My Birth Defect

Try as I might I could never keep up with my cousins. To be honest it hasn’t changed. I remember one day in particular; I was chasing my cousin and as I ran by my mom and aunt, my mom said, “See look at her feet.” I didn’t understand it at the time but something was wrong with me and she knew it. Convincing the doctors and others was the challenge. I walked funny and the consequences of this birth defect made me get braces. People would consider this a burden but my braces made me stronger and determined to push on.

I never expected anyone to be this heartbroken over my death. Here I was 15 year old boy named Andy Hollows. My death was tragic, Leukemia is never easy to deal with. I was currently watching my mom wrap Christmas presents for my younger sibling. This is their first Christmas without me and I wasn’t too happy with my dad acting like a Grinch this time of the year in this exact situation. Lord knows my mom did not need it, nobody did in fact they were depressed, heartbroken, lost, and dull. I was always the one to cheer them up when they were sad, help Mom decorate for christmas, and help my younger sister, Ann pick out a ugly Christmas sweater to wear. I was interrupted out of my dark and useless thoughts by the door bell ringing.

I was never the little girl putting band aids on my stuffed animals or had a toy first aid kit. I grew up wanting to be a teacher, a navy seal, or a wedding dress designer, but when I was transitioning into high school, I realized that I wanted to take care of others. When it comes to health experiences, physically, mentally, and emotionally, I have been through it. When I was little, both of my grandparents on my mother’s side passed away. My great-grandfather on my dad’s side was a WWII vet and died of cancer when I was in elementary school. In middle school, I watched my great-uncle choke on pulled pork to the point his son had to start CPR and call the ambulance, but he died later that week. My uncle on my mother’s side had a stroke at the age of 50, and later got shot in his back with a nail gun at work; my aunt broke her back in a car wreck. My great-aunt on my father’s and mother’s side and my grandmother all had skin cancer; my grandmother was the only one to recover from having skin cancer. Earlier this year I walked in on my great-grandmother in the floor with blood on her from where she had fallen, and a few months later I ran down with my grandmother to discover my great-grandmother had a stroke. Currently, my mother was diagnosed with Invasive Lobular Carcinoma and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, had a double mastectomy with lymph nodes removed. She is now in the process of her sixteen chemotherapy treatments and five weeks of

to not drink, smoke, or abuse drugs. Drinks lots of water to stay hydrated, exercise as much as possible, and to take pre-natal vitamins.

Those two years came and went until one day dad received a phone call from grandma, she needed us. Uncle Tim and she had an argument about his wife and her children, they were living with her until they had their new house built and something blew up. Without a second glance my uncle and his family packed up everything and left. Grandma did not make her own food, she did not shop for her own groceries, she was purely dependent on her son, and she never had any reason not to be, because he was always there for her. Grandma was alone for the first time in a long long time. All it took was for a phone call from grandma to have dad running over there, leading to the realization that dad did not talk to grandma for two years not by his choice but because grandma had not reached out to him

My mom gave us a hug and a kiss, got in her car and drove off to the nursing home. The next 45 minutes where probably the hardest time I had ever experienced. I paced back and forth, not knowing what to do with myself just anticipating a call. Soon enough that call came, my mom called my dad and told him the bad news. It was on that day, February 22nd 2016, when I realized that throughout the journey that we had all gone through I had learned what family really and truly meant to me. It meant people who were supportive, willing to love others and were able to be rock for someone during any kind of situation whether it be a important moment or a bad time like

While it is the most common birth defect, the Cleft Palate is not something commonly known until it has been experienced by you or someone you know. Statistics show that is occurs in one in 700 babies worldwide. It is a congenital birth defect in the upper part of the mouth where the roof of the mouth is not joined together, ultimately affecting the shape and function of the mouth. Doctors do believe that genetics and environment both affect the fetus during early pregnancy and cause this condition to occur. Treatment is possible both after birth and throughout a child’s lifetime through surgery and then therapies. Children who do not have access to cleft palate surgery, run the risk for hearing, speaking, social and academic difficulties,

For the first 7 years of my life, I was a happy child who enjoyed the companionship of friends and had no worries. Then, on one Thanksgiving day, while I was sleeping, that all changed when I woke up to my mom screaming and crying. I wasn't sure what was happening, so I went to see what was going on. I went into the kitchen and saw my mom sobbing while kneeling over my grandfather. My grandfather had a massive heart attack which he passed away moments later. After that day life has never been the same for me and my family.

