Choosing For Risk Losing Everything You Have

I have always had a high admiration for the impact that physicians have on families. At an early age, my younger sister had major heart surgery. Being four, I was too young to fully grasp what this meant for my family, but I quickly learned the grief my parents endured thinking their only daughter would not live past two. Dr. Jane Doe saved my sister, giving me a friend for life. I have set my goal to be like countless doctors who save lives daily and improve the quality

Twenty-one years ago, my parents received the devastating news that my lungs were not developing properly and as a result my mom had an induced labor. I was born as a premature baby, weighing only 3 lbs. and was placed in the care of neonatal nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for 18 days. While my mom came to visit me, she would notice how well the nurses would care for me. Though their jobs were tough, the nurses would often carry me while I was crying and would often talk me to sleep, sometimes singing lullabies.

Most parents as they near the due date of their child are filled with excitement and happiness; however this could not have been further from the truth with my parents. My parents were informed by the doctors and that my lungs were collapsed because my intestines had pushed up into my thoracic cavity though a hole in my diaphragm. Then only option was to deliver me two weeks prematurely and perform immediate surgery. The outlook was bleak; through the lifesaving intervention a surgeon, I survived. This has impacted the choices I make in my everyday life throughout the years. I don't take opportunities or people for granted, and I realize everything I am able to experience is thanks to the skill of the surgeons in the operation room that night. This has

It wasn’t until our family moved into our own home that was my mother was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. My world came tumbling down and I vowed secretly that I would do everything I could to prolong my mother’s life. I poured myself into work, working 40-plus hours a week, looked for any doctor that would be willing to help her, researched insurance plans that wouldn’t cost a fortune for a pre-existing condition while still going to school. Needless to say, my grades suffered as I struggled to find the balance between aiding my mother and her condition, going to school full time, and working overtime. I came to a breaking point and I withdrew hours at school, choosing to work. Looking back, I would have done things differently, but I accomplished what I sought out to do: I was able to find insurance, put my mother on a drug regimen that suppresses the virus in her, and pay off our house in less than fifteen years. It is one of my greatest

Well, the day after my mother returned from yet another visit, I found out. Apparently, my grandfather had lung cancer and was in desperate need of IV fluids, but he lacked the resources to fund his treatment at a proper, advanced hospital. Because of the unsuitable care he received, he passed away the day my mother arrived to visit him. This anecdote goes beyond poor timing- it reflects how important access to excellent medical care is a matter of life or death. If my grandfather had more money, or maybe lived closer to places adequate for his health needs, he most likely would still be alive, according to my mother. This one incident has pushed me to want to prevent easily preventable deaths from occurring by providing for disadvantaged populations at a greater risk for it. On the other hand, I have seen how receiving the required medical attention saves lives. My head martial arts instructor was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. While he mostly stopped teaching, he sought the best treatment he could find, which admittedly, was not difficult. The surrounding area has several world-class hospitals with committed and well-trained healthcare

My mother is a nurse, and most importantly my sister was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when she was born. She was cared for by many medical professionals and I felt like if they were there for her I could be there for someone else’s child. It would be an

Your family had big dreams. You were so small when you came to the US, just 6 years old. So innocent. Coming from Mexico City, its drastically different. You had no clue what was ahead of you. School was most difficult, you spent 3 years in an English learning class. Even after, many things seemed hard for you to comprehend. Yet, you stayed strong. When you got to high school things changed, all that work had paid off. From then on you only took honors and ap classes. You were president of National

The challenges I faced are financial struggles back in California, living with my grandparents until I know which parent has custody, learning english as a second language, and finding who I am. I lived in California for 10 years until I moved to North Carolina in 2011. The household size was 10 and money became an issue. My grandparents household consisted of my aunt, 5 cousins, grandparents, my sister, and me. Most of my clothes were hand me down from my uncle that visited every week and I went to an elementary school that require uniforms. There was always food in the house due to food stamps from the government and family members helping each other out.

