On February 7th at 8e/7c time, Cuba Gooding, Jr. will be premiering in a movie on TNT network. The movie is called “Gifted Hands” and it is the true stroy of the life of one Dr. Ben Carson.
Benjamin Solomon Carson was born Detroit, Michigan in 1951. His parents divorced in 1959 when Ben was only 8 years old. He, his mother and younger brother Curtis moved from Detroit to Boston for a year to live with her relatives. It was a difficult time and his mother, Sonya, eventually decided to return to Detroit. She worked as a domestic in order to provide for her sons welfare and turned to the Seventh Day Adventist for moral and religious guidance.
One day, while attending service, young Ben Carson decided he wanted to pursue medicine as missionary work. But it was not an easy life for Ben, his mother or brother. He was picked on by other students, ignored by teachers and believed himself to be dumb. While in fifth grade, he proclaimed himself as the “class dummy.” He was convinced not only of his stupidity, but that the world was stacked against him simply because he was black. When he told this to his mother she told him that “when it comes to prejudices, some people are just ignorant, and need to be educated.” She also encouraged him and his brother to read, and refused to let his surrender to excuses. Dr. Carson credits his mother and his faith in God with his turn around during those young years.
After graduating from Detroit’s Southwestern high School, he went on to Yale University, where he received a degree in psychology. At the University of Michigan Medical School his interest turned from psychology to neurosurgery. At the young age of 33, he became the Director of Neurosurgery at John’s Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
His more famous surgical successes include the Binder Siamese twins in 1987, who were joined at the head, and the 11-month-old Zambian twin boys, Joseph and Luka Banda who were also joined at the head. One of the surgeries he was involved in ended less than successfully with the deaths of conjoined sisters Laden and Laleh Bijani.
He has given many lectures, recieved more than 40 honorary doctorates and was appointed to the President’s Coouncil on Bioethics in 2004 by President George W. Bush.
A soft spoken and gentle man, Dr. Carson is the recipient 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work as a surgeon and for his efforts to improve the lives of America’s youth. In his presentation speech, President George W. Bush said, “The story of the first recipient begins in a poor neighborhood in Detroit. It was an environment where people lost themselves to poverty, crime and violence. For a time young Ben Carson was headed down that same path. But through his reliance of faith and family he turned his life in a sharply different direction.” Dr. Carson credits his mother and his faith with saving him from that destructive path.
When asked what was the most memorable case he ever worked on, he replied, “The last case that I just did. Whatever that case was . . . a privilege to play such an important role as giving that person longevity and quality of life, There is no better feeling than that.”
A world renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson is also a skilled author. His books, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, The Big Picture and Think Big, are all bestsellers.
Dr. Carson has been married to his wife, Candy, for more than thirty years. Together they have three sons, Murray, BJ and Rhoeyce. Ben’s mother Sonya lives with them in their home in Maryland. Today, Dr. Carson is still very active in his faith and is a strong advocate in the family structure. “Strong families and values have the added benefit of helping children resist peer pressure,” he notes.
Sources
Ben Carson – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carson
Dr. Ben Carson Homepage
http://www.drbencarson.com/index.html
BlackVoices – Gifted Hands
http://www.blackvoices.com/gifted-hands/video/ben-carson-goals
