(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A video made by a Chicago hospital years ago to help patients understand thoracic surgery, is inspiring a little boy hundreds of miles away from the city.
“I wanna be a thoracic surgeon because I really like working on the sick part of the lung,” 6-year-old Luke Bucciarelli said.
Bucciarelli lives in Brentwood Tennessee, and he wants to be a thoracic surgeon when he grows up because of a YouTube video he came across, featuring Dr. Sam Kim from Northwestern Medicine performing a robotic lung cancer surgery using a DaVinci Robot.
The video fascinated Luke.
“Because it has the different joystick levers, so it's kind of like a video game.”
Dr. Kim was surprised to find out the video inspired a kindergartner in Tennessee.
“We made this video two to three years ago for our patients who have lung cancer or who need thoracic surgery because, you know, a lot of patients get scared and they don't know what's going on inside the operating room,” Dr. Kim said.
Dr. Kim said he's glad to see the video is also inspiring a new generation of doctors, and to thank Luke, he recently FaceTimed him to give him a video tour of the operating room – including an up-close look at a DaVinci Robot.
“It's the furthest from my thought and my imagination, that a little boy from Tennessee would watch this before they go to bed and inspire them to be a surgeon.”
Dr. Kim also promised Luke a personal tour of the hospital if he's ever in Chicago.
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