Scssors.
Clamp.
-O.R. -Dr. Rogers for Dr. Carson.
Doctor?
-Yes? -Ben, /t's Mark.
I need to see you up /n my off/ce. A spec/a/-needs case just came /n.
Okay. Soon as l'm done.
They were born by cesarean three months ago,
and, aganst all odds, they're stll alve.
Ther physcan from West Germany called me ths mornng.
Occptal cranopagus twns have never both survved a separaton.
Yeah. He knows that.
lf they're not separated...
...they'll spend the rest of ther lves n bed, on ther backs.
The hosptal wants me to fly to Germany and examne them.
Ben, are you gonna do ths?
Nobody's ever done t.
ln stuatons lke ths, one baby always des.
We/come to Germany.
We've been anx/ous/y awa/t/ng your arr/va/, Dr. Carson.
Allow me to ntroduce Peter and Augusta Rausch.
Thank you for comng.
-How do you do, Doctor? -My pleasure.
And ths s Johann and Stefan.
l wanted to kll myself when l learned the truth,
but l realzed l would be kllng two other bengs, too.
And then, as soon as l saw them, my heart melted.
Please don't ask us to choose between them.
Well, they don't appear to be sharng any organs, whch s good.
Though there are parts of the bran, such as the vson center,
that aren't completely separated.
-We won't know untl we get n there. -How soon can that be?
Well, frst we have to solve the problem of exsangunaton.
-xsan... -Bleedng to death.
lt's the reason why cranal separatons have never succeeded.
You see, babes have very lttle blood,
and unless l can fgure out a way to keep them from bleedng out,
l can't rsk performng ths operaton.
l'll do t.
Good.
Thank you. l'll notfy the doctor n Germany.
We'll schedule the operaton for a month from now?
Make t two. Make t four.
Stll haven't fgured out how to save them both, huh?
l'm workng on t.
Number 1 2, 1 4. Number 13, 27.
Number 15, 33.
All rght, class, hand your test back to your neghbor.
All rght, how many dd you get rght?
Kathy?
-Twenty-fve. -That's excellent, Kathy.
-Mark? -Thrty.
Good for you, Mark. You got them all rght.
Benjamn?
Benjamn, how many dd you get rght?
-None. -Nne?
Why, Benjamn, that's wonderful. l'm so proud of you.
Not nne, Mss Wllamson. He got none.
You'd thnk he'd get at least one rght.
He got one rght last tme, 'cause he was tryng to put down the wrong answer.
Hey, Carson, we know you're the dumbest kd n the class,
but dd you hear what they sad on Cronk/te last nght on the news?
You're the dumbest kd n the world.
He ht hm! He ht hm!
Benne, how could ths have been an accdent?
Well, t was almost an accdent.
Mom, l never would have ht hm f l remembered l had the lock n my hand.
The boy had fve sttches, and hs parents are very upset.
l'm not sure how to dscplne your son, Mrs. Carson.
l'll handle t.
l'm also very concerned about hs grades. Have you seen hs latest report card?
So, what happened? You weren't gett/ng grades //ke that /n Boston.
Boston was easer. They ddn't ask us to do much.
Well, l an't askng you, ether, l'm tellng you.
You weren't meant to be a falure, Benne.
-And you can control your temper. -He called me a dummy...
And you can brng your grades up, too. l know you can.
-l'm dumb, Mother. -No, you an't.
You're a smart boy. Lsten to me. Lsten to me.
You just an't usng that smartness.
Now, f you keep gettng grades lke that,
you're gonna spend the rest of your lfe moppng floors n a factory.
And that an't the lfe l want for you.
That an't the lfe God wants for you, ether.
Yes, Mother.
l'm gonna have to have a talk wth hm about you and your brother, Curts.
No, no. He /nv/ted us to the game ton/ght, remember?
Why don't you and I go? And get me Cand/est/ck Park, p/ease.
Hey, Mother. You're home early.
They ddn't need me as long as they sad they would.
You fnsh your homework?
Most of t.
Benne, you're gonna run your eyes sttng so close to ths TV.
-You do your homework? -l need help.
-Curts, help your brother. -l gotta fnsh my math.
Mother, l need help.
-What you need help wth? -Ths hstory. l don't really understand t.
-Well, what don't you understand? -Lke, all the words.
Could you read ths for me?
l need new readng glasses. Why don't you tell me what t's about?
lt's about Thomas Jefferson and the Declaraton of lndependence.
-What s ths word? -Sound t out.
''Self... Self...
''And t...''
-Self... -Look at me.
Can you tell me what them cereal boxes s on the shelf?
Sure.
-l mean, can you read them? -Not ths far. Can you?
Looks lke l an't the only one around here gonna be needng glasses.
