Personal Narrative : My Struggle In My Family

May 15, 2014 I hear my grandpa calling my name from my room upstairs. I walk down stairs and he tells me my dad’s had an accident. At this point I think my dad’s dead, because of how my grandpa word’s it, and my initial shock, but he’s alive. He was living in Virginia with my sister when it happened, so we leave for Virginia that night. We make it there the next afternoon and I finally get to see my dad. It was a challenge seeing a loved one with hundreds of tubes coming out of them, hearing that he might not make it through the night, and if he does he might not be able to see and so on. Seeing what at this point didn’t even really resemble my dad was very challenging.

The nurse came in and I tried to get up. At that moment I realized, I actually realized that I was paralysed. Tears started filling my eyes, but I blinked them back. I whispered yes, and the nurse came near. As she lifted me into my wheelchair with the help of another nurse. We passed the office my mom and dad were in on the way to meet the personal trainer. Hearing their voices made me have hope, and then then I started sobbing. Through the door the doctor had just informed my parents that there was an eighty percent chance I might not walk ever

Around six to three months before this tragedy occurred, my grandpa’s health had taken a turn for the worst. We would be awake at midnight, hearing him violently vomit crimson colored fluid. He couldn't get up or walk without my mother or grandma’s assistance. A brutal cough would take both his breath and voice away. Yet, he was so understanding and caring of both my brother and I. He would do everything he could to play with me or tell me a story, since he knew that I didn’t know any better. A couple months before his passing, I came home from school to find no one home except my anxious looking aunt and my then three-year old cousin. I remember running to my grandparents’ room to greet my grandparents, but when I opened the door, no one was there. I ran to my aunt and asked her where everyone was. I could see in her face that she was worried, but she tried to be as calm as possible so she wouldn’t scare me.

Finally, the nurse came and allowed us entrance to one of our worst nightmares. There the whole family stood with the understanding that they were taking the ventilator off and this could be the last time we would ever see this amazing woman. Each grandchild took their time getting one last hug and saying goodbye. I stood waiting my turn thinking how could I ever possibly whisper into words the gratitude and admiration I had for this wonderful woman. The whole room was on edge trying to be strong for each other. Eventually it was my Aunt Julia’s turn. As she stood there holding my grandmother’s hand crying saying, “Momma, it’s your little girl, please wake up, I know you can do it, you’re strong enough”. I thought my heart would explode. Then, as my dad, the strongest man I know, went over to pull her away from the bedside he began to sob as well. This was almost unbearable to witness without making a scene. I gazed out the window with a desire to be anywhere but in that horribly bleak room facing this unimaginable tragedy with my family that was full of life and laughter. When my Aunt Julia finally was composed once again and acknowledged once again that this was God’s will she said fo the last time, “It’s okay, I understand you are tired. I love you”. The whole room seemed to begin to spin and true mourning was awaken in my soul for this amazingly wonderful woman that held such a

They are many obstacles in life that people have to overcome. Some people overcome them and get it accomplished and some people fail at it. I have had many obstacles in my life where I have failed something or achieved something. Somethings in my life have even changed the way I act or the way I present myself. I was always a three sport athlete all throughout high school and I was always active, busy, and competitive and it killed me if I had to miss a game due to a short term injury or because I was sick. I honestly cannot remember a game that I was not there for or if I was sick, I was listening to it on the radio. Sports were a big part of my life and still are a big part of my life as I play football for Marian. I have always been active and involved in something for as long as I can remember. I would play pick-up games of basketball or go outside and throw the football with my dad and older brother.

Ms. Gail Avent is the founder and executive director of Total Family Care Coalition. Ms. Avent started this organization in 2005 and was founded out of the need of having an organization which helps families, children and youth with navigating systems.

