healthier than many people on my floor here in the hospital!

Also, I have my fairytale princess by my side … so, so many people have no one, and are so very lonely!

And most of all, I have Jesus! I have hope! I have peace! I have joy! He is loving. He is good. He is kind. And, He is with me always! My days, my breaths, my heartbeats are in His hands! My life is in His hands! He’s so very worthy!

KW, Facebook, January 30, 2024

A New Cross and Total Peace

Keith and Nicole, his fairy tale princess


As Keith was waiting to go into surgery, he wrote these words

I’m at total peace! If I close my eyes today and open them and see Jesus, I win! If I close my eyes today and open them and see my fairytale princess, I win! It’s a win-win!

My prayer is that when they open me up, they will either wonder why they had to operate because I’m totally healed, or when they open my heart that they will see Jesus smiling back at them!🕊❤️‍🔥‼️

KW, Facebook February 1, 2024

New Heart Day

The next day, we were relieved to read an update, this time from Nicole, his fairy tale princess wife (that’s what he calls her.)

My Prince is recovering and he just took his very first lap around the unit. (Many more laps to come). 😀

He’s sitting up, greeting everyone that comes into the room with a smile, and telling them about Jesus. Thank you so much for walking with us on this journey!! So appreciate your outpouring of love and prayers.

#February1NewHeartDay❤️


Nicole, Facebook February 2, 2024
Keith walking in the hospital hall with a tiny cross someone gave him.

Keith’s “new” Heart

About a week later Keith left the hospital, returning home where he and Nicole took a walk in their neighborhood. Back to posting online himself, Keith revealed that before his surgery, he had “flatlined” and had to be resuscitated, and promised to write more about his journey later.

I’ll write more on the journey in the days to come. Today, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart! With God’s help, I’m home and doing well.

Keith Wheeler

Keith Wheeler-Facebook

Please visit Keith’s Facebook page where you can see more photos and read more about his heart surgery adventure.

A few days before his heart surgery, Keith shared this scripture on Facebook.

”Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.“

Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭23‬ ‭AMPC

You can also find Keith at

Keith Wheeler Ministries

sharing the HEART of faith, hope, and love

Thanks for joining me to meet Keith Wheeler. I shared another post about Keith, with info culled from his website, social media, and videos. Keith has encountered many situations involving conflict, and one that happened surprisingly right here in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Keith Wheeler-Peacemaker Through Conflict

Keith Wheeler embarked on a remarkable journey, walking over 26,000 miles and visiting more than 200 countries, carrying a 90-pound cross to share God’s love. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, he adapted, spreading hope through social media and in his community. Keith’s thought-provoking reflections and unwavering faith offer a unique perspective on current events.

Keep reading

Learn about heart bypass surgery

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha

a man holding a large cross
photo by Raymond Oglesby

Rebecca Lee Crumpler, African American “doctress of medicine”

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler, born in 1831, became the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree in 1864. Overcoming prejudice, she practiced medicine in post-Civil War South, providing care to freed slaves. She authored a medical book in 1883, a pioneering achievement for an African American. She died in 1895, leaving a legacy of resilience and dedication to helping others.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler challenged the prejudice that prevented African Americans from pursuing careers in medicine. In 1864 she became the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree.

Although little has survived to tell the story of Crumpler’s life, her medical knowledge is preserved in her book of medical advice for women and children, published in 1883. This is one of the earliest medical books published by an African American.

Crumpler’s early life

Dr. Crumpler was born February 8, 1831, in Delaware, to Absolum Davis and Matilda Webber. An aunt in Pennsylvania, who often cared for sick neighbors, raised her. This aunt’s example of service to the sick may have influenced her career choice.

By 1852 she had moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she worked as a nurse for eight years, despite lacking formal training. (The first formal school for nursing opened in 1873). In 1860, she was admitted to the New England Female Medical College.

First African American woman in medical school

When she graduated in 1864, Crumpler was the first African American woman in the United States to earn an M.D. degree, and the only African American woman to graduate from the New England Female Medical College, which merged with Boston University School of Medicine in 1873.

In her Book of Medical Discourses In Two Parts, published in 1883, Dr. Crumpler summarized her career path:

“It may be well to state here that, having been reared by a kind aunt in Pennsylvania, whose usefulness with the sick was continually sought, I early conceived a liking for and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.

Later in life, I devoted my time, when best I could, to nursing as a business, serving under different doctors for a period of eight years at my adopted home in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

From these doctors I received letters commending me to the faculty of the New England Female Medical College, whence, four years afterward, I received the degree of doctress of medicine.”

Caring for African Americans in the South

Dr. Crumpler practiced in Boston for a short while before moving to Richmond, Virginia, after the Civil War ended in 1865. Richmond, she felt, would be “a proper field for real missionary work”, and one that would provide opportunities for her to become acquainted with the diseases of women and children.

“During my stay there nearly every hour was improved in that sphere of labor. The last quarter of the year 1866, I was enabled . . . to have access each day to a very large number of the indigent, and others of different classes, in a population of over 30,000 colored.”

She joined other black physicians caring for freed slaves who would otherwise have had no access to medical care, working with the Freedmen’s Bureau, and missionary and community groups, even though black physicians experienced intense racism working in the postwar South.

When her service there was finished, she returned to her former home, Boston, where she continued practicing, especially with children, regardless of the families’ ability to pay her.

“Dr. Crumpler continued to work despite the extreme sexism, racism, and rudeness she experienced from colleagues and others to treat her patients. The discrimination these African American patients experienced encouraged an increasing number of African Americans to pursue medicine.”

Rothberg, Emma. “Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler.” National Women’s History Museum, 2021.

She lived on Joy Street on Beacon Hill, then a mostly black neighborhood. By 1880 she had moved to Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and was no longer in active practice.

The Massachusetts State House is the state capitol and seat of government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston; photo by Dr. Aletha

Dr. Crumpler- medical author

Her 1883 Book of Medical Discourses in Two Parts, is based on journal notes she kept during her years of medical practice. It is a remarkable achievement as a physician and medical writer in a time when very few African Americans were admitted to medical college, let alone published. Her book is one of the very first medical publications by an African American.

According to the cover page,

“Part first: treating of the cause, prevention, and cure of infantile bowel complaints, from birth to the close of the teething period, or till after the fifth year.

Part second: containing miscellaneous information concerning the life and growth of beings, the beginning of womanhood, also the cause, prevention, and cure of many of the most distressing complaints of women, and youth of both sexes.”

The book is considered to be in the public domain. You can view and download it at this link

National Library of Medicine Digital Collections

Front page of Dr. Crumpler’s “A Book of Medical Discourses.” There are no existing photos of her.

Public domain, courtesy U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Dr. Crumpler-wife and mother

Dr. Crumpler married twice and had one child, Lizzie Sinclair Crumpler. She died in Boston in 1895 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery there. Her home in Beacon Hill is featured on the Boston Black Heritage Trail, part of the Boston African American National Historic Site.

Her life and work testify to her talent and determination to help other people, in the face of doubled prejudice against her gender and race. 

National Park Service
Photo by Amina Filkins on Pexels.com
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

photos for illustration only

For this article, I used information from

Exploring the HEART of Health

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha

Meet other trailblazing women physicians in this post