Tna, Sarah, Kathy, Benne.
Congratulatons. You're dong much better.
Yes!
Well, t's an mprovement, all rght. And l'm proud of you for not gettng an F.
You're a smart boy.
-But you both can do better. -l'm dong the best l can, Mother.
-How? l don't know how. -Well, l don't know how.
We're just gonna have to use our magnaton.
l don't got one.
Of course you do. verybody got an magnaton.
-Not me. -Of course you do.
Lsten to me. lf l say,
''Once upon a tme, there was a lttle blue mouse,''
don't you see a lttle blue mouse?
-No. -Benne.
-Mother, my bran's too dumb. -Boy, your bran an't dumb.
lt s, Mom.
You got all the world n here.
You just got to see beyond what you can see.
-What /s th/s, a race of some k/nd? -Betty, s/ow down.
You act as though th/s were your /ast mea/.
We've got to wr/te your contest essay ton/ght, Father.
Oh, we//, /n that case, maybe you had better hurry.
-Don't choke. -I'// get /t.
I never saw /t to fa//.
Every t/me we s/t down to eat, the phone r/ngs.
I know how to stop /t, Daddy. When the phone b/// comes, don't pay /t.
-Not a bad /dea. -That was Joe Ph////ps, Dad.
He wants me to come up to h/s unc/e's farm th/s weekend.
-Isn't that great? -But how are you gonna get there?
Joe's got a //cense. We cou/d dr/ve.
The /ast t/me he took a tr/p, he wrecked h/s dad's car.
Whose car /s he f/gur/ng on wreck/ng th/s t/me?
Yours.
-He thought... -I know what he thought.
But I wou/dn't trust Joe Ph////ps w/th a pogo st/ck.
P/ease, Dad. I'// be carefu/.
How can you be carefu/ /f he's dr/v/ng?
You never /et me do anyth/ng.
I'm not gonna /et you do th/s.
-You'd th/nk I was a juven//e or someth/ng. -When you act th/s way, you are.
-Now eat your d/nner. -I'm not hungry.
Then excuse yourse/f and /eave the tab/e.
Mother, come on, we'll be late for church.
You all go on ahead wthout me, honey.
Mama's havng one of her days.
All rght.
l'm remnded of the story of the mssonary doctor and hs wfe
who were surprsed by bandts.
You see, these theves were terrble men.
Bloodthrsty. Vcous. They not only robbed ther vctms,
they slt ther throats and laughed as they watched them de.
You all don't hear me.
Ths poor doctor and hs wfe ran for ther lves
as the theves chased them across rocky, barren land.
These mssonares' feet were cut open by sharp stones.
Ther clothes were torn by brambles,
and, fnally, they came upon a great fortress,
but the Band/t K/ng was r/ght beh/nd them.
The doctor ran up to the front door of the fortress and tred to open t.
But t was locked.
lf only someone would let them n. No one was there.
And the doctor and h/s w/fe h/d, but the Band/t K/ng saw them and drew h/s sword.
There appeared to be noth/ng that cou/d save God's good peop/e.
The Bandt Kng was after me, and so l hd under some straw,
and a blue mouse came out and scared hs horse.
And l got away. l saw t n my bran.
That's good. That's your magnaton workng.
But t was real, t was really real.
-Dd l say t wasn't real? -lt's not real.
-That's why t's called magnaton, dummy. -Shut up.
Watch your mouth, Curts.
Mother, l want to be a doctor.
A mssonary doctor, just lke the one Pastor Ford told us about.
You can be anythng you want to be n ths lfe,
as long as you're wllng to work at t.
That goes for you, too, Curts.
God wll not abandon you.
xcuse me.
l need to talk to someone.
l have a darkness l can't control.
Come wth me, ma'am. Let's see f we can help you. All rght?
I've spent my ch//dhood /n foster care.
When my husband, Mr. Carson, marred me, he was my tcket out of there.
-How old were you? -Thrteen.
We were happy.
We had a lovely home, two beautful boys.
Then what?
l don't lke to talk about t.
He had another wfe and kds.
When l found out, my lfe fell apart.
When was ths, Mrs. Carson?
Fve years back.
But l couldn't leave my husband 'cause my boys needed ther daddy
and l ddn't know how l'd make t on my own.
-Are you stll together? -No.
l found out he was dealng drugs, so me and the boys moved to Boston.
-l've got a sster there. -Why'd you come back to Detrot?
l got the house n the dvorce, and l kept t. l rent t out for ncome,
but l've been savng money n a cooke jar,
and me and my boys are gonna move back n.
-How do you support yourself? -l clean houses, and l baby-st.
That's about all l can do.
Nobody knows ths.
l'm so dumb, l can't even read.
And l fear my boys are gonna turn out the same way.