My sister and I first came to America in 2009. Our parents stayed behind in South Korea, and we live with our uncle’s family. I could barely speak English, which greatly reduced my chance of making friends and getting good grades. I remember feeling terrible looking at a giant letter “D” on my English grade report. On top of that, there was monetary trouble between my parents and uncle, which led to his mistreatment of me and my sister. In that period of my life, I realized that in order to thrive in this environment, I must first learn to speak English, and I worked hard on it until I eventually was dreaming in English. Of course the process was hard and lengthy. During that time, I was greatly humbled whenever I received quiz scores back.

On April 15, 2014, my mother, Marie, was admitted to Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, Georgia for major depressive disorder or clinical depression, dysthymic disorder, anxiety disorder and panic disorder. This was a complete surprise to me and my family because we didn’t recognize the warning signs leading to my mother being admitted to the hospital for treatment. She would remain in the hospital for a week before being released.

We have many traditions as a family but one of them is to go to Branson, MO every single year. This tradition was started about 17 years ago when our two families just wanted to hang out more and have fun and now it goes every year and gets us close to each other all over again even though it is always very strong. We have such good relationships now with their family and now we do a bunch of stuff with them. My whole family, Me, Nicole, my mom, and my dad all love it down there and we keep going back and always find new stuff even though it is very hard. It is my dad’s all time favorite place and the same can go for me. The Mangold family, Mike, Judy, Michael, Erica, Ryan, and Rebecca also go down with us and we have a heap of fun together.

During the period of 2008 -2011 my family went through a strong period of turmoil. My father was working in a city that was declared by the United Nations the “most dangerous city in the world, not officially declared under war.” This had many effects on us, in terms of loss from loved ones to the danger my father was in at a daily basis. This relentless violence was the sole reason why we relocated. Further, switching colleges several times as we finally settled in Tennessee. This rollercoaster of emotions and events is what affected me, I struggled with depression from the situation. This period of hardship most definitely was an obstacle to my learning. The initial part of my college career was cluttered with distractions, which took away

I have been extremely fortunate enough to not encounter various hardships or obstacles in my life, but one hits home and I think about it frequently. I was only seven years old, and I concluded that my father had cancer. I had never seen a teardrop fall from his eye until that day. It was heartbreaking, he had to explain to a seven-year-old what was going on. I was oblivious as to what was going on, I just knew it wasn’t good. Financially, we were beginning to hurt as a family due to the expensive treatments. Time passed and nothing had gotten better, however, he was fortunate enough to catch the cancer in time. Testicular cancer is what they diagnosed him with, so it led to the removal of one of his testicles. As a seven-year-old, I had to

I didn't know at the start that the live with that we had to do a "Live With" that kept to the weekly topic. I assumed that we just had to do a live with that could be on anything as long as we tried to achieve our goal during the week. I switched my "Live With" for this week to try to make at least three people laugh everyday. This live with wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be because I make people laugh on a regular basis. It was challenging only on a few days out of the week. This Live With was only challenging when I wasn't in a good mood. When I wasn't in a very good mood I struggled to make others laugh because I wasn't happy myself. Other than the days when I wasn't in a good mood

I would share what I learned to my family by letting them know about school. My mother plays a big role in helping me out with my daughter when it's time for me to do my school work she takes her for me because with my daughter I can't really just sit and tell her why mama needs to do school work with her being so little. When it comes to work and my boss I would honestly have to do most of my work before the deadlines just because i work full time 12 hour shifts in a factory most the time.So when working I really have to juggle work and school to even out between those hours. When it comes to sharing my learning skills with friends some don't think I learn as much with me doing online classes instead of actually being in the class.

An everyday thing that I struggle with is communicating with people about how I feel about something. Communication with people has never been easy for me. I have always been afraid to tell people how I feel because I am afraid that they will judge me. A lot of people think it is foolish of me to be afraid of communicating.

When we arrived at the hospital, I gently opened the medical room, not knowing what to expect. My mother was lying in bed with her eyes fixed on the plain-white ceiling. Her face was colorless and she lost a significant amount of weight within a week. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I could hardly breathe. I strained to pull a calming breath of air into my lungs as I walked into the room. Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision. Her body was there but her soul was elsewhere. It killed to see her in so much pain.