Here's an example of a real hero...

[Menzies]

A man with a vocation, pure and simple...

-----------------------------

Doctor Saves Boy's Brain With Power Drill

MELBOURNE, Australia (May 20) - A doctor in rural Australia used a handyman's power drill to bore a hole into the skull of a boy with a severe head injury, saving his life.

Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike on Friday in the small Victoria state city of Maryborough, hitting his head on the pavement, his father, Michael, said Wednesday. By the time Rossi got to the hospital, he was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The doctor on duty, Rob Carson, quickly recognized the boy was experiencing potentially fatal bleeding on the brain and knew he had only minutes to make a hole in the boy's skull to relieve the pressure.

But the small hospital was not equipped with neurological drills — so Carson sent for a household drill from the maintenance room.

"Dr. Carson came over to us and said, 'I am going to have to drill into (Nicholas) to relieve the pressure on the brain — we've got one shot at this and one shot only,'" Michael Rossi told The Australian newspaper.

Carson called a neurosurgeon in the state capital of Melbourne for help, who talked Carson through the procedure — which he had never before attempted — by telling him where to aim the drill and how deep to go.

"All of a sudden the emergency ward was turned into an operating theater," Michael Rossi told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday. "We didn't see anything, but we heard the noises, heard the drill. It was just one of those surreal experiences."

The procedure took just over a minute, said anesthetist Dr. David Tynan, who assisted Carson.

"It was pretty scary. You obviously worry, (are) you pushing hard enough or pushing too hard, but then when some blood came out after we'd gone through the skull, we realized we'd made the right decision," Tynan told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Rossi was airlifted to a larger hospital in Melbourne and released Tuesday — his 13th birthday.

Carson was modest about his feat. "It is not a personal achievement, it is just a part of the job and I had a very good team of people helping me," he told The Australian.

Michael Rossi was more effusive. "He saved our son's life," he said.

Carson did not immediately respond to messages left Wednesday by The Associated Press. The hospital said he was busy delivering a baby.

[Mist-Rest]

Well you mention sports players in the title.

I don't know of any sports players that have risked their own life to attempt/save the life of a partner, co worker, or stranger.

Many people go to work each day not knowing if they will ever see the light of that same day again or their families. Unfortunatly sometimes it makes these people heros.

As I see it the Dr was doing his job (and he did a good job) but nothing about what he did makes him a hero.

The term "hero" is very loosely tossed around these days. A hero is someone who risked their own life to save the life of someone I listed above.

[165Striper]

Well you mention sports players in the title.

I don't know of any sports players that have risked their own life to attempt/save the life of a partner, co worker, or stranger.

Many people go to work each day not knowing if they will ever see the light of that same day again or their families. Unfortunatly sometimes it makes these people heros.

As I see it the Dr was doing his job (and he did a good job) but nothing about what he did makes him a hero.

The term "hero" is very loosely tossed around these days. A hero is someone who risked their own life to save the life of someone I listed above.

[Rotorhead]

The only heros I know of are dead...doctors are overpaid for what they think they do, and certainly aren't heros in my book.

[Trollnheel]

Well you mention sports players in the title.

I don't know of any sports players that have risked their own life to attempt/save the life of a partner, co worker, or stranger.

Many people go to work each day not knowing if they will ever see the light of that same day again or their families. Unfortunatly sometimes it makes these people heros.

As I see it the Dr was doing his job (and he did a good job) but nothing about what he did makes him a hero.

The term "hero" is very loosely tossed around these days. A hero is someone who risked their own life to save the life of someone I listed above.

My heroes are the service men and women protecting our country

[Snapper Head]

That's normal surgery down in Oz.

Big Al

[OReely]

Well you mention sports players in the title.

I don't know of any sports players that have risked their own life to attempt/save the life of a partner, co worker, or stranger.

Many people go to work each day not knowing if they will ever see the light of that same day again or their families. Unfortunatly sometimes it makes these people heros.

As I see it the Dr was doing his job (and he did a good job) but nothing about what he did makes him a hero.

The term "hero" is very loosely tossed around these days. A hero is someone who risked their own life to save the life of someone I listed above.

I couldn't agree with you more. I get so tired of today's made up "heros".

The news has them all the time. The two young men who picked up the divers last week is a good example. They were being called heros on the news when all they did was motor over and pick up the divers. No risk to themselves. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Good Samaritans, sure, but heros? Not in my book.

[rchanner]

I agree that the term "Heroes" is way over used these days, but I think what Menzies is getting at is the fact that our society tends to idolize people like sports figures over those who save lives.

In the past, I have had conversations where someone has disagreed with me on that. In that case, I ask two simple questions:

1. Who won the Superbowl last year?

2. Who invented the artificial heart?

As I'm sure you can guess, most people can answer #1, but about the only ones that can answer #2 are the ones who happen to remember Dr. Robert Jarvik's name from Lipitor commercials.

[Menzies]

Where I was coming from is a lot simpler really.

To me a hero is someone that I admire because they did or are doing something over and above what they have to do or are expected to do. While not necessarily, it is more so if they have put themselves at risk for others.

Could be a soldier, could be a passerby, could be a teacher who turned a dropout into a successful graduate by working outside of school and at weekends etc., could even be a sports figure depending on what they do outside of what they are paid to do. To me someone doesn't necessarily have to have put their lives at risk to be a hero.

In fact I suspect all "true" heroes don't see themselves as such and would be embarrassed to be called a hero.

A doctor who spends a month a year on missionary work in Haiti is surely a hero to those people he has helped. That teacher is surely a hero to that student.

Here is a doc is a rural part of Australia, in a town of a few thousand people. A one shot deal that, if it works, saves a child. If it doesn't puts the doc at risk.

Can you imagine looking at a kid, deciding you have no choice, and taking a household drill to his skull?

To that kid and his family, I'm betting the doc is a bona fide hero, as he should be.

Regardless of how much he gets paid - which I suspect isn't that much anyway!

[Mist-Rest]

Do you know the difference between the 18 volt Dewalt hammer drill in my cordless bag and the one used by the Doctors in an operating room?

He's still not a hero.

Good? Yes.

Lucky? Most likely.

Able to think and act on his feet? Yes.

Answer me this. Would he still be a hero if the procedure failed?