And nothng's gonna work out.
l try to fght these feelngs. l don't show them to Benne and Curts.
But, lately, l can't stop them.
l even thnk about kllng myself.
Mrs. Carson, what would you say to checkng yourself n wth us?
-No. -Just for a lttle whle.
-l can't afford to do anythng lke... -Don't thnk about the money.
We'll fnd the money.
Boys, l'm gonna be gong away for a lttle whle.
What? What do you mean?
-Where? -Just for a few weeks.
l'm gong back to Boston to see your aunt Jean Avery.
-Can't we come wth you? -No.
You got school. You got homework.
-So, you're just gonna leave us alone? -Of course not.
Sster Scott s gonna come and stay wth you.
ln the meantme, l want you boys to do me a favor.
l want you both to learn your tmes tables whle l'm gone.
-What? -No way!
You can do t.
Do you know how many there are?
-That could take a year. -Won't take my boys a year. You're smart.
Not that smart. Nobody can memorze them.
l dd, and l just went to the thrd grade.
-But t's hard work. -Well,
hard work an't never hurt nobody.
Besdes, you an't gong outsde to play tll you learn them tables.
Wat. Mother, please, no. Come on, that's not far.
Come on, Mother. You're the meanest mom n the world.
-Fve tmes four. -Thrty.
-No. -Thrty-one?
Ths sn't a guessng game, Benne.
Benne, lsten to your brother.
-Here you are, Mrs. Phllman. -Thank you.
-Mldred? -No.
-Kathy? -Twenty-two.
-Mark? -Twenty-fve out of 25.
xcellent.
Benjamn?
-Benjamn? -l ddn't cheat.
l ddn't say you dd. What's your score?
Twenty-four out of 25.
S/ster Scott! S/ster Scott!
l got an A!
l got an A.
Sster Scott! Sster Scott!
l got... Mother!
-l mssed you. l mssed you. -l mssed you, too.
l know all my tmes tables. l got them all rght, except for one.
Let me see. l knew you could do t.
l knew you could do t.
Professor Burket, l'm Mrs. Carson, your new cleanng woman.
-Mrs. Carson. -Sr?
-The ktchen floor. -What about t?
lt sparkles.
Well, your last cleanng lady ddn't do a very good job.
What l do, l do the best l can.
The last cleanng lady was me.
My late wfe was very sck.
l took care of her and not much else.
-l'm sorry. -Thank you.
Sr.
-Dd you read all these books? -Most of them. Why?
Just curous.
Take the rest of your men off the post.
They can stay w/th Corpora/ Do/an's fam//y /n Sa/t Lake t/// Barker's gone.
-Yes, s/r. -Come to th/nk of /t,
-you better stay there yourse/f. -Yes, s/r.
-Hey, why'd you do that for? -What's gong on? l was watchng that.
You boys watch too much televson.
-Not that much. -No more than everybody else.
Don't worry about everybody else. Ths whole world s full of everybody else.
From now on, you're gonna pck three, no, two pre-selected programs per week.
-A week? -You're crazy. l mean, ths s crazy.
And that's after you fnsh your homework.
What are we gonna do wth all our free tme?
l'm glad you asked. You're gonna go to the lbrary and pck out two books,
and, at the end of the week,
you're gonna hand me a wrtten report about what you read.
-Two books a week? -l don't beleve what you're sayng.
-l can't even read one. -We cannot possbly survve
-wthout televson. -Well, you're gonna start now.
Why you waste all that tme watchng the TV?
lf you used that tme to develop your God-gven gfts,
t wouldn't be long before folks was watchng you on TV.
-Man, there's a lot of books n here. -Shut up, boy. lt's a lbrary.
''Hear/ng the great roar made the young man wonder /f he had chosen w/se/y.
''Maybe /t was a tr/ck.
''Was there rea//y a t/ger, or just a record/ng of a t/ger's roar?
''Maybe there was a tger behnd the other door,
''and he'd de lke all the other prnces before hm.''
That's good, Benne. That's real good.
Mother, what's ths word?
l need to get new readng glasses. Sound t out.
Ag... Ag...
Agrculture. A-G-R-l-C-U-L-T-U-R-.
-Agrculture. -xcellent, Benjamn.
Kathy. ''Combne.''
Combne. C-O-M-B-l-N-. Combne.
For a 20-po/nt bonus, here's your toss-up. You know, severa/ //mer/cks beg/n,
''There was a young /ady from Perth. ''
L/mer/ck /s /n Ire/and. For 10 po/nts, where /s Perth?
Austra//a.
Wow. How could they know so much?
-R/ght, for 10 po/nts. -l don't know.
And, f/na//y, for 10 po/nts, what poet descr/bes...
Benne, come on, we're gonna be late.
xcuse me. Do you have any books on rocks?
