Steve Brooks Interview

INTERVIEW WITH STEVE BROOKS FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) When do you hope to graduate medical school?

SB) Medical School is a long haul. I'm preparing to take the MCAT (Medical College Aptitude Test.like the SAT, only for medical school) next spring (April of 1999). My application process will begin next summer, and after secondary applications and interviews (which take almost a year), I will matriculate in the fall of 2000. Med school in the USA takes four years to complete, so I would graduate in 2004.

DM) Did any of the medical horror stories you've seen ever scare you?

SB) No, not at all. My experiences have only served to reinforce the Zen-like tenet that suffering, pain, and eventual physical death defines the human condition. When a person works in a hospital and is constantly reminded of this, their perspective of life is altered. Problems that could consume an individual's time and emotional energy seem much more insignificant. Other moments become more precious.

DM) When you become a doctor, will you feel a sense of loss because you are no longer playing football?

SB) Wow, I have spent so much time thinking about the answer to this question! There's no doubt that I will miss playing. I have been putting the pads on every year since I was 8 years old. Not only have I been able to play in the NFL, I have had a unique perspective from the pedestal that our society creates for professional athletes. I will miss the things that come with playing, like having the ability to thrill a little boy or girl just by shaking their hand.
However, becoming a physician has always been more important to me than becoming a professional football player. I chose a small, liberal arts college instead of a football powerhouse. Occidental College is a school where student-athletes are truly student-athletes. Though I was provided with an excellent education, the odds of playing professionally out of such a small (Division 3) school are incredibly small. At the end of college, I was already forced to answer your question. I asked myself, "How much of my identity as a person is tied to football? If football is removed from my life now, how much of 'me' is left?"
Many experiences have helped me answer these questions. As an undergraduate I paid for college by working as a phlebotomist (person who draws blood from patients and runs tests in the lab) and emergency room EMT. I have been at the bedside of sick people. I watched as some of them died, and I watched others heal and walk out of the hospital doors to enjoy the rest of their lives. Through all of these times I have known that I could spend the rest of my life attempting to heal, or at least comfort, others.
I won't think of my "career change" as a loss. I will think of football as a major influence in my life, and I will view my NFL career as an incredible goal, which I was fortunate to achieve. I will be focused on the future. I'll dream not of crossing the goal line, but of waiting in line to receive my medical school diploma.

DM) For which team did you most enjoy playing?

SB) That's a tough one. Playing for the Detroit Lions has to be one of the best of my pro experiences. The team was not playing well, and it was Wayne Fonts' last year as coach. What made it so special is that I was born in Detroit, Michigan. All of my relatives--aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents--live there. I would go to work and come home to my grandma's dinners and the love of family. I think those special people caused me to focus less on the pressures of the game and more on the value of the experiences that I was having.

DM) On the other side of the coin, does fame become a hindrance? Patients asking for your help because of your fame and not your skill.

SB) I've never experienced any negative aspects from my other "careers" while working in the hospital. In general, people are in the hospital because they have some serious illness. Patients are usually immersed in some degree of pain and/or suffering, and rightfully their attention is focused "inward." I usually enjoyed anonymity in the hospital. Once a woman did recognize me, however, and it was helpful. This woman wasn't very old, and lived a very active life before her admission to the hospital. She had a stroke, which caused the right side of her body to be completely paralyzed. After this woman's medical condition was stabilized she still had to face the challenges presented by her paralysis, and she also had to redefine her self-esteem. Her stroke not only affected her limbs, but also the muscles of her face and head. This caused her face to "droop" on one side, and affected her speech. She became extremely depressed because she felt ugly when she looked in the mirror, and because her slurred speech did not do justice to the words that were in her head. She was completely open and honest about her lack of desire to live under such circumstances.
After many visits to her room for blood tests, she asked me about my football career. I learned that she was a rabid Buffalo Bills fan, and that she spent entire weekends watching NFL games on TV. She seemed quite amazed that someone from her favorite pastime would be caring for her in a hospital. Her depression dissipated as she energetically and excitedly ranted about the Bills and their many missed opportunities in Super Bowls. Eventually, after she left the hospital, one of her daughters wrote to tell me that she was feeling better and yelling at the TV for her Bills every week.

