Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa - Mexico sent their best.

Donald Trump said, "When Mexico sends its people. they're not sending their best.  They're not sending you.  They're not sending you.  They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us.  They're bringing drugs.  They're bringing crime.  They're rapists.  And some, I assume, are good people."

Well, if you happened to have a metastatic brain tumor, you've be very thankful that in 1987, a 19 year old boy named Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa illegally crossed the U.S. - Mexico in hopes of a better life.

His family had owned a gas station, but they had to sell it when the Mexican economy tanked.  Instead of nutritious meals, they lives off of flour tortillas and salsa.  When he was 14, he paid a brief visit to an uncle in the United States, and made hard-earned cash pulling weeds.  In an interview with CNN, Quinone-Hinojosa said, "That hard earned cash proved that people like me were not helpless or powerless."  After returning to Mexico and poverty, Quinones-Hinojosa decided he wanted to be back in the U.S. where he could earn money and feed his family.  He decided to Spider-Man climb the 18 foot tall fence at the border.  On his first attempt, he got over the wall and was caught by the U.S. officials.  An hour later, Quinones-Hinojosa tried again, and tried faster, and was successful.  His uncle helped Alfredo get work.

When Alfredo first entered the US, he was virtually penniless.  (He has $65 in his pocket.)  He spoke no English.  He took the only job he could find, a job once given to the slaves of the 19th century, he picked cotton in a cotton field.  As he looked at his bloody hands, scarred from pulling weeds, he knew he was laying the foundation for his future.  He was going to pay for his tuition at San Joaquin Delta Community College.  From his most unlikely of roots, and with the urging and assistance of friends, he managed to transfer to UC Berkeley, where he graduated with highest honors with a degree in psychology.  He definitely felt the weight of being an outsider, and the need to hide his heritage.  Once, a fellow student told him, you can't be Mexican, you're too smart to be Mexican.  He continued to work hard and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, where he once again, graduated with honors.  It was during his time at Harvard, he was granted U.S. citizenship.  He completed his residecny at University of California, San Francisco and a post doctoral fellowship in developmental and stem cell biology at the laboratory of Professor Arturo Alvarez-Buylla - a fellow Mexican.  In 2005, he arrived at Johns Hopkins, becoming a faculty members and a surgeon.

At Johns Hopkins, he became known as Dr. Q.  Dr. Q has become one of the best neurosurgeons in the world.  Today, Quinones-Hinojosa operates on over 250 brain tumors a year.  He is working on a method to use human fat cells to fight brain cancer.  According to his official website, "he believes that there are natural stem cells in the brain that, if put in just the right spot, could halt the spread of cancerous cells in the brain, working more effectively naturally than any surgery or radiation treatment currently in use.  There is still a lot of work to be done, but Dr. Quinones-Hinojosa looks forward to a day when he no longer has to feel like he is entering the brain illegally, and cancer becomes an illness no more troublesome than the common cold."  He makes all of his patients feel confident and loved.  He once told one of his patients, "No matter what happens in the rest of the world, I will not leave you, you are my concern."  That patient survived and now organizes fundraisers for Quinones-Hinojosa's research.  She is just one example of the hundreds if not thousands of lives Quinones-Hinojosa has saved over the years.  He also has created an online community and support group for his patients over the years, and his team regularly runs in races raising money for cancer research.

In the interview with CNN, Dr. Q as he is more frequently called, said, "The American dream doesn't mean you have a big house or a fancy car.  That's not the American dream for me.  The American dream is the ability to give back when you are so privileged to be able to do what I do.  It's:  How do you figure how to give back at least a little bit? That to me is the American Dream."

This man is actually probably one of Mexico's best, and the United States' best, and the world's best.  He truly makes America great as a surgeon, a teacher, and a good samaritan.

You can learn more about Dr. Q on his official website:  http://www.doctorqmd.com/

You can watch his commencement address to Johns Hopkins here:

You can donate to his research here:  http://www.doctorqmd.com/get-involved/donate/