Okay, class,
what about ths one? Does anybody know what ths s?
Anybody?
Yes, Benjamn,
can you dentfy ths rock?
-lt's obsdne. -Obsdan. That's rght.
Do you know how t was made?
Well, t was formed after a volcanc erupton,
by the supercoolng of the lava when t hts the water.
The volcano erupts, and the lava flows down red hot.
So, when t hts the water, the elements coalesce,
and snce that water s cold, the ar s forced out,
and the surface glazes over, and the lava becomes hard,
and that makes obsdne. l mean obsdan, sorry.
May l see you after class?
-What happened? -l'm sorry.
What are you sorry for? Someone unlocked the door.
Look at ths.
You know what that s?
That's a whole other world, Benjamn.
You just stepped nto a whole other world.
Magntude. M-A-G-N-l-T-U-D-. Magntude.
Mark. ''Perpetuate.''
Perpetuate.
''The feast
''of unleavened...
''The un...''
-Unleavened. -Unleavened.
Yeah.
B, come on. l gotta go.
Benne, are you n there?
What pot/on had a sort of m/xed f/avor of cherry tart, custard, p/neapp/e...
A//ce In Wonder/and.
The pot/on wh/ch A//ce /n Wonder/and drank,
wh/ch made her grow /nto var/ous s/zes.
Te// me, when Ca/n sett/ed down east of Eden, /n what /and d/d he //ve?
-ln the land of Nod! -In the /and of Nod.
R/ght. For 10 po/nts. How many ta/es /n The Canterbury Tales?
-Twenty-four. -R/ght.
Twenty-po/nt bonus. A 20-po/nt bonus com/ng up. Here's your toss-up.
A /ead/ng major-/eague baseba// p/ayer and the /ayer of the earth between...
Mantle. Mckey Mantle.
R/ght. Between the crust and the core...
Wow, you were there before I had the quest/on.
Okay. Rutgers, for 20 po/nts.
-''Saunter.'' -Saunter.
S-A-U-N-T--R. Saunter.
-''Lacquer.'' -Lacquer.
L-A-C-K--R. Lacquer.
Sorry, Clff.
Benjamn, f you spell t correctly, you wn.
Lacquer.
L-A-C-Q-U--R. Lacquer.
-That s correct. -Yes! Yes!
The cert/f/cate for the student w/th the h/ghest academ/c ach/evement
/n the e/ghth grade goes to Benjam/n Carson.
Before Benjam/n takes h/s seat, I have a few words I want to say.
Benjam/n /s a boy of co/or.
He has no father /n h/s //fe.
He comes to us w/th tremendous d/sadvantages.
There's no reason you shou/dn't have done better than h/m.
What's wrong w/th you k/ds? You're not try/ng hard enough.
You shou/d be ashamed.
The cert/f/cate for outstand/ng c/t/zensh/p goes to A/exa Courtney.
R/ght, for 10 po/nts.
A// r/ght, here's a 20-po/nt bonus, Brande/s.
Ident/fy the composer.
-V/va/d/. -That's r/ght, for 10 po/nts.
Th/s p/cture by Monet wou/d be c/ass/f/ed as French Impress/on/sm.
For 10 po/nts, how /s th/s p/cture c/ass/f/ed?
-Pr/m/t/ve Amer/can. -That's r/ght.
Turn off that thng!
-l'll turn t down. -No, l lke t. Turn t up.
Won't Mrs. Graham knock on the celng agan?
Let her knock. We're movng.
We're movng?
That speech your eghth-grade teacher gave tcked me off, so l went to the bank.
l've fnally saved up enough money
to take back that house we've been rentng out.
So, startng next fall, you're gong to a school that apprecates you.
Hey, Carl, you heard what Goodwll dd wth all the clothes so old and so ugly
-even the wnos ddn't want them? -What?
They gave them to New Blood over there.
Do we have any money left?
-What do you mean? -l need clothes for school.
-You got clothes for school. -Old clothes.
-Good clothes. -Not good enough for Hunter Hgh.
l've seen the clothes them kds wear. They're cheap.
No, they're not.
l ddn't say they weren't expensve. l sad they're cheap.
Most folks that wear cheap clothes on the outsde are dead on the nsde.
The folks l work for, they buy clothes that last.
That's what l try to get you.
Take Professor Burket. l wash hs clothes every week, and they always...
Benne, don't you be slammng around here,
and don't you walk away when l'm talkng to you!
Hey, Carl, they should use Carson's shrt n class as a chemstry lesson.
-A chemstry lesson? -Yeah,
'cause t smelled so bad t klled all the bugs that was breedng nsde of t.
They was breedng because your mama wore t.
l thnk you're confusng that wth your mama.
