Challenges are neither limits nor ends but steps to
greatness. They actually cover that big thing we wish we had, but we cow most
times, try to run away from them, forgetting we live to die another day.
Despite Ben Carson's tumultuous beginning, he stood like a man to arrest his
limitations and became the dream of many.
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. was born on September 18, 1951 at Detroit, Michigan. He is
currently an American politician, author and former neurosurgeon. He is
currently serving under the Donald Trump administration. Carson’s parents
married when the father was 28 and the mother was 13. Curtis, Carson’s older
brother was born in 1949 when Carson’s mother was 20.
Ben’s Challenges
Carson began his education in 1956 with kindergarten at the
Fisher school and he was average in his first three years. In 1959, Carson’s
parents separated when Carson was 8 and Carson went with his mother along with
his brother. Carson’s mother attempted suicide, had several hospitalizations as
a result of depression and later
worked as a house cleaner while Carson and his brother attended a two-classroom
school.
As a youth, Carson had a violent temper. He attacked people with rocks, bricks, baseball bats and
hammers when he was a teenager. He recalled
when he tried to hit his mother on the head when they had a clothing dispute
and how he tried to stab a friend who only changed the radio station. He later got over these temper problem when
he started reading the Book of Proverbs and applying the verses on anger.
Read also: Sacrifice: What you must Lose to Win
Majorly, Carson was very poor academically when he was in
high school. At every dictation or class tests, Carson would be in the last
position by scoring lowest. The mother on an occasion as a domestic worker
stumbled into a man’s library and asked the man if read the hundreds of books
she saw and the man replied, I do. This made her think it is also possible for
Ben and Curtis. On getting home, she switched off the T.V. while Ben and his
brother watched and made a timetable of how they would read for the week,
including finishing at least two textbooks a week.
Ben and his brother did and they started getting better. This
got to a point when Ben saw a type of rock, picked it up and took to the
library for study. This made him identify the rock in a class and everyone marveled
when nobody else could answer. That was how Ben broke through the class and
also led his class despite his mother not well-read and couldn’t ever read.
The hustle
When Carson graduated from high school, Carson took up odd
jobs like clerk, supervisor of people picking trash, assembling parts, crane
operator and as a radiology technician. He also had a part-time job on campus
as a student police aide.
Medical School
After high school, Carson got admitted into Michigan Medical
School in 1973 and struggled academically, had very poor scores and the student
adviser asked him to drop out of medical school. He continued and struggled and
he improved to average in his first year. By the second year, he began to excel
by developing a method that works for him; rarely attends lectures; but
studying the lecture notes and textbooks from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. He eventually
graduated in 1977.
Check This: Riches without Success
Carson proceeded to John Hopkins
University School of Medicine neurosurgery program, where he served as a
surgical intern for one year and a neurosurgery student for five years and
completed the final year as a chief resident in 1983. He further spent a year
(1983-1984) at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia
as a Senior Registrar in neurosurgery.
Surgeon
When Carson was at John Hopkins in
1984, he was appointed the university’s Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery. He specialized
in brain injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, achondroplasia,
craniosynostosis, epilepsy, neurological and congenital disorders and
trigeminal neuralgia. Recounting what
made him a gifted surgeon, he said that he has a hand-eye coordination and
three-dimensional reasoning.
When he was at John Hopkins, he revived the hemispherectomy,
which was a drastic surgical procedure in which all or part of one hemisphere
of the brain is removed in order to control severe pediatric epilepsy. He refined
the procedure and used it many times.
The Siamese twins
In 1987, Carson was the lead neurosurgeon in a 70-member
surgical team that separated a conjoined twins (Siamese twins), Patrick and
Benjamin Binder, that were joined at the back of the head (craniopagus twins). The
separation surgery was auspicious because the twin boys had separate brains. If
the risk had not been taken and the surgery had not been done, the babies would
not be able to crawl, talk or walk.
From the reports by the Washington Post, separation of the Siamese
twins brought Ben Carson to limelight, launched him to stardom and he walked
out of the operating room into a light that has never dimmed.
Groundbreaking achievements
Carson served as the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at
John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland from 1984 until he retired in 2013. Other achievements include;
- Carson performed the only successful separation of conjoined twins that are joined at the back of the head (Separation of the Siamese Twins)
- He also pioneered the first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus that is inside the womb
- He performed the first successful separation of type-2 vertical craniopagus twins
- He developed new methods that are now used to treat brain-stem tumors
- Finally, He revived hemispherectomy techniques for controlling seizure
From these unrivaled achievements, he became the youngest
chief of pediatric neurosurgery at age 33. He also received more than 60
honorary doctorate degrees, national merit citations and wrote more than 100
neurosurgical operations. In 2008, he got the highest civilian award in the
United States, that is, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Leave when the ovation is loudest
One important part of great is that they know when to leave
and they leave when the ovation is loudest. This is also similar with Ben
Carson. In March 2013, Ben Carson announced that he would retire as a surgeon.
In his words, ‘I would rather quit when I’m at the top of my game’.
Also read: Banana Republic: Fiefdom and not Freedom
Remember, it is not how far, but how well. The distance
covered doesn't matter if the mission is accomplished.
While you fought your challenges like a man and always won
all battles, don't forget to leave when the ovation is loudest...
Credit:Wikipedia
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