BEN CARSON GIFTED HANDS FREE BOOK

Candy Carson

 more blood! Stat!"

The silence of the OR was smashed by the amazingly quiet command. The twins had received 50 units of

blood, but their bleeding still hadn't stopped!

"There's no more type specific blood," the reply came.

"We've used it all.

As a result of this announcement, a quiet panic erupted

through the room. Every ounce of type AB negative

blood had been drained from the Johns Hopkins Hospital blood bank. Yet the 7-month-old twin patients who

had been joined at the back of their heads since birth

needed more blood or they would die without ever having

a chance to recuperate. This was their only opportunity,

their only chance, at normal lives.

Their mother, Theresa Binder, had searched through out the medical world and found only one team who was

Willing to even attempt to separate her twin boys and

preserve both lives. Other surgeons told her it couldn't

be done that one of the boys would have to be sacrificed. Allow one of her darlings to die? Theresa couldn't

even bear the thought. Although they were joined at the

head, even at 7 months of age each had his own person

ablity one playing while the other slept or ate. No, she

absolutely couldn't do it! After months of searching she

their own blood, realizing the urgency of the situation.

discovered the Johns Hopkins team.

Many of the 70-member team began offering to donate

The 17 hours of laborious, tedious, painstaking operations

on Such tiny patients had progressed well, all things

8 GIFTED HANDS

considered. The babies had been successfully anesthetized

after only a few hours, a complex procedure because of

their shared blood vessels. The preparation for cardiovascular bypass hadn't taken much longer than expected (the

five months of planning and numerous dress rehearsals

had paid off). Getting to the site of the twins' juncture

wasn't particularly difficult for the young, though seasoned, neurosurgeons either. But, as a result of the cardiovascular bypass procedures, the blood lost its clotting

properties. Therefore, every place in the infants' heads

that could bleed did bleed!

Fortunately, within a short time the city blood bank

was able to locate the exact number of units of blood

needed to continue the surgery. Using every skill, trick,

and device known in their specialities, the surgeons were

able to stop the bleeding within a couple of hours. The

operation continued. Finally, the plastic surgeons sewed

the last skin flaps to close the wounds, and the 22-hour

surgical ordeal was over. The Siamese twins Patrick and

Benjamin were separate for the first time in their lives!

The exhausted primary neurosurgeon who had devised

the plan for the operation was a ghetto kid from the

streets of Detroit.

and your daddy 1sn't going to live with us anymore."

Why not?" I asked again, choking back the tears.

Liust could not accept the strange finality of my mother's

words. "I love my dad!"

"He loves you too, Bennie . but he has to go away.

For good."

"But why? I don't want him to go. I want him to stay

here with us."

"He's got to go

"Did I do something to make him want to leave us?"

Oh, no, Bennie. Absolutely not. Your daddy loves

you.

I burst into tears. "Then make him come back."

"I can't. I just can't. Her strong arms held me close,

trying to comfort me, to help me stop crying. Gradually

my sobs died away, and 1 calmed down. But as soon as

she loosened her hug and let me go, my questions started

again.

"Your Daddy did Mother paused, and, young as

was, I knew she was trying to find the right words to

make me understand what 1 didn't want to grasp. Bennie, your daddy did some bad things. Real bad things.

I swiped my hand across my eyes. You can for give

him then. Don't let him go.

Ir's more than just forgiving him, Bennie

But I want him to stay here with Curtis and me and

you."

Once again Mother tried to make me understand why

daddy was leaving, but her explanation didn't make a lot

of Lesson to me at 8 years of age. Looking back, I don't

Know how much of the reason for my father's leaving sank

my understanding. Even what I grasped,I wanted to

10 GIFTED HANDS

reject. My heart was broken because Mother said that

father was never coming home again. And I loved him.

Dad was affectionate. He was often away, but when he

was at home he'd hold me on his lap, happy to play with me and whenever I wanted him to. He had great patience with me

I particularly liked to play with the veins on the back of his

large hands, because they were so big. I do push them down

and watch them pop back up. "Look! They're back again!"

I'd laugh, trying everything within the power of my small

hands to make his veins stay down. Dad would sit quietly,

letting me play as long as I wanted.

Sometimes he'd say, Guess you are Just not strong

enough," and I'd push even harder. Of course nothing

worked, and l'd soon lose interest and play with some

thing else.

Even though Mother said that Daddy had done some

bad things, I couldn't think of my father as "bad," because

he'd always been good to my brother, Curtis, and me.

Sometimes Dad brought us presents for no special reason.

"Thought you'd like this," he'd say offhandedly, a twinkle

in his dark eyes.

Many afternoons I do pester my mother or watch the

clock until I knew it was time torn my dad to come home

from work. Then l'd rush outside to wait for him. l do

watch until I saw him walking down our alley. "Daddy!

Daddy!" I do yell, running to meet him. He would scoop

me into his arms and carry me into the house.

That stopped in 1959 when I was 8 years old and

Daddy left home for good. To my young, hurting heart

the future stretched out forever. I couldn't imagine a life

without Daddy and didn't know if Curtis, my 10-year-old

brother, or I would ever see him again.

Wapday25 handwriting comment if you need the full writing of gifted hands.