Her clothes are so raggedy, even the mummy turned them down.
Your mama's so old, she's the mummy's mama.
Your mama's so old, your daddy's a dnosaur.
Your mama's so old, her brth certfcate says ''expred'' on t.
-Man, where we gong? -Come on.
You got the money?
-I need c/othes for schoo/. -You got c/othes for schoo/.
Not good enough for Hunter H/gh.
Come on.
Jerome.
Ths s my man.
Gve hm the money.
Okay.
-Mornng. -Mornng.
Why aren't you wearng the pants l got you? Don't they ft?
l don't know. l ddn't try them on.
-Why not? -They're the wrong knd.
What you mean, they're the wrong knd? l pad good money for them pants.
That's too bad. You can take them back f you want.
l can't take them back. l bought them on specal.
Well, that's too bad, but l'm not gonna wear them.
l'm fxng ths wndow myself, Benne, so l'd have money to get you them pants.
That's your problem.
Look, throw them away! l'm not gonna wear them!
You can't have everythng n lfe you want, Benne.
-l can! l wll! -Not as long as you keep gong
down ths path. Talkng smart and actng stupd!
-Well, f l ddn't know any better... -Shut up! Shut up!
-All you do s preach at me! Shut up! -Benne!
-What are you, crazy? -Get off! Get off!
l sad stop t! All rght, all rght!
You can buy whatever you want.
You pay the blls, you pay the blls next month.
l'll brng home every dme l make n cash and hand t to you.
-What you got left, you keep for yourself. -Now you're talkng.
Hey, B.
-What's ths crap? -lt's not crap, all rght.
Shut up.
-You lke ths? You call ths musc? -lt's better than what you lke.
Hey, man, qut provng how stupd you are. You don't have to act so gnorant!
-Go to hell, man. -What'd you say to me?
Get off me!
Benne, what dd you do?
Joe.
Get a teacher or somethng.
Lord. Lord, you have to take ths temper away from me.
Please. Please. Just take t.
The protesters are here /n Centra/ Park, 50,000 strong.
And there has been a s/gn/f/cant show/ng...
lt s, n my opnon, the most amazng organ the human body holds.
By stmulatng one secton of the bran of an 85-year-old,
you can brng back, verbatm, memores of a newspaper artcle read 60 years before.
Consder your own brans.
They've absorbed and dgested enough nformaton to brng you here,
whch s no small achevement.
Your dreams are all possble because of three pounds of gray matter.
We can descrbe t physcally,
but that won't gve a clue as to how t does what t does.
Whch s why l've devoted my lfe, as a surgeon, to probng ts mysteres.
How dd you do that?
A lot of tme away from home, my wfe would tell you.
But dedcaton and ntellgence are the easy part.
You also need an ncredble hand-eye coordnaton, whch s a gft.
A bran surgeon? My goodness. Well, l always sad you can do
-anyth/ng anybody e/se can do, Benn/e. -Anythng anybody else can do, Benne.
-Only you can do t better. -On/y you can do /t better.
Don't laugh at me, t's true.
-Your grades are good? -They're fne.
Now, tell me, how's that grlfrend of yours?
-My mother says h. -l can't wat to meet her.
You thnk she's comng for Parents Weekend?
Not f l'm not here.
What? What are you talkng about?
Candy, you're a trple major. l'm havng trouble wth just one.
-Trouble? -Yale's too much for me.
What am l dong here, anyway?
You got a scholarshp. You were thrd n your class.
Yeah, and everybody else here graduated frst.
My grades are lousy, especally chemstry.
lf l don't pass ths fnal exam, l lose my scholarshp,
whch means l can't be a doctor,
-whch s the only thng... -Slow down.
What are you good at?
What are you good at? When t comes to studyng, what works best for you?
l don't know.
Readng. l'm good at readng. lf all l ever dd was read, l'd be just fne.
lnstead, l got to st through all these borng lectures
-eght hours a day... -Well, skp the lectures.
The professors don't care.
-That'll only make thngs worse. -They can't be any worse than they are now.
Hey, what do l know? Maybe l'm just...
No, no, no. No, you're rght.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
-Joseph Lster. -Poneered the compound mcroscope,
and made surgeons wear clean gloves and swab wounds wth carbolc acd.
Newton's second /aw.
An app//ed force on an object
equa/s the t/me change of rate of /ts momentum.
-The formu/a for methane. -No.
-Propane. -No.
Fnsh them.
You don't need the book.
You got the book nsde you.
Well, congratulatons, Mr. Carson. You have arrved wth seconds to spare.
veryone, open your test booklets.
And begn.
Maybe we should ask. Rght?
See you guys later.
-What? What? What? -l got an A.
