‘Back to the future’ medicine man turns frustration into big opportunity

The pioneering Kenyan doctor was just nine years old when a girl was rushed across the border from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya. A few years his senior, she was severely dehydrated and barely holding on.

“Everyone was trying to resuscitate her and my uncle, a local pharmacy technician, saw the horrified look on my face. I was just a terrified kid, so he took me home.”

But Osman couldn’t get the girl off his mind. He persuaded his uncle to let him return to the hospital a few weeks later to see the girl.

He was amazed to find she had nearly made a full recovery — something that would inspire him to help others later in life.

“Another human being managed to bring her back to life and I should also be able to do the same if I try my best,” he recalls thinking.

Though friends and family laughed off Osman’s interest in medicine, his mother voiced her support.

“You know, these guys have never seen a black doctor before,” she said at the time.

He remembers receiving an email from a young man about 10 years ago. It turned out he came from the same village and was studying electrical engineering in Kansas.

“He said if there was no Said Osman, I probably wouldn’t be here. I felt tears running down my cheeks and realized that I’ve achieved what I set out to do. To lead by example, so others can use their potential to get more out of life.”

Osman’s ultimate ambition is to produce an artificial skeleton, which mimics a natural one as closely as technology allows.

That goal could already be well within his reach. He has patents for growing artificial bones and joints — as well as replacing damaged discs in the spine with biologic materials.

“I still see that 12-year-old girl in front of me,” he says.” That’s who I’m treating every day. If my patients are smiling, then I have achieved my dream.”

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