PERSEVERANCE AND SINCERITY NEVER FAIL
If a person says 'Yes', he has to honour it throughout. Whereas, if says 'No', only initial embarassment, but there is no need to adhere to any commitment. Yes or No, we may have to utter according to the situation it warrants. Let us see, how one 'Yes' by a person changed his life and made him a celebrity.
Cape Town Medical University is a famous University, which performed world's first bypass surgery. In 2003, Prof. David Dent, world renowned surgeon, announced the name Hamilton for the honorary degree in medicine, Master of Medicine. Entire auditorium stood and greeted. It was the biggest reception in the history of the university. Hamilton did not have formal education.
Hamilton was born in Sanitani, a remote village in Cape Town. His parents were shepherds, he wore goat skin and walked in the mountain barefoot. His father fell ill. Hamilton moved to Cape Town. Construction was going on at the Cape Town University. He worked as a labourer. When the construction ended, he got the job of mowing the tennis court. He did this job for three years. Then came a strange turn in his life. Prof. Robert Joyce was researching on giraffes. They laid a giraffe on the operation table, knocked it unconscious, but as soon as the operation started, the giraffe shook its head. So they needed a strong man to hold giraffe's neck tight during the operation. The professor spotted Hamilton mowing the lawn and called him to grab the giraffe's neck. Hamilton grabbed the neck of the giraffe. The operation lasted for eight hours. During that time, the doctor continued to take tea and coffee breaks, but Hamilton stood holding the giraffe's neck. When the operation was over, he went out quietly and started mowing the lawn. Next day the professor continued the operation and called Hamilton for grabbing the giraffe's neck. It became his routine and he did it without complaining. Prof. Robert Joyce was impressed by his perseverance and sincerity and promoted him as Lab Assistant. He started coming to the operation theatre and helped the surgeons. This process continued for years.
In 1958, another turning point. Dr. Bernard came to the University and startet heart transplant operation. Hamilton became his Assistant and then additional surgeon. The doctors did operate and the task of stitching was entrusted to him. He used to do excellent stitches. His fingers were clean and fast, to stitch fifty people in one day. He began to understand the human body more than the surgeons. So the Senior doctors gave him the responsibility of teaching the junior doctors. Gradually, he became the most important figure in the University.
Third turning point in his life came in 1970. When research on liver began, he identified one liver artery during surgery, which made liver transplantation easier. His remarks astonished the great minds of medical science.
Hamilton achieved this position with perseverance and sincerity. He was associated with the University of Cape Town for fifty years, in those fifty years, he never took vacation. He was the first illiterate teacher of medical history. He was the first illiterate surgeon to train 30000 surgeons in his life time. He died in 2005 and was buried at the University. It was made compulsory for surgeons to pass out from the University after obtaining the degree to go to his grave, take a picture and then get into practical life.
On the day, he was called to grab the giraffe's neck, he could have refused saying that he was only a Grounds Maintenance worker and his job was not to hold giraffe's neck. But he said Yes, that Yes opened the door to success and the world got a great surgeon.
