In Celebration Of Being Alive

Dr Christian Barnard

Answer the following questions in one or two sentences based on your

understanding of the lesson.
a. What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of
his career as a heart surgeon?
Dr.Christiaan Barnard thought that suffering seems so cruelly prevalent in the
world today. The 125 million children bom this year, 12 million are unlikely to
reach the age of one. Another 6 million will die before the age of 5. These thoughts
troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart
surgeon.

b. What were Dr. Barnard’s feelings when he was hospitalized after an

accident?
Dr. Barnard experienced not only agony and fear but also anger. He asked
himself why should this happen to them.

c. When and where did the accident occur?

Few years ago Dr. Barnard and his wife met with an accident while crossing the
street.

d. How did the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his wife affect their
routine?
There were patients waiting for Dr.Barnard to operate on them. His wife had a
young baby, who needed her care. Thus the hospitalization of Dr. Barnard and his
wife affect their routine.
e. How was Dr. Barnard’s attitude to suffering different from that of his
father’s?
Dr. Barnard’s father believed that Suffering was God’s will. But Dr.Barnard
did not see nobility in a patient’s thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed, mind
clouded in agony.

f. How was the unattended trolley put to use?

Among the patients in the hospital, a boy with amputated left hand and a
mechanic with amputated shoulder and arm, fearlessly moved the trolley and
served the food to the patients.

g. What roles did the duo take up?

The two boys took up the roles of driver and a mechanic of the food trolley.

h. Why did the choice of roles prove to be easy for them?

The mechanic, who provided motor power with his head to the trolley, was
totally blind and the driver, who steered the trolley by scraping his foot on the
floor, had only arm So the choice of roles proved to be easy for them.
i. Who encouraged them and how?
The rest of the patients in the hospital encouraged them. They encouraged them by
the laughter and shouts of encouragement.

j. What does Dr. Barnard compare this entertainment to?

Dr. Barnard compares this entertainment to Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 car
race.

k. What happened in the grand finale?

There was a grand finale of scattered plates and silverware. The nurse and
ward sister caught up with them, scolded them and put them back to bed.

l. How does Dr. Barnard know the boy who played the trolley’s driver?
A few years earlier, Dr.Barnard had successfully closed a hole in the boy’s
heart. As he had a malignant tumour, he came back to the hospital. Thus Dr.
Barnard knows the boy who played the trolley’s driver.
m. What was the profound lesson that Dr. Barnard learnt from the boys?
Dr.Barnard realised that the joy of living is most important in the world. The
children showed him what we have lost is not important but what we have left
is important. This is the lesson he had leamt from the two boys.

2. Answer the following questions in three or four sentences.

a. Detail the statistics Dr. Barnard has provided in his speech.

Dr. Barnard mentions that 125 million children are born that year. Among
them 12 million are unlikely to reach the age of one and another six million will
die before the age of five. And, of the rest, many will end up as mental or physical
cripples.

b. What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?
When the doctor was crossing the street with his wife, a car had hit them and
knocked him into his wife. She was thrown into the other lane and struck by a
car coming from the opposite direction.

c. What injuries did they sustain in the accident?

Dr.Bamard had eleven broken ribs and a perforated lung. His wife had a
badly fractured shoulder.

d. Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. Why?

Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. As a doctor, he saw nothing
noble in a patient’s thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed, mind clouded in
agony. He could not see any nobility in the crying of a lonely child in a ward at
night.

e. Why does Dr. Barnard find suffering of children heartbreaking?

Dr. Barnard finds suffering of children heartbreaking. Because he felt sympathetic
towards them and he knew about their total trust in doctors and nurses. They
believe that the doctors and nurses are going to help them.
f. How did the boy who played the mechanic lose his eyesight?
When the boy was seven years old, his drunken mother threw a lantern at his
father. It missed and hit the boy. Then he suffered severe third-degree bums on the
upper part of his body, and lost both his eyes.

g. Why does Dr. Barnard describe the blind boy as a ‘walking horror’?
He was a walking horror, with a disfigured face and long flap of skin hanging from
the side of his neck to his body. As the wound healed around his neck, his lower
jaw became gripped in a mass of fibrous tissue. The only way this little boy could
open his mouth was to raise his head. So Dr. Barnard describes the blind boy as a
‘walking horror’.

h. What were the problems the trolley driver suffered from?

The trolley driver had a hole in his heart. Dr.Barnard had successfully closed the
hole in the boy’s heart. As he had a malignant tumour, he came back to the
hospital. A few days before the race, his shoulder and arm were amputated. There
was little hope of his recovery.

