A Father, a Son and a Joint Graduation

Timothy Calhoun and his son David will both graduate this May with degrees from thejoint department of Biomedical Engineering(BME) at NC State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“这是你的标题，”蒂姆说。“‘死去的家伙是因为他的儿子上学。’”

“That’s not the whole story,” David said.

A Remarkable Occurrence

From the age of 3, David told anyone who would listen that he was going to UNC-Chapel Hill to become a doctor.“I come from a family of over-achievers,” he said. His mother, Linda Calhoun, is a cardiologist at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. At the time, Tim was a pharmaceutical executive with a career history that included financial analyst and flight test engineer.

Two days after Tim’s 42nd birthday, he suffered sudden cardiac death in his sleep. “My wife’s asleep in bed next to me, and she wakes up — for whatever reason — and realizes that something is wrong.”

琳达立即开始了CPR，称为护理人员，还称其为护士的邻居。他们轮流进行胸部压缩，直到救护车到达。紧急受访者用除颤器进行了七次冲击，使蒂姆的心脏成为一种维持生命的节奏。他昏迷了几天，到达医院。

“I slept right through it,” said David, who was seven years old at the time of his father’s cardiac episode. “I don’t remember if they told me the next day that my father had died. I do remember I had piano practice.”

The Road Back

Tim’s recovery was surprising. “You have to look at the prognoses of people who have sudden cardiac death. My situation is not normal.” He remains amazed at his luck. “A coma is basically a last ditch effort for your brain to save itself. I went back to work a month later and still remembered my password to get into my computer.”

尽管如此，蒂姆还是遭受了一些认知挫折。“我会输入一些东西，并且可以发誓它是完全合理的，但是当我回去阅读时，言语将会丢失。我无法像以前那样在脑海中进行计算。”

蒂姆的症状仍然出现在四年前，那时大卫是时候上大学了。

Off to School

戴维仍然心愿成为一名医生，直到他在UNC Chapel Hill的新生定向为止。“我们要去不同的部门听到人们所说的话，当我到达BME时，他们说了所有错误的话。‘您的GPA会受苦，您将没有社交生活，再见，空闲时间。”我基本上想，“注册我。””

“Imagine my surprise,”Tim said.“My son wants to do something the hard way.”

Inspired by David, Tim researched the BME program and discovered a kindred interest. He started with classes at a community college to make sure he was ready, then transferred into the BME program at NC State. “I needed to do something exceedingly difficult to get my brain back, and it’s absolutely done that for me. I would say I’m back to normal.”

“Whatever that is,” said David.

The program is notoriously challenging. Both Calhouns are living on their respective campuses, and often spend all weekend in the lab.“My mom will visit us on the weekends when she’s not working,”大卫说。“This is just a 24-7 program.”

Other shared experiences include theHelping Hand Project，它使用3D打印机为儿童制作假肢。两人甚至分享了教授和班级，尽管不是同一部分。“I think the professors are nicer to the UNC kids,”Tim said.

“您真的必须屈服并完成工作，”大卫说。他的手指在桌子上张开，好像在钢琴键盘上。“就像音乐。当我终于能够将笔记提交记忆时，我感到非常成就，”他说。

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Now the job hunt begins. Tim and David have swapped war stories from the interview process. Both are open to relocating for the right opportunity, though David would like to stay in North Carolina.

Tim is passionate about lifesaving devices and the renewed future they can offer patients like himself. “I have an ICD (internal cardio defibrillator) inside me now. It’s never fired, and I hope it never will. But it’s there if I need it.”

David shared a different perspective. “I’m less about coming up with novel devices than I am about quality engineering. I just want to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

父子和儿子都将在卡罗来纳州剧院的联合仪式上毕业，这是一个充满红色和蓝色礼服的礼堂。琳达将在观众中。

“Want to know what’s cool? David’s sitting in front of me,”said Tim.“即使在那天，我仍然会跟随他的脚步。”