Life's Journey: Deranged Rollercoaster Ride

In my personal life, I have experienced death of a loved one and a diagnosis of a serious illness. When my cousin was ten and I was seven, we received a call from my uncle that my aunt had suddenly and unexpectedly suffered a heart attack and passed away. He son, Rex, was only ten years old and without his mom. At first Rex was upset with God and did not understand why He took away his mom when he was only ten. After years of not going to mass and cutting all ties with God, he recently began to go back to mass every Sunday and to build back his relationship with God.

Just like him, I did not have much of a relationship with God when I was younger. It took a miracle to make me see that God was really there. He had the miracle of surviving the war, while I had the miracle of my younger brother surviving when all odds were against him. Before my brother went into the hospital, I did not think much of God. I had learned about him in school and was taught how he died so we could live, but my life never seemed very impacted by him in any way. He was someone I knew about, not someone I specifically believe in. However, once my brother got sick that all

I am still not 100% sure where my life is headed or what is in store for me, but I think that’s the beauty of life. Growth is what makes us who we are. Growth in our relationships, growth in our thought process, even growth in our faith, they all make us. Even though many of us may not know exactly where we are headed, it’s the experience and failures along the way that form the path of life and

This leads to where I started back at my house when my dad told my sister and I that my grandfather was diagnosed with Leukemia. That was one of the hardest things for me to hear considering that my grandfather was a big part of my life. My dad said that he was going to be in hospice care without chemotherapy because he said: “That he had lived his life.” Two weeks after being put into hospice care my grandfather passed away with all of his family by his side.

We drove home from Memphis and began to plan a trip to New York. Kevin and I had no money. The entire year had been a terrible financial drain with no end in sight. I simply prayed and gave it to God. I was in so much pain and unable to do anything about the situation except trust God. I consumed my time listening to praise music. The music eased my physical pain and increased my spiritual strength.

When my dad was around 25 he lost his mom to cancer. It hit him really hard. It couldn't of came at a harder because he had a baby on the way. He knew that he had to stay positive for his family and his sister. His sister was the most devastated of them

“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” (Jerry Seinfeld) Most people don’t know what life will bring or what road they will have to travel until that time comes. George never knew the only way he could save his best friend would be to kill him and Hamlet never knew he would die from being poisoned by my uncle and friend. All the trails and tribulations that you encounter are only to make you better person even if it’s bad. Personally I have been through a lot in 16 years. Some good and some bad but at the end it made me the young last that I am today. Your life experiences only prepare you for the real word. Three life experiences that made me who I am are Death of my uncle, my mom being ill and the switching of

Realizing that somebody whom I considered invincible throughout my whole life had suddenly been affected by cancer was life changing to me. Uncle Chris has not only been my idol since before I could remember, but my immediate family cherishes him as well. In fact, my parents even named me Chris in honor of my uncle. The moment I was told that he was diagnosed with cancer and had to suffer through chemotherapy changed my life to this day. It was a realization that life is often unfair, and a person whom you would least expect, can suffer serious, life-threatening illness. I’ve learned

Today, as I'm writing this essay, the tests from my mother's tests came back negative. She is going to be okay. I know my tefilot weren't for nothing, and that HaShem was listening. This is the first time I felt like my cries were being listened

One of my favorite parts about my granddad particularly was how he always had something inspiring to say to me every day to keep me going. Sometimes it feels like he’s still inspiring me today while in heaven. I believe I would be struggling more if I didn’t have him around when I was little. He was the only father that was there for me when needed most. I miss him all the time, but

I thought my whole life was going great and I believed nothing could ever change that until my mom told me some news that I would have died not to hear because it broke my heart. I got picked up early from school and went home. and I walked into my house and there were people with blank faces and my mom crying in the corner. Then, my mom told me the awful news that no one never wanted to hear. After the news, I started to wonder why God did this, but I knew it was for a reason and I knew he had a plan for me, that’s also my law of life is that God has a plan for everyone.

In April 2013 during the spring break of my sophomore year of high school, I lost my father due to a heart attack. This brought my life and my family to a complete standstill. Not only was this devastating but it put a financial burden on my family as my mother struggled to keep my brother in college. It was only by the grace of God that he was able to

My husband and I knew our daughter would have a cleft lip from an ultrasound I had at thirty two weeks pregnant, we did not know the extent of the birth defect. We also knew what an imperforated anus was. His brother was born with a rare association, VATER's. It is an acronym for a variety of birth defects. "V" for vertebrae, "A" for anal imperforation, "T" for trachea and "R" for renal. We both assumed our daughter had this as well, even though statistics state it was less than a one percent chance of being a genetic disease. His brother had twenty two surgeries before his second birthday, so I knew we were in for a long road. I was so upset, I couldn't believe this was happening to us, to my sweet new baby girl. I kept asking God, "Why her? Why would you subject such a sweet innocent child to this? Isn't putting Josh (my husband's brother) through this enough?" I knew I had to make a choice, I could be bitter or I could be strong for my daughter. I chose strength and asked my husband to please meet the care flight team at OU Children's hospital. I stayed up and prayed all night for my sweet angel.

up and followed my daily routine: brush my teeth, put on my clothes, and went to school. Little did I know, that would be the day that changed everything. I found out that my uncle Danny had been diagnosed with lung cancer. The chemo originally worked and he went into remission. After a few months of remission, the doctors said he would have a few months to live. After he passed away, I couldn't talk to him. I couldn't see him anymore. He was just gone. Cancer ended the life of someone very precious to me and his death sparked the beginning of my desire to battle this disease.

Life sometimes seems scary. The fear of failure and the fear of the unknown make a person rethink its choices and goals, this happens all the time. As time passes, be days, moths, years or only simply one experience can change our whole vision of the world, about life, about what really matters and consequently about our goals. Throughout my whole life I have questioned so many aspects of my life, of existence, and consequently about my future. I never stopped wanting to achieve something big, that could change the whole world, some amazing adventure that would be the one thing that would give birth to all the amazing things that could happen next. As time passed I realized that life itself is one big adventure, and that what I will do every day will matter for me and for the people around me. I realized that life is not some perfect movie where there are good guys, bad guys and that in the end of one amazing journey everything would be solved. It may be a childish vision of the world, but it had motivated me for years to do the thing I believed would help me achieve this, and to believe in myself. Obviously as I grew up, I saw what the world really looked like, that sacrifices have to be made, that there are things which no one can control, that if I want something I have to work really hard. In today society everything counts.