The life story of Dr. John Prunskis and his wife Dr. Terri Dallas-Prunskis is the stuff of an epic novel. The only challenge is where to begin. The obvious place would be right at the beginning—John growing up in Chicago in the 1960s, the son of Lithuanian immigrants who attended Lithuanian school on Saturdays, and didn’t hear spoken English until kindergarten. His parents, both refugee physicians, spoke only Lithuanian at home to honor their homeland’s heritage (and in defiance of the Soviets who deported their parents into Siberian slavery).
“Lithuania was an abstract concept to me when I was 5 or 6 years old, but essentially the Soviets turned Lithuania into one big prison,” explains John. In addition to receiving the Knight of the Order of Merit bestowed by the President of Lithuania for his professional and philanthropic contributions to that country, Dt. Prunskis is also an award-winning Barrington Hills physician. He is co-founder and medical director of the Illinois Pain Institute with Terri—a fellow physician who he met 32 years ago during his post residency fellowship at the University of Chicago.
That romance alone is another contender for a compelling opening narrative—two brilliant young physicians working together, pushing each other intellectually, and driving forth on a mission to become healers and innovators. They were colleagues; they were friends. Then they dated for six years, and (as it sometimes happens) they were engulfed in spontaneous combustion. They fell in love for life, marrying in 1991. “I have affection for many things, but the word ‘love’ I reserve for her and my children” he says.
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