In this episode we go on an adventure with the one and only Gabler aka the Ali-Gabler, the heart valve specialist and most recent winner of the reality TV show Survivor.
From growing up and wanting to be an international business man, Gabler appreciates the positive role models from family, teachers, and coaches who believed in him. After watching a surgery, which he describes as the closest thing to magic, he was fascinated by how elegant and meaningful it was and became a heart valve specialist working as part of incredible teams of medical professionals.
As a longtime fan, competing in Survivor was a thrill – one that came with intense challenges, from dehydration, hunger and bug bites on your bug bites. Gabler describes his time on the show as a season of beautiful people that despite the competition brought them all together and created lifelong friends.
Gabler encourages anyone who wants to do it – to go for it – though be prepared for the hardship – physical, emotional and intellectual.
A Doors fan and checklist guy, Gabler believes in writing down your goals, and being dedicated to achieve them. He made the remarkable decision to donate his winnings from Survivor to veteran charities to serve those who serve us.
Book recommendation: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Connect with Gabler:
Special Operations Warrior Fund
Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions
Connect with nine dots:
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Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.