A man who jumped the border wall from Mexico to the United States when he was just 19 is now one of America's top brain surgeons.
Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa was the oldest of 5 children and his father owned a small gas station in Mexico, but they were plunged into poverty when the economy collapsed, and his father lost the business due to bankruptcy. The family could barely make ends-meet.
At 14, Alfredo was already at work as a gardener trying to help his family survive, eventually he became a local teacher, but his pay was minimal. It was then in 1987 with just $65 to his name he jumped the border-wall to go and work with his uncle in California. It wasn't though until his second attempt he actually made it after being first caught by border-guards.
Alfredo then got a job and started his education, and eventually made it to medical school.
"There's a lot of sentiment against immigration nowadays, but at the time, when I came, the U.S. welcomed me. That hard-earned cash proved that people like me were not helpless or powerless."
At medical school, he earned the title Dr. Q, which has stuck with him ever-since.
Dr. Henry Brem, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, and close friend of Alfredo, said of his journey:
"Alfredo is an outstanding surgeon and takes very humane and very skilled care of patients with brain tumours. His mission is to not only deliver the best possible care but also to do cutting edge research in order to better understand the diseases and to ultimately find better therapies for those diseases."
Alfredo has now released a book that he hopes will inspire others Becoming Dr. Qs. It charts his life story from impoverishment in Mexico to becoming the great doctor he is today.
[h/t: Upworthy]
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