Ben Carson

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
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Ben Carson is celebrated as one of the most successful neurosurgeon in the world. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on September 18, 1951 (Academy of Achievement, 2010). He was born of a committed mother, Sonya, who dropped out of school in third grade and got married when she was only 13 years of age. His parents divorced when he was only eight years old and his mother Sonya was left with the burden of raising the family by herself. She worked tirelessly, sometimes taking more than three jobs a day in order to provide for her two boys, Benjamin and his older brother Curtis. Due to the economic struggles they were facing at home, Benjamin and his brother did not have good times in school and they fell far behind the rest of the class. For example, in fifth grade, Benjamin was at the bottom of the class but this did not deter him from pursuing his dream. Therefore, the story of Ben Carson illustrates how a person can rise from the ashes, pull the strings together, and with sheer determination make it in life.
During his childhood, Ben Carson was not provided with everything that a child needs to success in life. Brought ...
... up by her mother alone, Benjamin and his elder brother Curtis had to do with the little that their mother could provide (Academy of Achievement, 2010). However, his spirit was not dampened by the childhood struggles and he achieved a lot during this critical stage of life. The most important achievement during his childhood was the solid rock in education that was laid by his mother. When Mrs. Carson discovered that his boys were performing poorly in their fifth grade, she made them understand that the best she could give them in life was education and they had to succeed despite all odds (Academy of Achievement, 2010). She restricted their television watching and plays time and she instructed them to read two library books a week and give her a report on the book, though she could rarely read what they had written. Few weeks after this, Ben Carson amazed the whole class when he identified rock samples his teacher had brought to class, after remembering one of the books he had read. In his own words, he later recalled that from the moment, he realized that he was not stupid like he had been made to believe by the rest of the students. This was a turning point of his life and from that time, he continued to amaze the whole class with his whole found knowledge and within a year, he was at the top of the class. This was an important achievement in his childhood because he developed hunger for knowledge and read voraciously on all subjects. It is at this time that he incubated his dream of becoming a physician and worked towards that dream. At this time, he also learned how to control his temper that still threatened his future dream.
His college years were important in shaping his future career. After realizing that he could perform well in school, Ben Carson put all his efforts towards pursuing his career to become a physician. In his school, he graduated with honors in high school. After high school, he attended Yale University. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in Psychology. He later attended Medical School of University of Michigan where his interest shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery (Academy of Achievement, 2010). He had discovered that he had excellent hand-eye coordination and three-dimension reasoning skills that could made him become a superior surgeon. After graduating from medical school, he become a neurosurgery resident at the top hospital in the United States, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At a tender age of 32 years, he was elevated to the hospital’s Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.
His most important achievements in life came as Dr. Benjamin S. "Ben"
Carson, Sr., M.D. In 1987, he made medical history when he performed an operation that separated a pair of Siamese twins. Binder twins had been joined at the back of the head. The operation to separate them had always failed and resulted in death of one or both of the twins. Even before he undertook this operation, Carson knew that it was a hard undertaking but he was determined to pull it through. Dr. Benjamin S. "Ben"
Carson, Sr., M.D agreed to perform the operation knowing the risk that the operation faced. He assembled a 70 member surgical team under his direction and they worked for 22 hours (Academy of Achievement, 2010). At the end of the operation, the twins were separated and they now survive independently today. From this operation, his knowledge and competence as a neurosurgeon was recognized all over the world. In 1997 he assembled another team and they both went to South African to perform another operation to separate Joseph and Luka Banda, the infant boys from Zambia. This was another successful operation as both boys were separated and neither of them suffered any brain damage. These were the first set of twins who had been joined at the top of their heads and were successfully separated. This operation was longer and it lasted more than 28 hours. In 2003, he was later called to separate on other twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani. However, this operation was not successfully as neither of the two survived the surgery. When he was asked why he had attempted to perform such a risk and complicated operation, Ben Carson answered that the twins had told him they would rather die than remain conjoined for the rest of their life. Although he continues to operate more than three hundred children a year, he has been forced to scale up his efforts after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002.
As a practicing doctor, another of his most successful achievement was pioneering of hemispherectomy, which is removal of the affected half of the brain. This procedure is performed in case of Rasmussen’s encephalitis, a common syndrome in children. In this procedure, a child who suffers from uncontrollable seizures has half of the brain removed (Academy of Achievement, 2010). He is also known to have made important surgical innovations including the first intra-uterine procedure to relieve pressure on the brain in hydrocephalic fetal twin. Therefore, he is credited with having made important medical innovations that have helped thousands of children in their life.
His other achievement is that Ben Carson is an accomplished writer. He has authored different inspirational books including Gifted Hands, The Big Picture and Think Big (Academy of Achievement, 2010). Both are inspirational books in which he uses his life as an example to encourage others to take steps towards making their life meaningful. He takes his life achievements and struggles to encourage other people. Ben Carson is also a public speaker who had devoted much of his time with groups of young people encouraging them to improve his life. His desire to encourage young people to take steps toward improving their life is considered one of the most important achievements of his life. Through is book and public speaking, Ben Carson has inspired millions of young people in the world.
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