My family had to make a tough decision. We either, move down to Florida and help my Grandma recoup and get back on her feet, or stay in Colorado away from the family when they need us the most. My parents made the decision to move down to Florida. We got down there and it wasn’t what we thought it would be. It was far worse. We weren’t happy like we thought we would be. So, January of my sophomore year, we moved back to

My whole world came crashing down when my mom woke me up at 5am on Monday March the 16th 2015. I knew my Pawpaw was going to die, I just did not expect it to happen so soon. He did not get to see me graduate or make something of myself. He never got the polkadot house I promised him when I was eight. He never got to teach me how to drive stick shift. I felt selfish for wishing he was still here despite the pain he was in. I kept thinking about how he should be here with me, but instead he had to die. I acted strong for my family knowing that my mom had to plan the funeral I did not want to see her more stressed than she already was. Knowing that I needed to be strong so that the pain would not have to be worse. I hid the fact that my heart was in

One of the greatest challenges that I have had to overcome is dealing with the death of my best friend, Amreil Watson. It was junior year, April 27, 2015. Amreil and I were close and did almost everything together. We hung out every day, at school, after school, and even on the weekends. On April 27, I received a phone call from one of Amreils’ basketball teammates saying that he had passed out on the court and was being taken to the hospital at that very moment. I knew that no one could make such harsh, cruel jokes, but I still kept asking if it was really true. Later that day, my best friend passed away and I couldn’t feel anything but numbness. Days passed and I still felt so much pain that I fell into a horrible depression. It was hard for me to adapt to not seeing his face every day, and to find the motivation that I needed to go to school, and even just leave my room.

My family has not been the perfect or the worst, we all have our moments that are meant in order to learn and gain experience. A few years ago, my parents decided to get a divorce. It was the end of their relationship, but also the one I felt that unified the whole family. I didn’t pay much attention to my parent’s departure, since I was a child all I did was wonder. Ever since the split nothing was the same for both, situations would become difficult for each but they knew how to overcome them. I learned to live through many hardships that were place upon me because I was the “oldest” in the house. I still dedicated myself to school, church, and my family. Other thing would always come second as I saw it as something that could hold me back.

There are two adversities that I experienced that have had the most impact on my life. They both involve family members passing away. Both, occurred unexpectedly in 2014. One is my Grandpa Ron (My mom’s dad). He was an amazing man that changed throughout his life drastically. When he was young he did not treat my grandma and mom like a man should. As they both faded away from him he realized what it was like to be pushed away and he had to change. He was involved with our family more and more as time passed. In the last few years he was constantly trying to get involved with my sports and see us as much as possible. I was closer than ever to him in the last three years of his life. He was the fun, loving grandpa that I enjoyed being around. One night my mom woke me up and brought me into my sister 's room and I knew something was wrong immediately. My parents told us that he had had a heart attack. They said he had died. We were in shock and were devastated. It was very hard on me because he was so

“Love your parents. We are so busy growing up; we often forget they are growing old.” Too often in life we lose sight of what is important, mine significantly altered one chilly February morning. I truthfully did not have time I was in school and working full time, preparing for my wedding, trying to fit in time for my fiancé and trying to raise my five year old stepson. I did not intend to be selfish I simply was trying to better my life for my family. That all changed in February when I found out my father would be taking on the hardest battle of his life when he was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer and would need his family more than ever. I learned that day that family is extremely important and should be at the top of your priority list.

From the end of November till the 21 of December my Grandpa was put into Hospice, or a at home nursing home to prepare your loved one for death. At this time I was trying to balance my studies as well as supporting my family morally and emotionally due to the tough times we were going through. During the week of exams, my father was rarely home because of his father nearing death. This led me and my mom to provide each other with dinner and help each other. Knowing about the struggles we were having, my two uncles which were my moms brothers came over to have dinner and help up set up our Christmas tree. It was December 20th when they came over which was the day before my grandpa passed. My mom mistook me for my uncle and said my grandpa was going to die that night or the next morning. I didn't realize she said this and didn't know they were hiding this from me. I came home from my exams the next day to see my father balling due to his death. Because of the mourning process I missed one day of exams and lost complete focus in school for a short time. After I came to the facts that he was dead I started to work harder than I have ever worked before. This led to me getting the best grades I had ever gotten in my high school career and they are still getting better. While getting over death is never fully obtainable, you have to learn to be able to live with the thoughts that run through your head daily about your deceased love one. I