At a young age, Dr. Carl Allamby dreamed of being a doctor — and finally made it
Carl Allamby’s journey to his dream of becoming a doctor took many turns. However, this man from Cleveland was determined to make it a reality. The path to the medical field Allamby is different for everyone but, for Allamby, it was especially non-traditional.
“I remember having a desire at a young age to become a doctor,” Carl Allamby said. “But my life circumstances led me to a much different place.”
Allamby’s family moved to a small suburb of East Cleveland in the mid ’70s, because it was one of few areas where his parents could afford to buy a home.
Decent-paying jobs were difficult to find, so his minister dad started working as a door-to-door salesman, while his mom stayed home to raise the family, which included his five siblings.
“We faced economic hardships throughout my upbringing and were on welfare for what seemed to be my entire childhood,” said Allamby.
He recalls many days or weeks that his family went without lights, gas or water.
“And if not for government handouts,” he said, “we would have been without food on many occasions.”
But Carl’s humble beginnings did not set the tone for his future. While he endured economic hardships, he says his saving grace was always his family. His parents instilled a strong work ethic and always encouraged their children to pursue their dreams.
“(My parents) always taught us the value of working hard for what we wanted and never giving up on your dreams, no matter how improbable,” Carl said. “Most importantly, they taught us to treat people fairly, with dignity and respect.”
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While Carl’s journey to medicine wasn’t direct, he heeded his parents’ words and never lost sight of his dream. Instead, he simply put it on hold.
During high school, Allamby got a job at a local car parts store and began doing repairs and maintenance on the side.
Then, “after working multiple menial jobs and barely making ends meet, I took a chance on something I was passionate about and started my own business,” Allamby said about going into the auto repair business.
He opened his first shop at age 19.
“In a sense, I started Allamby’s Auto Service mostly out of desperation and necessity,” he said.
But it grew faster than he imagined, he said, as did the challenges of being a small business owner.
After a period of time, he needed a change — so he became a student at night while continuing to work his day job.
In 2006, Carl enrolled in college at age 34 at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Originally his plan was to pursue a business degree. However, a biology course requirement turned out to be much more than a class — it was a nudge toward his childhood dream.
“I figured, what do I need biology [class] for?” he thought. “I’m a business major.”
Once he got into the class, however, that mindset changed.
“It was just magnetic,” Carl said. “I think it was within the first hour of class that I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is it. I need to go into medicine.’”
So, in 2010, Allamby started to take pre-med classes at Cuyahoga Community College, in Cleveland, Ohio. From here, he became an active volunteer at local hospitals and completed hours of shadowing the medical environment before enrolling in medical school at Northeast Ohio Medical University in 2015.
“Over the course of five years or better, I attended weekend, evening, or early morning classes in pre-medicine and other college studies while managing my business, lifestyle and household in order to transition my career,” he said.
Carl graduated from medical school at age 47 — and started his emergency medicine residency in 2019 at The Cleveland Clinic in Akron. He never let his age cloud his vision. As a husband, father of four, and business owner, he said he was laser-focused as a medical student.
And this year his dream finally came true. He recently started his first job as an attending physician — the term to describe doctors after they complete all their training — at Cleveland Clinic’s Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
The journey from longtime mechanic to doctor wasn’t an easy one, but he finds that there are parallels between the two career paths. He often draws from his experiences as a business owner realizing that “providing empathy, compassion and reassurance is often as important as providing appropriate medical care.”
Source: Youtube, foxnews.com
