Prose summary for In celebration of being alive by Christian Barnad

1. DR. CHRISTIAN BARNARD

2. Beethovan was a great
musician who suffered
from hearing impairment

3. Demesthenes suffered from
Speech impairment
He is known as the Father of
Oration

4. Helen Keller was blind
and deaf
She wrote books like
‘Light in my darkness’

5. John Milton was blind
He wrote the famous
epic ‘ Paradise Lost’

6. Mozart was suffering from
congenital ear defect
He was a famous musician

7. Sudha Chandiran is with
amputed legs.
She is a well known
Bharatha natyam dancer

8. Mariappan Thangavelu is an
paralympic high jumper. He is
India’s first Paralympian gold
medalist since 2004

9. What is celebration according to you ?

10. But, according to Dr. Barnard , being alive
is important. Being alive is something great
to be celebrated

11. Christiaan Neethling Barnard was
born in rural South Africa in 1922 to
poor parents as their fourth child.
He evinced great interest in his
academics and was determined to
pursue medicine,after the loss of his
brother to a cardiac ailment. He
won many scholarships and pursued
his higher studies specializing in
cardiac surgery. As a cardiac
surgeon, Barnard focussed on
congenital and complicated cardiac
conditions for which there was no
cure at that time. After
experimenting with heart
transplantation on animals, he
performed the world’s first human-
to-human heart transplant in the
year 1967.
Who is Dr.Christian Barnard ?

12. He gained worldwide recognition
and went on to develop many
surgery techniques, which are
being adopted till date. Barnard
has penned fourteen books and
235 scientific articles that have
been published in reputed
journals

13. Barnard said , “ Of the 125 million children born, 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.”

14. Dr. Barnard wondered why people should
suffer? Suffering seemed so cruelly prevalent
in the world.

15. He had this thought because of the accident
that he and his wife met with.

16. When Barnard and his wife were
crossing the road after having a meal, a
car had hit them

17. Dr. Barnard had eleven broken ribs and a
perforated lung. He could not attend his
patients who needed him badly

18. His wife had a badly fractured shoulder.
She could not take care of her young
baby

19. He asked himself that why should that accident happen
to them while they had so much of work

20. His father would say , “ Suffering
ennobles a man- makes a man a
better person.”

21. But as a doctor Barnard could not see anything noble in a
patient’s suffering. He could not see any nobility in the crying of
a lonely child in a ward at night

22. But, he thought that the patients had full trust in
Doctors. Even if the doctors had failed, they
accepted it as their fate.

23. When Barnard and his wife were
admitted in the hospital, he happened
to see two boys who changed his
perception of suffering
Boy with amputated arm Blind boy

24. One morning a nurse had left a breakfast trolley
unattended.

25. Soon the trolley was commandeered by two
boys – a driver and a mechanic. The mechanic
was totally blind and the driver had only one
arm

26. They put on quite a show that day. All the other
inmates of the hospital encouraged them with their
laughter and shouts

27. Dr. Barnard compared the race to the
Indianapolis 500 car race

28. There was a grand finale of scattered plates and
silverware before the nurse caught up with them,
scolded them and put them back to bed

29. The mechanic was seven years old. One night when his mother
and father were drunk, his mother threw a lantern at his father,
missed and the lantern broke over the child’s head and shoulders.
He suffered severe third –degree burns on the upper part of the
body and lost both his eyes.

30. At the time of the Grand Prix, he was a walking
horror with disfigured face . The only way this
little boy could open his mouth was to raise his
head. When Dr.Barnard stopped by to see him
after the race, he said , “You know, we won” And
he was laughing
Disfigured face

31. Dr. Barnard knew the trolley’s driver. A few years
earlier , he had successfully closed a hole in his
heart. He had returned to the hospital because he
had a malignant tumour of the bone.

32. A few days before the race, his shoulder and arm
were amputated. There was little hope of his
recovery. After the Grand Prix, he proudly
informed Dr.Barnard that the trolley’s wheels
were not properly oiled, but he was a good driver,
and he had full confidence in the mechanic.

33. Dr.Barnard learnt a profound lesson
from the boys in getting on with the
business of living. The business of
living is the celebration of being alive.

34. It’s not what we lose
that matters, but what is
left behind

35. We can’t appreciate light if we haven’t
known darkness

36. We can’t appreciate warmth if we
have never suffered cold

38. consideration – careful thought
prevalent – common
cripples – people with some disability preventing
them
from performing certain normal functions
agony – extreme physical and mental suffering
Perforated – torn and damaged with holes
ennobles – (figurative use) makes dignified, morally
noble
thrash around (idiom) -- to move about restlessly
sophisticated – (here) well-advanced
mutilating surgery – surgery involving removal of tissue even at
the risk of worsening of the patient’s
condition
Glossary

39. Grand Prix – (here) one of several international
motor-racing events
solace – comfort or consolation in times of
grief or pain
intrepid – bold and daring
Finale – climax or an exciting end
disfigured – spoiled or marred in appearance
malignant – (here, of diseases) very harmful to
life
tumour – diseased growth in some part of
the body
amputated – cut off by surgical operation
profound – very great

40. PRESENTED BY
N.J.GOMATHI,
P.G.ASSISTANT(ENGLISH),
GHSS, NEELAKANDARAYAPURAM,
RANIPET DISTRICT.