Blessing in disguise? (Exercising the Right).

Forty-five years ago, Darrell Deal landed a job as bag boy at the Better Buy Market in Stockton, California. Working his way up, he bought the store about 15 years ago and has since become what the February 15th Stockton Record described as "a neighborhood icon." In recent weeks, however, he has been recovering from a life-threatening gunshot wound suffered during an attempted robbery at the market. But this near-tragedy may have been a blessing in disguise.

Shortly after noon on February 14th, two armed men entered the store while Deal and an employee, Hector Lozano, were on duty. Gunfire erupted between Deal (who was armed with a revolver) and at least one of the robbers. One slug grazed the store owner's head, another struck him in the abdomen, and a third bullet hit Lozano's left hand. Three of Deal's shots also found their mark, wounding one of the thugs in the neck and chest.

The bandits fled empty-handed, running down a nearby street before the wounded man, Valdez Franklin, collapsed and died. When police arrived, a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun was still clutched in his hand.

Franklin's accomplice jumped into a nearby car and fled. An alert witness jotted down the license plate number, however, and police were able to trace the vehicle to Carlos Ojeda. Ojeda remained at large for a few days before surrendering to police on February 19th. He has been charged with murder (because Franklin was killed during the robbery attempt), two counts of attempted murder, and robbery.

Following the shootout, Darrel Deal was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. He is slowly recovering, and as strange as it may seem, being shot may have saved his life.

When doctors operated to repair Deal's abdominal wound, they discovered a large aortic aneurysm (a bulge on the wall of the weakened blood vessel) that could have burst at any time, with virtually certain fatal results. Deal's wife, Beverly, described the discovery as "God's miracle," and son Randy, a pharmacist, agreed that it "was a total blessing they found that." According to Randy Deal, doctors were able to stabilize the aneurism so that further surgery could be postponed until his father recovers from his other injuries.

And the aneurysm was not all. The gunshot cut off blood to a part of Deal's colon, and while working on that problem surgeons discovered another potentially serious medical condition -- diverticulosis, an intestinal disorder in which small pouches in the colon become infected or inflamed. It is treatable without surgery if discovered in time.