Now, you know, now that l'm gonna be a neurosurgeon,
you shouldn't marry me 'cause l probably won't be home much.
ls that a promse?
Johns Hopk/ns accepts on/y two students a year for neurosurgery res/dency.
Ths year, we have 1 25 applcants.
So, why we should take you?
l have good grades and excellent recommendatons.
As do all of our applcants.
Johns Hopkns s my frst choce. lt's my only choce.
You have confdence. Yes, that's good n a neurosurgeon.
But tell me somethng,
why dd you decde to become a bran doctor?
The bran...
lt's a mracle.
Do you beleve n mracles?
Not a lot of doctors do. There's not a lot of fath among physcans.
l mean, we study reports,
we cut open bodes, t's all very tangble, sold.
But the fact s, there's stll so many thngs we just can't explan.
l beleve we're all capable of performng mracles, up here.
l beleve we're all blessed wth astonshng gfts and sklls.
Look at Handel.
l mean, how can he compose somethng lke the Mess/ah n only three weeks?
Ths s the channel,
the source, the nspraton for unbelevable accomplshments.
-You lke classcal musc? -l love t.
l do, too.
l thnk we'll get on qute well together.
Nurs/ng superv/sor to second f/oor, p/ease. Nurs/ng superv/sor to second f/oor, p/ease.
Good mornng.
You're late. Mr. Schwartz n 301 needs to be taken to surgery now.
No, l'm not an orderly. l'm the new ntern.
Report to Dr. Farmngton for rounds.
Dr. Car/, p/ease ca// 2-4-8-8.
Ths young man has a dsease called von Hppel-Lndau.
lt's very rare and causes multple tumors throughout the bran.
He has hs second surgery tomorrow, and t wll most lkely crpple hm.
Carson, draw some blood.
Doctor, accordng to hs charts, he may be anemc.
-l don't thnk... -Well, l don't care what you thnk.
You do as l say.
Don't thnk you're specal, Carson,
smply 'cause there's no one lke you n ths department.
lf you don't change your atttude,
l'll get you kcked out of neurosurgery faster than you can say, ''Yassuh.''
-Are you fnshed? -Yes.
Fne.
Hey, buddy. Let's get you gong here.
How was t?
Benne?
Ben?
Good mornng.
Good mornng, Nurse Smth.
He was ht wth a baseball bat. He's deteroratng rapdly.
Please tell hm that all the neurosurgeons at Hopkns are away at a conference.
l am a resdent. lt s llegal for me to operate wthout an attendng physcan present.
l can't reach Dr. Farmngton, and l can't reach Dr. Udvarhely.
lf someone doesn't operate on ths man soon, he wll de.
Go for t.
l'm not qualfed to do a lobectomy.
Thy wll be done, Lord. Amen.
Scalpel.
Foley.
Bpolar.
Cottonods, please.
Rad/o/ogy, p/ease ca// to page.
Dr. Udvarhely wants to see you n hs offce ASAP.
You operated on ths man wthout permsson, wthout supervson.
You put ths hosptal n serous legal jeopardy.
Had ths man ded, your career would have been over.
You dd very well, Dr. Carson.
l congratulate you on takng the proper acton,
n spte of ts possble consequences.
Okay, come on, move, move. She's sezng.
-l want you to see t, too. -Okay.
Okay, okay.
They'll gve you somethng to make you better.
-l don't have... -Okay, all rght.
-lt's gettng worse, Doctor. -Just relax, relax.
Ben, have a look at ths.
The patent's a four-year-old by the name of Cyntha Gonzalez.
She's been havng sezures snce she was 18 months.
She now has about 100 a day.
They on/y affect her r/ght s/de, but they're so frequent,
she's forgett/ng how to wa/k, ta/k, eat, /earn.
She's been dagnosed wth Rasmussen's.
Her parents have been told there's nothng to be done.
lt's the only tme she's sezure-free.
When she's awake, she lves between convulsons.
She's been on 35 dfferent medcatons over the years.
Sometmes they're so strong, she doesn't recognze me.
She's beautful.
One doctor ca//ed her a menta//y-retarded ep//ept/c.
We//, I'm here to te// you that she's not.
Do you rea//y th/nk you can he/p?
I can try.
The left sde of Cyntha's bran s lke a troubled kd on a playground
beatng up on her own twn.
Now, you control that kd, and the playground's at peace.
How do we do that?
There's an operaton called a hemspherectomy.
lt nvolves removng the sezure-prone part of the bran.
-What? -How wll she be able to lve or survve
-wth half a bran? -lt's not as bad as t sounds.
We don't know why, but a chld's bran has a remarkable ablty to recover.
lt's as f the bran cells haven't decded what they want to be when they grow up.
They take on the functons of the dseased cells
and then eventually restore the neurologcal functon.
