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Chronicles of Greatness (12C) Ben Carson
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BENJAMIN SOLOMON CARSON (1951-) Part. 3
As Ben grew, his anger issues grew with him. He became quite violent. There was a time he tried to hit his mother with a hamma because she disagreed with his choice of clothes. Another time,he inflicted a major head injury on a classmate in a dispute over a locker. The incident that change his life forever was when he almost stabbed his friend to death in an argument over a choice of radio stations. Fortunately the blade of the knife broke on his friend's belt buckle. When this happened he ran home, locked himself in the bathroom with a Bible and prayed to God to teach him how to deal with his temper. God answered his prayers by leading him to a portion in proverbs while he read his bible “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." It was then he realised that his anger was from selfishness, crave for control and internalized anything he did not like. He quickly made adjustments and looked at things from other people's point of view and the change started.
In 1973, after graduating from Yale, Carson enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of Michigan. He chose to become a neurosurgeon rather than Psychologist.
In 1975, he married Lacrena aka Candy Rustin whom he met at Yale.
In 1977, after his medical degree, he and his wife moved to Baltimore where he became a resident at John Hopkins University.His excellent eye-hand coordination and three-dimensional reasoning skills made him a superior surgeon in no time.
In 1982, he was chief resident in neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins.
In 1983, Carson received an important invitation from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth, Australia who needed a neurosurgeon and invited Carson to take the position. After initial resistance, he eventually accepted the offer.
In 1984, he returned to Johns Hopkins in and by 1985, he became director of pediatric neurosurgery at the young age of 33.
In 1987, he attracted international attention by performing a surgery to separate two 7-month-old craniopagus twins (Patrick and Benjamin Binder) from Germany. He knew the operation would be successful because the boys were joined at the back of the head, they had separate brains. On September 4, 1987, Carson and a team of 70 doctors, nurses, and support staff joined forces for a 22-hour surgery. Although the twins did have some brain damage, both survived the separation, making Carson's surgery the first of its kind.
In 1994, Carson and his team separated the Makwaeba Twins in South Africa. It was an unsuccessful operation as both girls died from complications of the surgery. That same year, he and his wife founded Carson Scholars Fund. The foundation grants scholarships to young students and promotes reading in younger grades.
In 1997, He and his team went to Zambia in South Central Africa to separate infant boys Luka and Joseph Banda joined at the top of their heads. It was a 28-hour operation which was successful as both boys survived without any brain damage.
In 2002, Carson pace slowed down when he was diagnosed with postrate cancer. He took an active role in his own case and treatment. The operation was successful and he came out cancer-free. When he came out of his hospital, he spent more time with his wife and three children – Murray, Benjamin Jr and Rhoeyce despite his busy schedule of 300 operations a year.
In 2001, Ben was named as one of the Nation's 20 foremost physicians and scientist by CNN and Time Magazine. That same year, the Library of Congress selected him as one of 89 Living Legends.
In 2003, he and his team separated 29years old Iranian Twins – Ladan and Laleh Bijani joined at the head. This operation was unsuccessful as Ladan died an hour later and Laleh an hour thirty minutes after Ladan died.
In 2006, he received the Spingarn Medal from National Association for the Advancement for Coloured People (NAACP), the highest honoured bestowed by the Association.
In 2009, actor Cuba Gooding Jr portrayed Carson in TNN television production – Gifted hands. A movie adaptation of the autobiography of Ben Carson.
In recent years, Ben Carson has focused more on politics than medicine. In 2013, Ben Carso attracted lots of attention for his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast where he criticised President Barack Obama for his positions on taxation and healthcare. He also announced that he would officially retire from his career as a surgeon, which he did the following month.
Ben Carson has made his intention known to the public to run for U.S president in 2016 during an interview with ABC
Books:Gifted Hands (1996), The Big Picture (2000) and Think Big (2006),Take the Risk: Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk (2009), America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What made this Nation Great (2012), One Nation:What we can all do to save America's future (2014).
Awards: The Ford's Theater Lincoln medal and the Presidental Medal of Freedom by President Bush's award (2008), more than 50 honorary doctorate degrees, Member of Alpha Honor Medical Society, the Horatio Alger Society of Distinguished Americans and sits on the boards of numerous business and education boards.
Outstanding Attributes: Positive Mentality, Determination, Passion, Diligence.
Supporting Attributes: Resilient Persistence, heart of service to the people.
Ben Carson. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 06:18, Apr 16, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/ben-carson-475422
Copyright © 2015 [Adebola A. Ayoade]. All Rights Reserved.
This post was edited by Adebola Ayoade at April 24, 2015 7:11 AM CEST