Impoverished Man Goes From Fixing Cars To Saving Lives After Becoming Doctor At 51

Oct 12, 2022 by apost team

Most of the time, not everyone’s childhood dreams come to life, especially if someone’s current status in life limits their access to achieving such things. Some kids want to be an astronaut, others want to be dinosaur explorers. While some have the luxury to dream and achieve it, others don’t. 

Ohio native Carl Allamby dreamt of being a doctor when he was still young. At the time, the dream was out of reach as he belonged to a family of five, with a stay-at-home mother and a minister father; they had to face economic struggles – surviving nights and weeks without lights, gas, or even water. 

But with hard work, Allamby managed to stay in school. He even pointed out that even though their teachers tried to educate them, their educational aspirations came in second as they had to prioritize their basic needs first. 

“From my own experience, it is very difficult to focus on your education when your mind is filled with challenges outside the walls of the school. Food insecurity, safely making it to and from school, affording decent clothing and basic school supplies or just trying to fit in took precedent over studying and getting good grades," he emphasized in an interview with Fox News. 

While he was in high school, Allamby got a job at a local car parts store as a mechanic just to make ends meet. At the young age of 19 and due to persistence, he opened his first ever shop, Allamby’s Auto Service, likening the need to do it as out of “desperation” and “necessity.”

However, it was after his successful opening that the business grew faster than he initially anticipated – that was when a flicker of hope got ignited inside of him. 

Carl Allamby previously dreamt of being a doctor. Although the idea seemed to be farfetched, considering he has mouths to feed as he is already a family man, he began working for it as he took up night classes and continued spending time with cars in the morning. 

Enrolling at Ursuline College in Ohio at 34 years old, he initially thought of getting a business degree. But, his passion for medicine came through, and the next thing he knew, he was already taking up pre-med classes at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio. 

Allamby was engrossed in volunteer work while pursuing his medical degree, serving on the pediatric ward while juggling various medical specialties. For him, age was just a number, as he did not let his difference with other more “youthful” classmates in medical school get in the way of him securing the coveted white coat. 

But the blossoming physician didn’t have it the easy way around. He has to carefully thread on being a provider for his family, a business owner, a full-time medical student, and an eager dreamer. Thanks to his wife, children, and family, he saw the light in the tunnel and graduated from his emergency medicine residency in 2019 at Cleveland Clinic Akron at 47 years old. 

For Allamby, his experience as a car mechanic helped him better in becoming a better doctor – a testament that life would not hand you down lemons you could not make lemonade off. 

"In my previous life as a master technician, I worked on almost every make and model and fixed everything from brakes to major engine and transmission rebuilds,” he said on Fox News. 

Now at the age of 51, Allamby can perform life-saving invasive techniques to minor surgical procedures, achieving his childhood dream of becoming a doctor.

apost.com

What is your childhood dream? What do you think of Dr. Carl Allamby’s journey? Let us know, and make sure to send this to your friends, family, and those who are losing hope in achieving their life-long dreams!