Taking risks and stepping to success: Ben Carson

I came across Ben Carson's literature a couple of weeks ago while strolling around a local book shop. I had some time to kill so decided to spend it sitting on the comfy leather couches in the store, reading the first chapter of the three different Carson books they had available. This was different to my usual book buying habits which mainly entailed me piling books into a basket, paying astronomical amounts for them (as far as book buying is concerned) and then sitting at home with enormous amount of books, with absolutely no intention of reading them all.

I paged through the first chapter and was highly impressed by the first book, and then highly impressed with the second and again the third. I must have read something wrong so I went back and read all three chapters, yet again being satisfied with all three. Surely you not gonna buy all three books Keegan?

So I ended walking out with all three. I tackled the first book entitled, Gifted hands, two days ago and am on the verge of finishing it. In the first thirty pages or so I had cried like a baby 5 times. 

"Surely you didn't really cry," said my girlfriend as we discussed the first book over some sushi at a local restaurant last night. "Can we not talk about this now, please," I said, tears now welling up in my eyes. I had cried, and cried properly. Carson's childhood was tougher than most of ours and I suppose if you have managed to log onto the internet now with your laptop, smart phone or tablet and  are now reading this, your childhood has definitely been better than old Ben Carson from Detroit.

Thinking most of the crying was done, I came across a a chapter called, A Girl Named Maranda. By now, Ben is the head surgeon at John Hopkins hospital at the age of just 33 and already rising to be a top Neurosurgeon and perhaps one of the greatest that has ever lived. Maranda 4 had travelled across the country with her parents after being rejected at hundreds of hospitals previously.

"Mr.Freeman you are our last hope," said the little girls mom. Maranda sat silently listening, hoping not to have one of her seizures that had become a usual part of her day. Without surgury she would get weaker and die within months. 

"Is that right, we may be able to help you," said Mr Freeman.

And then something interesting happens. Mr Freeman calls Carson in to discuss the girls case and whether and ask him, "have you ever heard of a hemispherectomy, I doubt you have Benny."

"I have, read up about it last week, never done one,"

"Is that right, can you do one, it might save this little girl,"

and then ben says, "it sounds reasonable to me."

Let put this in perspective. This surgery hasn't been done in 20 years, most previous attempts ended in 95% failure and death rate and the success of the patients that did survive were severely mentally handicapped. It is reasonably possible? Seriously? Is my reasonably  possible different to a usual man? I think not!

Ben goes and reads up on the surgery and gains more knowledge in the field, calls in the girls parents and tell them he will do it. He is blatantly honest with them and explains the possible complications that might occur of which the worst is death. 

What an incredible man! So lets break this down. What separates the great from the average?

1) The hunger and will to try:

Ben made it his business to educate himself in fields that weren't even in his expertise. When an opportunity arose, he had read about it the week before. The possibilities that he may have never heard of the surgery procedure may have severely influenced his decision to do the surgery. He is willing to try, he asks not; "what if I fail," he asks,"what happens if I don't try," and the answer was, she would die anyway. 

2) Read, learn grow, never settle:

Ben and his brother had to read two books a week instead of watching tv. Their mom, even though poor and struggling realized that self betterment was a way to succeed in life. now I'm not talking about traditional schooling systems I'm talking about extra work, reading up on topics you have an interest in. Ben said "become a professional, read up on any field you love, it will hold you in good stead on day and it will pay off."

3) Courage:

Be different and always look to try new things. Be accountable for your actions and go out hard knowing that failure is a step forward. Be willing to try, don't sink behind possibility of failure. Stand up, raise your hand and be the one who is willing to put their ego aside and try and possibly fail. For the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear...ever!

I haven't even read about him doing the surgery yet, can you believe it? I just sat down and started writing, inspired by his will to try. Now I know he is one of the worlds greatest and fail or succeed in this next surgery he still becomes great! Will definitely let you guys know how the surgery goes! 

Kunjani

An epic Adventure by bike

From the arid dry land of the Karoo to the Beautiful lush Cape Fold mountains, there plenty of the country I have seen by bicycle. Sometimes the difficulties of the road are ushered away by the beautiful sights of slow traveling.

Myself and Brent's son, Rowan, the night before leaving. It was an emotional evening, especially for Brent's family who had never seen him off on a trip like this, into the unknown. 

Plenty of luggage to fit onto the bike.

When I asked a friend to join me on an adventure of a lifetime, I didn't imagine it would be quite so hard. Now I wouldn't call myself the most experienced adventurer but I do feel my experience in the field of long distance cycle touring is up there with some of the crazies of this world. My friend, Brent den Bakker, had never cycled more than 45km in his life and now I was asking him to hammer out big distances day after day. We sat down one evening over a glass of wine, which may have given us that extra bit of confidence, and plotted a route through the flatlands of Mpumalanga, the meandering roads of the Free State and up and down the undulating hills of Kwa Zulu Natal. Nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose. The route would total about 650kms from Witbank to Balito. There was however a crucial question that needed to be drawn up firstly, and secondly, answered. Why where we going to do this? 

Brent 30kms out of Witbank, Day 1, having a break

Both Brent and I are actively involved in Hockey in our province . Brent is a qualified umpire and I am a qualified Coach, we repressnt the Osaka hockey brand and have grown to love the game. We decided that it would be a perfect opportunity  to link the two events. Hockey and adventure. We planned to take our traveling hockey side, The Traveling Pinks, a primary school hockey team who played all over to raise money for Cancer, on a tour down to Balito. We would cycle down while the girls and the families would trek down by car a week later. Simple? Far from it. 