3. Answer the following in a paragraph of 100 – 150 words each.

a. Give an account of the medical problems for which the two boys were
hospitalized.
The author saw two boys driving a food trolley happily in the hospital. One of
them acts as a mechanic. When he was seven years old, one night, his mother and
father were drunk. His mother threw a lantern at his father. It missed and the
lantern broke over the child’s head and shoulders. He suffered severe third-degree
bums on the upper part of his body, and lost both his eyes. He was a walking
horror, with a disfigured face. The long flap of skin hanging from the side of his
neck to his body. As the wound healed around his neck, his lower jaw became
gripped in a mass of fibrous tissue. The only way this little boy could open his
mouth was to raise his head. The other boy acts as a trolley driver. He had a hole in
his heart. Dr. Barnard had successfully closed the hole in his heart. Again he had
come to the hospital because he had a malignant tumour of the bone. A few days
before the race, his shoulder and arm were amputated. There was little hope of his
recovery.

b. “These two children had given me a profound lesson …” Elucidate.

The author saw two boys driving a food trolley happily in the hospital. One of the
boys was a seven-year old, and he was blind. The other boy had a heart surgery.
But the two boys were driving a trolley and scattered plates, cups and saucers on
the way. It was like a “Grand Prix”. All the other patients enjoyed the scene and
laughed. Dr.Barnard realises that the joy of living is most important in the world.
This is the lesson he had learnt from the two boys. He realises that as we are
suffering, we don’t become a better person. If we experience suffering, we will
become a better person. If we don’t know darkness, we can’t appreciate light.
Unless we suffer chillness, we can’t appreciate warmth. Thus the children showed
him what we have lost is not important but what we have left is important.

c. Describe the ‘Grand Prix’ at Cape Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
Grand Prix means International car race. Once Dr.Christiaan Barnard visited Cape
Town’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital. There he came across a ‘Grand Prix’ of
two boys driving a food trolley happily in the hospital. It opened his eyes to the
fact which was full of solace for him. A nurse in the hospital had left a trolley
unattened. This trolley was commandeered by an intrepid driver and a mechanic.
The mechanic provided motor power behind the trolley with his head down. The
driver seated and steered with one hand. He was scraping his foot on the floor. The
mechanic was totally blind, and the driver had only one arm. The rest of the
patients encouraged them by laughter and shouts. It was a better entertainment than
the Indianapolis 500 race. Plates, cups and saucers were thrown around. Thus
thegrand finale of the Grand Prix came to an end.

d. How did a casual incident in a hospital help Dr. Barnard perceive a new
dimension of life?
The trolley driver had a hole in his heart. Dr. Barnard had successfully closed a
hole in his heart. Again he had come to the hospital because he had a malignant
tumour of the bone. A few days before the race, his shoulder and arm were
amputated. There was little hope of his recovery.The driver informed him that the
trolley’s wheels were not properly oiled. It showed his confidence in the mechanic.
He realises that as we are suffering, we don’t become a better person. If we
experience suffering, we will become a better person. If we don’t know darkness,
we can’t appreciate light. Unless we suffer chillness, we can’t appreciate wannth.
Thus the children showed him what we have lost is not important but what we
have left is important.

e. Life is unjust and cruel to certain people. Do they all resign themselves to
their fate? Can you think of some who have fought their disabilities heroically
and remained a stellar example for others? (for e.g. the astrophysicist Stephen
Hawking, a paraplegic). Give an account of one such person and his/her
struggle to live a fruitful life.
Life is not unjust and cruel to the physically challenged people. They do not resign
themselves to their fate. Stephen William Hawking was a theoretical physicist and
a cosmologist. He was suffering from a rare and life threatening disease
‘Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis’ (ALS). He suffered a lot in his whole adult life.
His illness started when he was 21. For major part of his later life, he was almost
paralyzed and communicated through a speech generating device. He devoted all
his life to his work and research. His main focus of research was theoretical
cosmology, focusing on the evolution of the universe and laws of general
relativity. He believed that human life is at risk and said that, “a sudden nuclear
war, or other dangers we have not yet thought of’ can wipe us off the earth. He
wrote the books ‘Cosmology in 2001’, ‘The universe in Nutshell’, ‘A Brief history
of Time’, ‘God Created the Integers’, and ‘God’s secret to the universe’. Though
he suffered from sclerosis, he never gave up his determination.