By

Thomas G Richardson

When my daughter was 14 years old I asked her what she would like to be when she left school.

"A nurse", she replied.

"An excellent choice but why not be a doctor", I said.

"Do you think I could be a doctor?"

"Of course. It takes perseverance and hard work but I am sure you could succeed if you really wanted to. Perseverance is the answer to achieving most goals in life. If you can keep going one day you will be a doctor."

She started to study for "O" Levels and after much study and hard work gained ten "O" levels all with either A or B grades.

Two years later she passed five "A" levels again all with high grades unfortunately she had been badly guided by her school and needed to take another "A" level in physics to gain entry to medical school. She squeezed a two-year course into 6 months and passed physics with a "C" grade, which was enough to get her into medical school.

Knowing that we did not have a lot of money she started working on an evening in restaurants to supplement her grant. She was working from 6 in the evening until midnight and then would study until 2 am getting up at six to do further study before college started. I began to worry whether this was taking perseverance a little too far. On and on she went. She applied for training as a doctor at the Royal Free Hospital in London and passed the selection process with flying colours.

Whilst at the Royal Free she carried on as a waitress working almost every night. She studied long into the night often getting only two hours sleep before returning to hospital to learn medicine.

When she sat her finals the whole family could hardly wait to hear her results. I had told my wife not to phone me at work unless it was absolutely essential.

One morning the receptionist said, "There is a call for you Gordon. It is your wife". I picked up the phone expecting to hear bad news.

Excitedly she said, "I do not know whether this is important enough to call you at work but Theresa rang to say she has qualified as a doctor".

Tears rolled down my face. I could hardly speak. "Important enough. It is wonderful. Tremendous."

"Is it a boy or a girl," joked the receptionist.

"A girl," I said, "And she's a doctor".

additional note (June 2005) My daughter is now a consultant working for the NHS and also a practice in Harley Street London. To say I am proud of her is understating the obvious. I never fail to somehow fetch it into a conversation with every new acquaintence I meet. I am sure most parents are like this.