-You thnk there's a chance ths wll work? -Yes. l do.
But t s a gamble. There's no way around that.
lf Cyntha survves, she could be paralyzed on her rght sde.
The left sde of the bran controls the speech area.
She may lose her ablty to speak.
Have you done one of these operatons yourself?
No. l have not.
How you feelng?
Wshng t were four months from now.
Why? So we can get less sleep than we do now?
Good nght.
Your mother called today.
She sad the movers are comng n a week. She's so excted.
Me, too.
So, are you ready?
For my mother or two more babes?
For tomorrow.
Scalpel.
We are now exposng the skull.
Put more pressure on the edge, please.
Drll.
Please change to a footplate.
Saw.
Penfeld 3.
Removng the skull to access the dura.
Holdng skull flap for reconstructon.
We need to reduce the swellng.
lnsertng to releve flud pressure.
I've removed the ent/re /eft hem/sphere of the bra/n.
Cyntha, can you hear me?
Can you open your eyes, sweetheart? We're all done.
Let's see those pretty eyes, sweetheart. Come on.
lt's tme to wake up, Cyntha. Let's see those pretty eyes, sweetheart.
Can you open your eyes?
Let's see those pretty eyes. We're all done now.
l don't know why she's not wakng up, Ben.
How s she?
lt took twce as long as we thought.
She lost nne pnts of blood, whch s double her normal volume.
But she came through just fne.
Though t mght be a whle before we know f she can move or speak.
Mommy?
-Daddy? -Oh, my God.
l love you.
Thank you.
Baby.
She talks, she hears, she thnks, she responds.
There are no addtonal sgns of weakness.
-Dr. Carson... -Dr. Carson, how s ths possble?
The bran's a mraculous organ.
How long have you been practcng?
l completed my resdency three years ago, but l haven't yet taken my oral exams.
Are there any more se/zures, Doctor?
So far, the se/zures have subs/ded.
Grandma!
-Grandma! -Grandma! Grandma!
Baby.
-Your daddy... -Hey.
You're gonna love t here.
Ben.
Ben. Honey, wake up. Wake up.
l gotta go to the hosptal.
Oh, no.
Get ready to crossmatch wth two unts of blood.
-Yes, Doctor. -Ben...
lt's best you wat out here, Dr. Carson.
How do you feel? Do you feel any contractons?
Okay, ma'am, ths mght feel tght around your arm
when we take your blood pressure.
Okay, hook up the fetal montor.
Oxygen to help you breathe. Here you go, Mrs. Carson.
Breathng okay?
Just take t slow. You're dong fne.
Your wfe wll be fne, Dr. Carson. She'll be just fne.
But l'm sorry to say we lost the babes.
l'm so sorry.
There was nothng l could do.
What tme s t?
1 1 :30.
-Shouldn't you be on duty? -l am.
l mean neurosurgery.
-Your patents need you. -You need me.
l have you. Go to work.
-Down ths hall. -Okay. Thank you.
Doctor, where have you been? You're late. What happened?
-l've been callng your house all mornng. -l'll make up for t.
That's...
Good grl. Hey.
She's a good grl. Yes, you are.
She's a bg grl.
Okay. l love both of those hands.
That's very good. Very nce.
How are you feelng?
How are you feelng now?
Help me, Lord.
Ben, l've just been told you want to hold off the operaton on the twns.
The sooner we operate, the better the chances for recovery.
l know, l know, but they'll bleed out. l can't fgure out a way around that.
Look, you're the best pedatrc neurosurgeon n the world.
-You may thnk l'm the best. -That's why they chose you.
lf you can't fnd a soluton, no one can.
Just lke old tmes, huh?
You and me n the ktchen, dong dshes after dnner.
xcept n Detrot, we ddn't have a dshwasher.
Yes, we dd. You're lookng at her.
So proud of my boys.
Curts, an engneer, you, a doctor.
You're stll thnkng about them Samese twns, aren't you?
Sometmes l feel lke...
l don't know, Mother.
Lke a faucet that's all dred up.
l felt that way plenty of tmes.
The thng s, you got to fnd out what's blockng t
and move that thng out the way.
l don't know what's blockng t.
Sure you do.
You may not be able to brng back your babes by savng these,
but, even f you fal, at least you dd somethng.
Benne.
You can do ths. Sure you can.
You got all the world n here.
You just gotta see beyond what you can see.
Yes. Come on.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-He//o? -Mark, we're a go.
F/rst off, we'// need to have the room w/red w/th emergency power,
/n case there's an e/ectr/ca/ fa//ure. Then we'// need two of everyth/ng,
two anesthes/a mon/tors, two heart /ung mach/nes,
enough peop/e on each team to cover both bab/es.
