GorillaOffTopic, Everything But Gorilla Trades

When most of us think of migrant workers, we think of a situation of extreme poverty and misfortune. If you saw a migrant worker in the fields today, would you think his chances of having a better life would be promising, or would you assume that his life will be pretty much etched out for him in those fields until the day he dies? Most of us would believe the latter, and for the most part you would be correct.  Most of the workers that come to toil in U.S. farmlands and groves are the most impoverished illegal immigrants, who have escaped their own poor countries and have come to the U.S. to find a better life. One migrant worker did just that himself, but when posed with the thought of having to labor tirelessly in the fields for the rest of his life, he just couldn’t stand the thought of it so he took matters into his own hands and started himself on a progressive path, which changed his life for the better. Once a migrant worker, who picked produce, Dr. Alfredo Quinones is now a brain surgeon. Dr. “Q,” as he is called, defied the odds and is now considered to be one of the top brain surgeons in the world. Currently a surgeon at John Hopkins in Baltimore, Dr. Q is on a mission to find a cure for brain cancer, and is currently constructing a team of physicians from all over the world, with the belief that all of their various backgrounds will give each of them a different perspective, and perhaps lend itself to finding a cure.   Now running his own lab at Johns Hopkins, the good doctor recalls his days of picking produce for a mere $22 per day, while living under a camper in the middle of a California field.  “Sometimes I would cry myself to sleep thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” Quinones recalls. “I have a cousin who told me, ‘You’re never going to be anything but a migrant worker the rest of your life.’ But it just ignited this fire in my belly.” From that point on, Dr. Q learned various skills and blazed through school. He eventually ended up going to the University of California at Berkeley, where he came into the lab of  Dr. Joe Martinez Jr., who steered him towards medicine. “He knew nothing about the brain, but learned at an amazing rate. He was one of the two best students I ever taught.” Dr. Martinez said. With his exceptional grades  Dr. Q was able to make it into Harvard’s medical school and graduated at the top of his class there. He says that it was his fear of failure that drove him and while he says that fear is actually “Ok”, he admits that it was a driving force behind his motivation and success. Now Dr. Q is passing on the love and opportunity to his students, urging them to be their patients’ “friends” and that it is important to remember the “human” side in medicine. So when asked if he thinks he will be successful in finding a cure for brain cancer, he responds cheerfully, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re successful or not.” “What matters is that you give the world the best, and the best will come back to you.” Now that is a great story we call all appreciate. Way to go Dr. Q; someone who defied the odds to better their own life. That is true success!