Dr. Jack Breen, Greeley Doctor Who Helped Keep Me Alive, Sadly Passes Away – Brian’s Blog

I have had to rely on the medical profession so many times in my life to keep me alive. I have had so many ailments and some of them have been life threatening and needed the best medical care possible. Thankfully I have always been able to find that. There is one doctor who has stood out through the years though and that was Dr. John "Jack" Breen. He was the infectious disease specialist at NCMC. I was saddened to learn that Dr. Breen passed away on Monday.

He was one of those guys that just made you smile even in the ugliest of situations. I can still hear him whistling down the hallway as he made his way to your room. We sat and sang old Elvis songs many times. He was rather partial to the very sad old Elvis tune 'Old Shep" which he would sing every time I had an appointment.

It was a few years ago when I first met Dr. Breen. I was in NCMC with a horrible infection in my groin that was spreading like wildfire. It was growing uncontrollably and I was scared worse than I have ever been medically scared in my entire life. I had been in the hospital for some time and no one could figure out what was wrong or how to stop it from growing. He walked in and looked me over, read my chart, talked to me a little while and said, "get him off of this one, cut back on this and change this one to that one" or something like that. He made my brain feel better and made my body start healing within hours. I was about to give up and had no fight left in me when he came in like a answer to my prayers and finally had answers and a remedy. He was a great doctor but even more than that...he actually cared. I saw him just a few months ago when I had to have another procedure done and I got to hear 'Old Shep' one more time. I had no idea it would be the last time. Thank you for the lives you touched and saved Dr. Breen. You were one of the good guys.