Luck wasn’t all it took. Perseverance thrived in the family. Generations of fighting with poverty had begun to diminish. Grandpa was getting better every day. He started by eating better no matter how much the pain hit him. When Bill coughed; he did everything in his power to stop. Each day my grandpa made progress. Grandpa stood, then embraced tightly. My grandma helped him get around a nurse him back to help. Bill recovered quickly once the disease started to lift away. The family was rising from their troubles in the economy. The farm was selling more products than ever. The family was able to buy cows for milk and chickens for eggs. The family was blessed. God answered their prayers for the disease. God answered their prayers for money. God answered their prayers for happiness. God granted them a glorious

One extraordinary miracle was performed in Texas, in 2011 to a very lucky nine year old girl, Annabel Beam. For several years, little Annabel suffered from a rare, incurable, and life-threatening digestive disorder. She'd been in and out of the hospital numerous times, poked and prodded by many doctors, and had invasive tests run. She was on a regimen of several different drugs that still just barely kept her symptoms controlled, and even then, she experienced frequent flare-ups. Just before Christmas, on one of their many trips to Boston to see a renowned specialist, Annabel once again found herself admitted to the hospital. While there, her mother Christy could tell that she wasn't her usual self. Annabel had always held up well in her battle

I survived. Born 6 weeks premature, if it wasn't for medicine, I may not have lived. Medicine represents a field in which my interest grows continuously. Through this internship, Kendall Smith HealthCare Exploration Scholarship, I hope to not only create a strong foundation in a field that I may potentially pursue one day, but also further the bounds of current knowledge about healthcare and contribute something greater to the world.

In the winter of 2013, I lost my father to a rare disease called Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). This disease is a life threatening immunodeficiency in which the body makes too many activated immune cells. He suffered bed rest for months on end in the hospital where I, nor any other of his seven children, were able to see him until his last day. I was only in eighth grade and was just starting to learn what it was like being a teenager in high school. Surviving the rest of the year was mentally exhausting and undoubtedly was the most challenging time of my life. It wasn’t until ninth grade when I truly realized I wasn’t the only one affected by the loss of my father. My widowed mother was torn in two and would never be whole

I realize that the most capable physicians can heal because they have been sick and are able to fix because of their own brokenness. In other words, adversity builds character and changes people for the better. In my case, my disadvantaged upbringing has made me a better person, son, father and potentially a better public servant. After my parents divorced in 2000, my mother and I moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where we struggled to get by. Enduring that hardship with her changed me from an early age. Some nights I stayed at my best friend’s apartment, because we had no electricity. In a sense, this deprivation allowed me to mature and understand that in life you must sacrifice for a larger

My experience of moving to the USA included a couple of steps such as preparing, arriving, and adopting. Moving to America was one of the most thrilling and exciting experiences I have ever had in my life. It all started after I graduated from high school. I had always dreamed of going to abroad to study in a better school to be successful in life. My dad was leaving me hints here and there that he was going to send me America for school, but I was sure that it wasn’t going to happen because getting a student visa was tough back then. However, that summer when I saw that letter in my mail from the immigration department of USA for an interview, I was speechless.

I grew up in a small village in Mexico where there were no health care professionals. My grandmother was one of the women in the village who would take care of the sick. The knowledge and wisdom she gained over the years was passed on to my mother. One day, I remember my mother asking me to accompany her. It was late at night, all of the dogs would bark at us as we walked by, and I did not know where we were going. We came to the house of a sick child. It was then, I realized that my mother had been asked to come and give the child medicine. The privilege of getting to help the child get well again gave me a sense of accomplishment. What we had done there guided me to strive for something that would give me that same sense of accomplishment. In 1996, my family and I got the opportunity to move to the United States. As a little girl, I did not understand how such a sad and difficult goodbye would bring me to a better future. A place that has brought me closer, than I had ever thought, to accomplishing my dream of becoming a pharmacist. I am grateful for of all of the opportunities that living and studying in the United States has brought.