We'// need an anesthes/o/ogy team, a team of card/ac surgeons,
a team of p/ast/c surgeons, a team of neurosurgeons.
And we'// need to f/gure out how to f/t a// 50 of us /nto one operat/ng room.
Each team must rehearse the/r respect/ve procedures step-by-step,
and each team must deve/op scenar/os
for the worst poss/b/e th/ngs that cou/d happen.
lf one baby des, we need to separate hm as fast as possble
and gve all shared tssue to the survvng twn.
Card/othorac/c w/// start the/r procedures at 6.:00 a.m.
Hello, agan, Peter, Augusta. Welcome to Johns Hopkns.
Your sons' blood vessels are lke tny faucets
wth only so much blood to lose.
Now, f we can turn off the faucets, we can keep your sons from bleedng.
The only way to do ths s to stop ther hearts.
-Stop ther... -lt's not a new procedure.
lt's been used by cardovascular surgeons for years.
lt's just never been appled n a stuaton lke ths.
Now, we can do t n nfants for an hour wthout causng bran damage.
-But that hour s crtcal. -Why? What happens n that hour?
We'll stop ther hearts,
then spend that hour reconstructng all the blood vessels
so that when ther hearts start agan,
there won't be any lfe-threatenng loss of blood.
All n one hour?
Whch s why we've rehearsed and rehearsed,
and why we need to pray.
-You pray, Doctor? -very day.
l'm removng the percardum to be used later as vascular tssue.
Cardo s done. All yours, Ben.
My lght, please.
Scalpel.
l've opened the dura and revealed the venous snus that they share.
l'm gong to start separaton now, startng below the torcula.
There's a lot of bleedng.
Close t up. We'll try a dfferent area.
Vtal sgns are stable.
Lord, t's lke a lake of blood, t's huge.
Sttch.
We have to start hypothermc arrest.
Ben, we can't stop the hearts rght now. We haven't fnshed separatng all the vens.
lf we do t now, t'll cut too deeply nto our hour.
lf we don't stop the hearts, they'll bleed out.
-Start coolng the blood. -Coolng.
Prepare to nject the salne coolant soluton to replace the blood.
Aortc cross-clamp.
Cardoplegc needle.
Blood coolng to 20 degrees.
The hearts are stopped. Turn off the heart-lung machne.
Okay. We have one hour to fnsh separaton,
rebuld the severed vens and reconstruct the torcula.
Pck up.
Bpolar. More sucton, please.
Dr. Wong, ca// the page operator.
l'm now separatng the sagttal snus.
Okay. Prepare for separaton.
Rght.
Set.
l'm ready to go.
All rght, on my mark.
Three, two, one, separate.
-Slowly. -asy.
Get ready wth the drapes. Make sure we don't contamnate the feld.
Get that drape, too.
-Go ahead, hang t. -Adjust that lght, please.
l got the drapes.
You adjust the drape?
-Anesthesa? How does t look? -Gve us a few mnutes, Ben.
Start the restructurng of the torcula.
Ths s takng three tmes as long as l thought.
lt's just too darn small.
Pressure's comng down, Ben.
Done wth vascular reconstructon.
-Turn on the pump. -Yes, Doctor.
-Start re-warmng the blood. -Yes, Doctor. Warmng the blood.
l don't thnk l can do t n tme.
One mnute, 30 seconds, Doctor.
You don't need the book.
You got the book nsde you.
Done.
Start the pumps. Warm the blood.
Startng the pumps.
Get ready to start the heart, baby one.
Paddles n, baby two.
Clear, baby one.
Okay. Do t.
Baby two. Charge to 10.
Clear. All rght, do t.
Looks lke snus rhythm.
-Start closng up the chest. -Closng.
Begn closng the dura, Dr. Long.
Closng, Ben.
Sttch, please.
Someone let the parents know we're almost fnshed.
Yes, Doctor.
-Close them up. Dr. Long? -One more sttch, Ben.
Dsconnect my lght, please.
Lght, please.
Neuro's clear. Plastc surgeons, prepare to begn.
Thank you, Ben. Plastcs, steppng n.
U/trasound tech to Labor 4, p/ease.
Peter.
Doctor?
Whch chld would you lke to see frst?
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
-Good. -Yeah.
l'm okay.
-Okay. -Yeah?
Okay.
-All rght. -Congratulatons.
Fantastc. Nce work.
Good job.
Ben, congratulatons. lncredble job.
Nce work, Dr. Carson.
Lad/es and gent/emen, /f you can g/ve Dr. Carson a moment, p/ease,
he'// be happy to answer a// of your quest/ons
as soon as he steps up to the pod/um.
l always sad, you can do anythng anyone else can do,
-only you can do t better. -Only you can do t better.
That goes for you, too, Mother.
-l love you. -l love you.