Legacy of Lights: Eric's Story

Each hol­i­day sea­son, Quincy’s Waver­ing Park trans­forms into a breath­tak­ing win­ter won­der­land, draw­ing fam­i­lies from across the region to expe­ri­ence the Fes­ti­val of Lights. Behind the shim­mer­ing dis­plays are Eric Doo­ley and his fam­i­ly, who ded­i­cate count­less hours over sev­er­al months to bring this beloved com­mu­ni­ty tra­di­tion to life. Yet for years, Doo­ley strug­gled to ful­ly embrace the work he loved. 

“I didn’t hit the DNA lot­tery,” Eric jokes about his health his­to­ry. From knee pain to oth­er med­ical chal­lenges, he turned to Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) for help. Thanks to the care of the QMG team, he has regained his abil­i­ty to give back to the com­mu­ni­ty in the ways that mat­ter most to him.

For decades, Eric has suf­fered from knee pain, the result of a high school ACL injury and recon­struc­tive surgery. By age 50, walk­ing with­out pain had become a dai­ly strug­gle, and the phys­i­cal­ly demand­ing work of set­ting up the Fes­ti­val of Lights felt near­ly impossible.

“The pain was pre­vent­ing me from doing the things I want­ed to do — both at work and out­side of work,” he said. ​“We all have respon­si­bil­i­ties that don’t stop just because you need joint replace­ment. We make com­mit­ments at home, at work, and in the com­mu­ni­ty, and I didn’t want to let any­one down. But it became more and more of a strug­gle for my fam­i­ly and me.”

He began treat­ment with Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er Mary Beth Deck­er with QMG’s Ortho­pe­dics & Sports Med­i­cine team. Pain man­age­ment tech­niques and injec­tions pro­vid­ed some relief, but the pain wors­ened. Eric and his care team decid­ed it was time for knee replace­ment surgery with QMG Ortho­pe­dic Sur­geon Dr. George Crickard, III.

“Dr. Crickard res­onat­ed with me when he talked about what post-recov­ery would be like. While many peo­ple focus on what you won’t be able to do after surgery, he focused on the many things I’d be able to do pain-free after surgery,” Eric shared.

Tim­ing was cru­cial. The Fes­ti­val of Lights is a year-round labor of love for the Doo­ley fam­i­ly, with work begin­ning in August. Surgery was sched­uled for April, ensur­ing enough recov­ery time before the next season.

The results were life changing.

“I’m not limp­ing any­more, and I had a limp for years where I was always favor­ing my right leg,” Eric said. ​“The dif­fer­ence is dra­mat­ic. Being able to help in the way I want at the park, with my fam­i­ly, and par­tic­i­pate in the Fes­ti­val of Lights with­out pain — it’s real­ly changed every­thing for me.”

For the Doo­ley fam­i­ly, the Fes­ti­val of Lights is more than just a hol­i­day dis­play; it’s a lega­cy. Eric’s wife designs the lay­out each year, while his daugh­ter, son-in-law, and grand­chil­dren help bring the vision to life.

“There are times when you’re exhaust­ed and won­der­ing, ​‘What are we doing with our lives?’” he shared. ​“But then we hear from peo­ple every year — through our Face­book page, via email, and in per­son — telling us that this is a fam­i­ly tra­di­tion that’s mean­ing­ful for them. At first, you don’t real­ize it, but over time, you come to real­ize you’re part of some­thing much big­ger than yourself.”

Thanks to the care he received at QMG, Eric is con­fi­dent he’ll con­tin­ue con­tribut­ing to this beloved tra­di­tion for years to come.