Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

In 1987 Ulm, Germany, Dr. Ben Carson meets Peter and Augusta Rausch, parents of twins conjoined at the back of their heads. He believes the twins' separation is possible but carries the grave risk of losing one or both children. He spends four months researching and devising a plan to maximize their odds, while preparing the family for the difficult surgery.

In 1961, 11-year-old Ben Carson is performing poorly in school. His mother Sonya, a determined single parent, decides to strengthen his education by enforcing discipline and demanding more effort. She even checks into a mental health facility to battle her own depression while away from the family.

Back at home, Sonya imposes multiplication drills, TV limits, and reading assignments, while concealing her own illiteracy from her sons. With hard work, Ben rises from the bottom to the top of his class within a year.

At the 8th-grade awards ceremony, Ben's success inspires his family, but his teacher's harsh remark about white peers prompts Sonya to enroll him in a primarily black high school.

At the new high school, Ben endures bullying by two students, though he initially uses wit to outmaneuver them in a yo mama joke battle. The bullies escalate and gift him a knife, and Ben's irascible temper culminates when he threatens his mother and nearly stabs a former bully.

Terrified by his own anger, Ben cries out to God for forgiveness and commits to changing his ways, finding solace in his Seventh-day Adventist faith.

Ben earns a scholarship to Yale University, where his future wife Candy Rustin provides steadfast support as he pursues medicine.

After Yale, Ben becomes a resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he faces a life-changing dilemma: operate on a dying man without permission or supervision, risking his career. He chooses to operate, saves the man's life, and earns a promotion.

In 1985, after Ben's mother joins the family in Maryland, Candy suffers a miscarriage of twins. Ben stays by her side through the night, and the next morning performs a hemispherectomy on a four-year-old girl with severe seizures, a life-saving, high-stakes procedure.

Back in Ulm for the final separation, Ben struggles to find a technique to divide the twins. While playing billiards alone, he experiences an epiphany that guides his plan.

Twenty-two hours into the operation, Ben and his team successfully separate the twins, saving their lives and liberating the anxious parents. The dramatic success draws intense media attention and cements Ben Carson's reputation.