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Gifted Giving Hands
Dr. Benjamin S. Carson’s inspirational life story has far exceeded the realization of his childhood dream to become a physician. By any estimation, he is much more as a world-renowned neurosurgeon who intentionally seeks to improve the quality of life of those within his sphere. Dr. Carson’s phenomenal success in medicine has come in spite of being reared in a single-parent home, receiving poor grades, and being challenged with both an uncontrolled temperament and low self-esteem. He recently shared highlights of his remarkable life story with Message magazine.
Message: On the personal side, what should Message readers know about you?
Carson: They should know that the incredible career that I’ve had has been orchestrated by God in order to provide a platform from which to do even more important things. Regarding family, my wife, Candy, is very active with our scholarship program, the Carson Scholars Fund. My mother is still living and is quite active, even though she is now 80 years old. My three sons have grown up and are thriving in their professional careers.
Message: At Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, you are most notable for the first separation of craniopagus (Siamese) twins joined at the back of the head in 1987. Do you consider this to be your most important contribution to the medical field?
Carson: No, I see my most important contribution as trying to create an atmo-sphere that encourages young people in medicine, or those who are thinking about medicine, to look at it as an enormous privilege in order to take the most precious thing that a person has, their life, and either give them longevity or quality of life. I feel that no matter how simple or how complex a case may be, it is an opportunity to provide a wonderful service as an arm of the Lord.
Message: What was the most difficult part of overcoming the notable childhood challenges associated with your life story, and how were you able to work through it?
Carson: The most difficult thing to overcome was the perception that I was stupid, and that I was just not capable of understanding certain things. The way that it was really overcome was through reading. When I began reading, I was looking at words all of the time, so I learned how to spell all of a sudden. Then it wasn’t such an incredible thing that people knew how to spell words anymore. And since I had to put those words together, I learned grammar and syntax. Then it wasn’t such an amazing thing that people could write a good essay. I had to take those sentences and make them into concepts, causing me to use my imagination. I had to think. It wasn’t such an incredible thing that people could come up with new and novel ideas. I began to have a very different impression of who I was. Reading provided a whole new horizon for me, because it wasn’t just the environment that I was in anymore but between the covers of those books I could go anywhere in the world; I could be anybody, and I could do anything. I began to know things that nobody else around knew. That gave me the thought that maybe through the development of that intellect, and my faith in God, I could really make an impact.
Message: Much of your life’s story is centered on the parental guidance received from your mother, Mrs. Sonya Carson. What part of your mother’s influence had the greatest impact on your life and career?
Carson: My mother was one of 24 children who married at age 13. Years later she discovered that her husband was a bigamist. She had only a third grade education. She had to take jobs cleaning people’s houses and doing things of that nature. But regardless of what happened in her life, she never considered herself a victim, and she did not allow us to do it either. I think that was the most valuable thing that she did for us. And even though we grew up during the 50s and 60s when there was a lot of racial prejudice, my mother always emphasized that if we ran into a racist, bigoted person, they had the problem, not us. She encouraged us to concentrate on our own goals and to let persons like that deal with their own problems. Adopting that attitude made a huge difference for me going through life because I did not have to waste time worrying about whether someone was being prejudiced or not.
Message: What inspired the Gifted Hands movie?
Carson: The idea of the movie was to create something inspirational for young people in terms of recognizing the enormous role that they have in preparing themselves to be able to do something productive in life. I also wanted it to be inspirational to parents who should recognize what an incredible responsibility it is to raise children, perhaps the greatest responsibility they will have.
Message: You are acclaimed for extending tangible gifts through Angels of the OR, an organization that assists families with noncovered medical care expenses involving both adult and pediatric neurosurgery, as well as the Carson Scholars Fund, which recognizes young people of all backgrounds for exceptional academic and humanitarian accomplishments. What do you get in return for these generous initiatives?
Carson: I get the satisfaction of seeing people who might otherwise not have the opportunity to receive excellent health care have a chance to receive it. It also allows me to see kids who excel at the highest levels to be recognized the same as all-state athletes and basketball players. All of these help to make us into a better society. To whom much is given, much is required (adapted from Luke 12:48). Would it be easier to sit back and relax, put my feet up, and enjoy the fruit of my labors? Of course it would be easier, but it would not be very satisfying.
Dr. Ben Carson’s exceptional abilities to think in three dimensions and employ precise eye-hand coordination have undoubtedly increased the quality of life for countless numbers of people. The recognition that his gifted hands were designed by God to give seems overtly apparent. Though not all for surgery, we, too, are hands through which God desires to perform His miracle work on earth. What better way to begin than to follow the admonition of Christ in Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”
JOYCE JOHNSON, PH.D., is an educator and consultant who writes from Hagerstown, Maryland.
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