A beautiful sunrise on day 3, Brent's knee was feeling better, our prayers seemed to have been answered, God is faithful

The first day offered a glimpse of difficulties I had seen in past trips. We rode hard, through a headwind, and managed to do 145kms to the little town of Standerton. We had earned our stripes and checked into the beautiful Olive Lodge who had offered to put up with our needs for the evening. It was a pleasant surprise when we rolled into town to find, my Girlfriend and Brents wife, along with his family, following us in their van. They spent the afternoon with us and bought us dinner. This was a luxury, I knew would disappear on day two. 

Day 3 and going strong, we were on a "high" all day.

Traditionaly for me day 2 was tough. Legs are tender and stiff and the mind has taking a beating to. None the less we got up bright and early and pushed on. Within the first 20km's we experienced Mpumalanga in all its anger. The morning skies rewinded to a midnight state and the black clouds rolled in, thunder clapped violenty and not even the bright lightening could light the black we were cycling into. A headwind pounded us as hail and rain crashed into our faces. Being hardly visible to motorists passing us by we headed for the dirt running along side the road. It proved to be safer but it was terribly muddy and slippery. As the clouds cleared some two hours later, we had only hammered out 20kms. The pace was painfully slow but not as painful as Brents right knee was becoming. From hardly doing any cycling to doing over 200kms in two days, his body was crying out for rest and I didn't know what to do. I could tell he was in some serious pain and i hadn't been in a predicament like this, if we didn't speed up we would be sleeping on the side of the road in another thunderstorm that night. Something We really needed to avoid. We managed to limp into Vrede and find a small doctors surgery who administered a scary looking injection to my team mate. We discovered later it was a mix of various pain killer and ant inflamatories, she nicknamed the injection, the "Free-state three some." It seemed to numb the pain. We got to our accommodation just before the heavens once again opened up. 

There was a bit of an akward silence in the room as Brent and I both contemplated the difficulties of continuing with his injury. Our faith wouldn't allow surrender, we got up the next day.

The sand storm on day 3 was crazy! 46km.h winds

Day three, and everything came together nicely. We averaged about 23km/h on the road to Harrismith and even fought through a serious 40km/h wind dust storm just outside the town. We looked like trojans, returning from a victorious battle when we finally got into La La Nathi guest lodge just of the road we were traveling in. This place was incredible, 4 star luxury for two adventurers in some desperate need of love and attention. We had an early meal at the resturant and retired nice and early. 

Day four, or most of the morning rather, was spent climbing out of Harrismith. The hills took a toll on Brents knee who agreed that the pain killer could be waring off. We had a breakfast on the side of the road before getting back on track and putting some more km's asunder the belt. We flew down Van Reenens pass at about 80km/h before the road flattened out once again letting us do another 20kms or so. It was then that the tides turned. Fatugue set in, and another 40km/h wind came out of no where and attempted in pushing us back to where we had cycled from. We were desperate to get through the last 60kms but the conditions were against us. Again the fear of sleeping out in the bush became real. I had never been that desperate and tired in my life. We stopped under a little bridge and said some desperate prayers together. The speed had dropped to well under 10km/h now even on the steep downhills. We struggled through another 10kms before finding a little shell garage where we stopped for some food and hopefully a lift into town. We were about 15kms off our target and it was getting dark. An owner of a bakkie, Mike, offered us a lift and we took it gladly. He drove us to the guest house and helped us load our bikes out and heave them to our rooms. We collapsed after showering,  two minute noodles and corn and only rose again the next morning. 

Our run in with a Police Officer on the last day, many people back home criticized our decision to go on the highway, we regretted it and paid the price. No need for people to have verbally bashed us the way they did publicly.

On day 5 we would end our journey, The plan was to cycle as far as we could before our support team back home picked us up and took us into Balito. Day 2 had cost us our originnal target but our R20 000 for Cancer could still be reached. While we rode on, the girls prepared for their first match against KZN Coastals u/13 the next day. We got picked up in Mooi River after another full day of climbing hills. We were shattered.

A good nights rest in a comfy bed and a good meal was all welcome but completely foreign to us, whose minds were still on the road. Brent and I spoke at length about the journey and how it would shape our future. The answers weren't clear but I had suffered and bled with a great man...I was proud of him.

The next day we got to see the full side, all kitted up in pink and ready to play. Penzance primary school were spectacular hosts, they invited their whole school, some 500 odd children to come and watch our first clash for Cancer on the 3 schools Astro Turn in Durban. The Coastals side edged out a narrow 1- 0 victory in the end which was disspointing but in the end of the day, the fight against Cancer won. The province also offered a generous donation to our cause, we were getting close to our target. 

Brent missed his boy! Shopping for groceries after 5 days on the bike. We made it!

The next game, two days later, we arrived at Riverside Astro to take on the local club. They were a strong side, but the pinks were coming together nicely. We managed to draw with the side and should definitely have won the game. Back home people were donating money after seeing what these soldiers in pink were doing for the cause.

The last game was scheduled for the next day at St Marys Kloof where we would take on Madsen Hockey Academy. The side was coached by legendary SA player, Kelly Madsen and this defiantly excited the girls. Kellly gave the girls an hour clinic before the game and perhaps this was the deciding factor in the game after the girls 

managed a 1-0 victory. 

The Pinks after their first game against coastal, Cancer awareness the winner!

And so came the end of an absolutely incredible two weeks of adventure, charity and love. What an incredible cause we fought for both on the bike and the hockey field. Our target is sitting about R5000 short but we believe that before the end of the week we will reach our goal. 

The girls playing that raised all the money for Cancer, so special.