“Don’t use your freedom to indulge the flesh, but serve one another humbly in love." ~ Galatians 5:13
As a kid, Carl wasn't necessarily a
great student. The material was bright and interesting, but the pressures that
came with growing up in poverty shifted his focus away from academics and
toward basic survival.
Gang violence was pervasive in his Cleveland neighborhood. Food
scarcity, personal safety, the lack of decent clothing and basic school
supplies, and just trying to fit in took precedence over studying and getting
good grades.
He dreamed of one
day becoming a doctor but knew that was probably unrealistic. So, after school,
Carl focused on something he was good at - fixing cars. At 16, he took a job at
an auto parts store. On his own time after work, he would fix customers' cars
in the store's parking lot.
Interested in
improving his business and feeling a bit restless, the entrepreneur enrolled in
a night business degree program at a local college. He was 34, married, raising
four children, and running two auto shops.
Before he could
graduate though, he needed to pass a biology class. Carl initially resisted, as
the course had nothing to do with business. But from the moment he sat down, it
seemed to rekindle his adolescent dream of becoming a physician.
So, in 2010, Carl,
now 39, enrolled in community college to take more science classes. He also started shadowing and volunteering at
local hospitals to get exposure to the medical field. As he gained experience,
he felt even more confident about his new career path.
He eventually
transferred into a pre-med program at Cleveland State where he graduated summa
cum laude with a B.A. in Science. In
2015, Carl started medical school at Northeast Ohio Medical University - twelve
years after that first biology course.
Carl graduated from
medical school at age 47 and began his residency in ER medicine in 2019. The
moment he’d dreamed of since childhood came three years later when Dr. Carl
Allamby landed his first job as an attending physician at age 51.
He said repairing
cars and treating people aren’t as different as people think. Both jobs come
down to pretty similar things: compassion and keeping promises. Both career
paths helped him carry out his life’s mission to better serve his community
Many
people earn college degrees later in life nowadays. Whether it’s a demanding
career, family, or other obligations, life sometimes gets in the way of
ambitious dreams. But it’s never too late to pursue your passions, even if it
takes years to accomplish your goal. Carl Allamby. M.D. proves you can achieve
anything in life if you have self-confidence and treat others kindly.
Holy Father, You oppose the proud but elevate
the humble. Help me follow Christ’s example, leading and loving humbly and
graciously in every interaction. Amen
