For my birthday, I received a book called "Gifted Hands, The Ben Carson Story". As I read this inspiring biography, I was amazed to find that his mother, Sonya only had a third grade education but encouraged her son, Ben to go on and become a brilliant neurosurgeon. If you want to hear the full review continue reading.Dr. Carson was born as the second son of Sonya and Robert Solomon Carson. When he was eight years old, his Dad left the house and took all the family's money with him. This was no surprise because he had married Sonya when she was only thirteen years old to "rescue" her from the orphanage. Ben had one brother who was two years older than him named Curtis. When Ben was eight, he and Curtis attended Sunday school. One Sunday they heard about a missionary doctor who escaped some robbers. Ben thought that this sounded very exciting and wanted to become a missionary doctor. During this time, young Ben was doing very bad in school and his mother often took long breaks to "visit relatives". In fact she was checking herself into mental hospitals and getting counseling. When she felt better, she would go back to the boys.
To save money, Sonya moved with her sons to Boston, Massachusetts and stayed with relatives until they had enough money to move back to their house in Detroit. Which they were renting out. Ben and Curtis's mother made them stop watching television and start reading books to help improve their grades. It worked!
Ben saw the school spelling bee and the next year he practiced really hard and won it that year. During Ben's eighth grade year his family moved back to their old house in Detroit. Here he was picked on at school and developed a temper. One day he pulled out a knife at a friend, horrified he ran home and realized he need to learn to control his temper better. He asked God to help him and after a week he had learned how to better control his temper. Also, he wanted to now become a regular Doctor because it payed better.
Ben graduated High school.
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| (Right to left)Sonya, Ben, and Candy |
In his third year at Yale he met Candy Rustin on campus. He invited her to church with him and they got to know each other better. She was studying to be a nurse. Ben had finish up at Yale and went to the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Candy still had two more years at Yale so they wrote to each other every day. Ben did wonderful in medical school and invented a new faster way to find the foramen ovale which amazed all of his teachers. during this time he decided to become a neurosurgeon. Between his second and third year at medical school he and Candy got married and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. here he finish up his last years in medical school. during 1978 to 1982 he worked at the John Hopkins hospital. Then he and Candy moved to Australia for one year. Here Dr. Carson trained students at a medical school over there. when they came back to America they brought their new son Ben jr. or BJ for short with them. Dr. Carson went back to John Hopkins hospital and became their chief neurosurgeon here he did a hemispherectomy (where you remove half of a brain)on a three year old. Dr. Carson did one of his most famous surgeries in 1987 which was when he separated two craniopagus Siamese twins for the first time. before the end of his career he became famous for separating many craniopagus Siamese twins and for all that he has done in the medical career. 
The picture on the left shows Dr. Carson with his family. His mother is sitting in the middle.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it because this is a inspiring, Christian biography.
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To learn more here are some helpful websites.
Teen Ink Gifted hands review
National Review Gifted Hands
Ben Carson .achievement.org
Ben Carson bio.