DM) Being a man with 3 careers right now, will you be willing to drop the other 2 for medicine?

SB) Absolutely. I was prepared to enter medical school immediately after college. I made the most of some opportunities in sports and in Hollywood, and in the blink of an eye almost 5 years have passed. Though sidetracked by acting and athletics, I spent many of my off-seasons working in hospitals. I was constantly reminded of my desire to pursue entrance to medical school.
The past four years still seem somewhat surreal. It would be great to think of my acting/football playing and bask in sunlight of, "I've worked my butt off in order to perform well, and I try to be a good person, so I deserve this," but the truth is that there are plenty of good, hard working, deserving people who are still dreaming of the opportunities that I have received. This thought humbles me, and at the same time motivates me to continue with my education.
To make a short story long, I would love to continue to be "sidetracked" by a successful athletic or acting career, but when the time comes for me to make the most of another opportunity--that of going to medical school--I trust that I will be ready to leave those other things behind.

DM) What experience initially motivated you to start in medicine?

SB) I'm not exactly sure. Sciences such as physics, biology, and psychology have always interested me. I was exposed to the hospital environment from a young age. I used to visit my mother, an Intensive Care Unit/ CCU nurse, at the hospital. As a little boy, I wandered in to the units where she worked and stole glances at patients who had returned from "open-heart" surgery. The more I spent time in hospitals as an undergraduate, the more I knew that the practice of medicine would be an important part of my life.

DM) What piece of advice was the best you've heard from a coach?

SB) I have played for a lot of great NFL coaches--Wayne Sevier, George Siefert, Mike Shannahan, Jim Mora, Bobby April--just to name a few, but the best advice was given to me by a pop-warner coach when I was a young boy. He taught me something about the importance of confidence.
He told a story of a death row prisoner who donated himself for a psychological experiment. The prisoner was told that his wrists were going to be cut so that scientists could determine how long it would take a human to die from blood loss. The prisoner was blindfolded and placed on a table. The scientists ran a razor sharp piece of ice across his wrists (which simulated the feeling of a blade, but did not cut him at all). Immediately an apparatus was started which dropped viscous water on to his wrists in time with his heartbeat. The prisoner could feel his blood leaving his body with every pulse. Some period of time passed and this perfectly healthy human being's heart stopped, and he died.
The coach related this supposed anecdote to the power of the mind, and how limits are often self imposed. That story blew me away. It really had an effect on my confidence. Though now it is hardly believable, to this day there aren't many things that I think of as "impossible."

DM) A friend once told me, "even non-athlete's need a coach" every once in a while. Do you think that's true?

SB) Absolutely. Especially when considering broader examples of a "coach." I'm talking about the coaches in life- those that do more than teach. These "coaches" are leaders- anyone who is visible, has some sort of influence, and sets some kind of example. These people are also motivators, and reinforcers of success. Everyone can benefit from having this type of person in their life, especially young children.
For example, I am presently tutoring a 9-year-old boy (Though it is not his real name, I will refer to him as "Sean"). Though Sean is repeating the third grade, his reading and math skills are at the first grade level. He has been teased and harassed constantly by his peers in school for "flunking."
We worked for over a month before school started this fall. His math skills have improved greatly, and he has received a 20 out of 20 on his first two spelling tests. After showing me the first one he looked up at me and said, "I never got an A in anything in my life!" Now, his attitude has totally changed. He expects to get a good grade on his spelling tests. He zips through a deck of math flash cards in 5 minutes (it used to take almost an hour to get through this same deck), and is disappointed that he did not do it faster!
Success snowballs into confidence for future successes. Psychologists term this snowballing effect, "The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy." It also works with negative attitudes. Sean could have continued on a path of self-doubt and prevented himself from getting an A through believing it impossible. Successful experiences have a major effect on self-esteem and confidence, and I'm sure everyone would agree that a person can never have enough of these. A "coach" can make a big difference in this way.