I will be writing this heroic story about Dr. John Sampson, or as I like to call him, dad. My dad is more than a dad to me, he is also my hero. However, before I can tell you why my dad is my hero, I must tell you how he got to be my hero.
This story begins in Ottawa, Canada where my dad started his life’s journey. It was November 15, 1966 when a baby named John Sampson was born. His parents were Al and Colleen Sampson. When he was only two years old, they moved to Manitoba where he grew up. He lived in a small house in the city of Winnipeg, which is in the province of Manitoba, in the country of Canada.
When he was young, he went to a local public school but didn’t like it. One teacher even wrote on his report card the comment, “John will never amount to anything and should be put in a class for special kids.” Not long after, his family moved to a new house. My dad’s dad told the new school that they had lost his school records so he could start fresh. He went to a new school called Spring Valley. This was the start of middle school and his school experience began to get better. During middle school, he won lots of academic awards. Once he got to to high school, he was the best student there. Later, he graduated with honors and all kinds of scholarships.
When my dad was a child, he started a business with his best friend Glen Gordon. His business was a lawn mowing company called NAMCO. It stood for North American Mowing Company. He went around his neighborhood and other neighborhoods to ask people if they wanted their lawns mowed. He did a great job and earned enough money to buy a car. He was also able to take his girlfriends out to movies and dinner. He worked hard at everything he did and was successful as well.
After my dad graduated from high school, he went to the University of Manitoba Medical School. When he was in high school, he used to tell everyone that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon, but not many people believed that he would actually do it. You see, his family did not have much money and they could not afford to send him to college. The only college they could afford was the local college in Winnipeg. Even though he was accepted to Harvard and given a scholarship, he could not go because his family could not afford the rest of the tuition. In medical school, he was the top student. After medical school, he went to Duke to become a neurosurgeon. While a resident, John worked to earn a PhD in immunology and an Master of Business Administration!
He now he works at Duke as a neurosurgeon. He mainly operates on people with brain tumors. About ten years ago he developed a vaccine against the most deadly type of brain tumor called a glioblastoma multiforme. This vaccine has helped a lot of people to live much longer than they otherwise would have lived. Some are still alive six or seven years after getting the vaccine. I am proud of his hard work and understand that he has to work a lot. My mom has to do almost all of the work for our home.
Which brings us the point of how I came about. While working at Duke, my dad met my mom, Mary. About six years after they met, they got married and had two children, one named John, and one named Bennett (me!). My dad says that my mom used to help him study for exams and would slide food under the door when he was working hard.
He has been working at Duke for 21 years. he has performed an estimated 7,300 surgeries. All of those surgeries have saved people from death or pain.
My dad is a hero to me because I believe my dad is caring. He cares about a lot of other people besides himself. He rarely hesitates before helping someone. I know he sometimes feels badly that he works a lot, but he shouldn’t because he is helping a lot of people. However he does not just care about his patients, he cares about his family and the people that work with him and for him. He is often away, sometimes for a whole week. Even though he is busy working when on his trip, he always finds time to call my family and me. We have “dad and son trips” every year. Once, we went to Niagara Falls because I wanted to see the Guiness World Record Museum. We rented a Mustang car because I wanted to ride around in a cool car. Another year we stayed in a cabin in Asheville, NC and went horseback riding. We met a lot of Great Pyrenees dogs that patrol the cabins. We had a lot of fun. It is the fact that through all of his work and busy schedule he sets aside times to play and call us almost every day. His actions tell me that he cares about everyone. This also reassures me that he will always be there for me and others when we need him.
I have learned from my hero (and my dad) that it pays off to persevere in everything you do. My dad has taught me that if you persevere, things will come out alright. That is exactly what my dad did. When he was in school, his teachers said he would never amount to anything. However he didn’t let his teacher’s words get to him. Just the opposite, he started working harder! He dedicated himself to achieving his goals and is still striving to be better. My dad has also taught me that youcan always improve if you persevere through the things life throws at you. This inspires me to be greater and to work hard to achieve my goals just like my hero, dad.
I think my dad is very accomplished. He has to balance neurosurgery, running a lab, and managing a lot of people and meetings. He has a lot of letters behind his name and uses all of them – BSc., M.D., PhD, and M.B.A., every day. All of my hero’s traits can be summarized in one trait: ambition. My hero has an extreme ambition to do everything right and always be the best that he can be. Hopefully that trait will rub off on me and I can do great things too someday. I have had a great role model. My dad always says, “It doesn’t matter what job you do, but you need to do it the best that you possibly can and know that you tried your hardest.” Sometimes he also says, “The harder I work, the more luck I have.” I think that one is a bit ironic don’t you?