European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Irs lie jul live my the in e and i to 5 in gy-.1 be id i iter j nor to Johns Hopkins Thoie doctors began a lengthy debate Aboul whether 4 year old Waranda would undergo a lot hemisphere Tomy for Freeman Rasmussen s via an old. Familiar enemy. While on the la Cully of slam lord University school of Medicine in 1968, he had been part of a team of doctors who d decided to perform a hemisphere Tomy on a Young seizure disorder patient while doctors had been unable to remove the entire diseased hemisphere the patient had improved As a result of even limited surgery. Mow nearly two decades later Freeman was strongly in Lavor of surgery Lor Maranda. I said it s a progressive disease she will continue to have seizures and chances Are. She won t speak anyway " he recalls the philosophy with an these a hints has been that if you select candidates properly the worst thing that can happen with surgery will be no worse than the worst that can happen without surgery it s Medicine s most Basic Tenet. First do no harm. Still we batted it around in a Long Lime and we talked extensively with the  recalls Carson the. Soil spoken neurosurgeon finally they reached a consensus one hot August morning in 1985, Carson got up Early. For two hours to read the Book of proverbs then he Gol in his car and headed 10 she operating room Rock music played softly in the background As Carson delicately divided Iho connections Between brain and Stem thalamus and basal ganglia. He pinpointed the major bleeding Points overlaying the Corpus co Losum the Cable of 250 million connecting Libers that join the hemispheres and disconnected the inflow and Oul Tow to Maranda s left brain. He identified the major blood vessels. First you must know where they Are Carson says. They Are distorted by disease sometimes bul you can still figure Oul relatively quickly which is which. Then you must disconnect them in the proper sequence. One Leeds 1he right hemisphere the other Leeds the Tell. Ii you disconnect the wrong ones the ballgame s  the ballgame went into extra innings As Carson tackled the delicate task of sectioning and removing the hard damaged tissue of Maranda s Lell frontal parietal occipital and temporal lobes the thalamus which relays messages from the body s sensory organs to lha cortex and the basal ganglia the Region at the base of Tho brain that controls thinking voluntary movement and memory learning were Lell  covered her raw exposed brain Stem will moist sheets of Gauze soaked in thrombin a clothing Factor to inhibit Post operative bleeding he then filled the cavity with Saline solution to Cushion the remaining hemisphere until Maranda s body could produce the cerebrospinal fluid that would eventually fill up the space in the Day Behwen surgery Carson and Freeman had explained to Terry and Lou Francisco that removal of the left Side of Maranda s brain would wipe out the right half of her visual Field in Bolh eyes. It also would cause paralysis on her right Side although her right Arm and leg had already become crippled by her disease. The doctors went to great lengths to prepare the Francisco Lor the More devastating possibility that heir daughter might never talk again. Terry Francisco who had already lost one Bady from a previous marriage to sudden Inland deals syndrome and another to miscarriage did Herb Solo prepare for the possibility of losing her Only surviving child to astir red out nobody was prepared for what actually happened As Maranda was wheeled out of the operating room after her 10-hour ordeal. With her eyes swollen shut and her lips pulled Oul beyond recognition Maranda said i love you Mommy those six words told her doctors something no cat scanner could Maranda s speech had already migrated to the right Side of her brain. Three Days Laier she was walking by terse f. Within a month Terry says she was gelling on elevators and Disano earing i had to go look for her. After two months in Bali More Maranda was Down hark id children s Hospital in Denver to continue her Ovey three Days Beloe halloween she went Home to the bedroom she had t slept in for a year. Neurosurgeon Ben Canon believes a higher Power guide Bis Capel. The surgeon they Call gentle Ben Nancy Shulins associated press Ben Carson made medical history last augus when he inserted a drainage lube into the brain of an unborn Hydro Cephalic twi the buildup of pressure within the brain of he developing fetus was threatening the life of his Iwin. The unprecedented surgery Mads big Waves in medical circles. Ii also made the lbs evening news. As usual Carson took no credit for his skill in the operating room. It is the unwavering beef of the 35-Yoar old neurosurgeon that a higher Power guides his Scalpel during surgery. Carson s first experience Wilh Sharp objects and divine intervention came at the age of 14 when Midway through a healed argument in his inner City Detroit neighbourhood he attempted to Stab another Leen Ager. The Only Lime he Ever wielded a knife in anger also proved the last time Carson s knife would miss its Mark the Blade m the teenager s Belt buckle a major using Point in the life of Benjamin Solomon Carson neighbourhood Hothead a kid known Lar and wide for my terrible temper he says. These Days Carson is known not Only Lor his skill As a surgeon but Lor his unflappable nature and his rapport Wilh Young patients a combination Hal prompted the nurses Al Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore to nickname him gentle  tall lanky and soft spoken Carson s Calm in contagious As he strides through the corridors of the children s Center where he specializes in High risk surgery. In recent years Carson has done the majority of hemisphere Tomies performed at Johns Hopkins transforming desperately sick children into Lun tonal. Healthy ones. His own metamorphosis has been no less dramatic his Mother. Sonya. Ore of 24 children had been married at 13. Carson was just b years old when his parents divorced leaving his Mother with a m a scholarship with an . Irom the University of Michigan school of Medicine Carson came to Johns Hopkins to Plern in 1977, there he received his neurosurgery training and collected impressive credentials assistant professor of Neuron surgery. Assistant professor of oncology and. Al age 33, director of the division of Ped Ianc neurosurgery now married and the father of three Young sons Carson still worships at the seventh Day adv enlist Church begins Ever Day Wilh two hours of Bible Reading and prays before each operation a vegetarian Carson shuns co fee and alcohol prefers family outings to nightlife and plays a mean game of talk Tennis Pool and table soccer despite to offerm from private practices Carson has resisted the temptation to leave academic Medicine where the pay is much lower and the politics More pervasive but where the most challenging cases Are olten found there Are not a Tot of role models for Biack children who Seldom Gollo see Black people doing academic  he explains. Most of the role models they see Aie in sports or entertainment " that s also the reason that Carson spends his pre Craus spare Lime travelling around the country talking to slide nos. Nel june tie s planning a trip to Detroit where his Mother now a College graduate works As an Interior decor Alof the 988 commencement address at southwestern High school will to Given by a 1969 graduate a student who was always considered a Little Bil strange by his classmates who you Len i see spending so much time at the Library the stars and stripes Page 15 dumber 21.1987