Why I Am A Doctor

I want to be a MedServe Fellow for several reasons, with the ultimate goals of improving my community and providing a stepping stone between college and medical school. One of the main things I want to do during my gap year is gain clinical experience, something I believe I need before applying to medical school, and this program fulfills that desire. I could do research in my gap year, but working in a primary care setting would be the most beneficial in preparing me, not only for medical school, but for my career. My career goal is within primary care, and while I also could gain experience via an EMT route, I feel that MedServe provides a unique opportunity to truly experience and understand primary care. I want to have a more active role

Anything could have gone wrong. A Japanese soldier murdering my grandmother as they marched into her small village during the Rape of Nanking. The Communist forces dropping an aerial bomb on my mother’s home before the Fall of Saigon. My father’s old fishing boat capsizing in the South China Sea while escaping Vietnam before his miraculous landing in the Philippines. From time to time, I reflect upon my family’s fortuitous circumstances in the darkest periods of war and their tumultuous journey to America. Being the eldest child of second-generation war refugees has significantly impacted my life decisions and aspirations. Neither of my parents finished their education due the Vietnam War, so I have the privilege of being the first in the

When I broke my Tibia and Fibula playing football my sophomore year of high school, I started to really think about what I wanted to do with my life. I had a lot of love for playing football, and I knew that I did not want to stray too far away from the sport. It wasn’t until I started going to physical therapy that I realized that I didn’t have to, so I decided that I wanted to be a physical therapist, to help other people get back on their feet. However, my junior year, we got a new athletic trainer at my high school. So, I decided to ask Mrs. Pam if she would mind if I shadowed her, to learn more about what she did, and how to help other players with their injuries. She agreed, and I spent my junior and seniors years shadowing her. I learned

Growing up around three female nurses in my family has sparked an interest in working in the medical field; being the introvert that I am, I decided that it was best to become a medical records field technician in Surprise Arizona. Being a big part of my life has I was growing up, my Nana and my two aunts Phyllis and Theresa all took upon the same career choice and became nurses. On February 14, 2012 I went with my Nana and my sister to the nursing home where my Nana works and passed out cookies for Valentine’s Day. While I was passing out cookies with my sister, I was able to see how the staff interacted with the patients and helped them if was needed, it made me realize that one day I would like to work somewhere in the medical field, but

One important thing in my life is when I tore my ACL the first time in eighth grade basketball. It was November 15, 2015, when I first tore my ACL. I was at basketball practice and we were doing a rebounding drill. I jumped up to rebound the ball, because I can hardly jump I landed before most of the other players and Charlie, one of my teammates, came down on my knee. I heard my knee pop. My knee caved in and I fell, feeling excruciating pain as I fell to the ground I just saw the ground moving closer and closer. As I fell to the ground I felt my body hit the hard gym floor. All that went through my head was ”That hurt really bad!!!!” I was really sweaty, I could smell the sweat from the bodies, and I was tired from previous things we had done in practice but I just sat there screaming and balling. I started screaming and balling because my knee hurt so badly. I could taste the saliva from my mouth while I was lying there balling. One of the other players went into the locker room and grabbed my phone, I called my dad but he couldn’t make out anything I was saying because I was still crying. My coach, Ms. Bolton, carried me to the bench while my dad was on his way. My dad carried me out to the truck then inside to the couch when we got home. Brock, my brother, went and picked up some crutches for me. I ended up going to the doctor about a week later and then on January 4, 2016, I had my first surgery. Coming out of surgery and waking up in recovery was the worst pain I’ve EVER felt. I came out of recovery and was screaming in pain because they didn’t keep track of when I had last had morphine so I wasn’t on track and I felt my whole leg right after surgery. Tearing my ACL was important because it made me who I am today and made me stronger by

It was a normal spring night and my baseball game had just started. It was senior night and I was pitching, we had just finish the first half of the first inning. My teammate struck out, it was my turn to hit, I swung for the ball and my leg popped twice. I went down and didn't get back up, My leg was stuck to my chest and I couldn't move it. The visiting team's coach was an EMT he ran over and said ¨this is going to hurt¨ and pulled my leg straight. What had happened was when I swung the bat my leg didn't move and my kneecap dislocated and instead of my ligaments tearing, they stretched and broke my kneecap. This was a challenge for me because this was the first time I had never broken a bone in my life. I went to the doctor and he said nothing was wrong, so my

In my freshman year of high school I made the freshman baseball team, a couple weeks into the season I received news that I was being promoted to the JV team. I was so excited I was gonna be able to play at the next level. That night I played in my last game on the freshman team and I broke my thumb after a bad hop. I was devastated when the doctor gave me the news that I’d be out for the season and in a cast for the next month. Soon after my coaches heard the news, I was sent back to the freshman team. After playing out all the hypothetical ways approaching the next few months could have gone for me I decided right then I was going to go to every practice and game to help my team even though I physically wasn't able to. At the team banquet

Spring of my junior year in high school, I joined track with wishful thinking. I’m going to do track, run sprints, and get into great shape for summer. However, with my luck it didn’t work out how I wanted. A week into the track season, I went to our school’s field to play a pick-up game of soccer. In the process of going to the field, I had to climb over a fence. Simple? I really should of thought this through, but didn’t. As I jumped over and landed, a loud pop sound came from my knee loud enough for my friends to hear. I sat there crying in front of my friends for a minute or two, but got up trying to walk it off. As you can see no is not an option for me, as I tried play a soccer game with a swollen knee cap. I was confused what happened, I didn’t know exactly happened. But sharp pains were shooting through my leg as I limped around the field. Little did I know a swollen and bruised knee meant torn ligaments.

During my sophomore year of highschool I loved to play volleyball and basketball. It was my life and I enjoyed everything about it. The intensity of the sports gave me a thrill rush. Sports are what helped me through high school. During volleyball season I was a major blocker for our team. I played weak side witch was your top blocker. I was going up for a block and when I came down I landed really wrong. As I was coming down and felt my feet hit the ground I heard a loud pop in my knee. I had instant pain and fell to the ground. As my coaches were running over to me I could feel tears running down my face. I told myself that pain wasn’t going to take my game away from me. I got up and told my coaches leave me in I am fine. I continued to play till the end of the game. I was in so much pain and aginee. I finished the game and went into the locker rooms and finished my high school career.

As I sat there and let the doctor examine my knee and diagnosis me with a “left knee sprain”. I started to cry. I already knew the outcome that I had a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). I tried to continue to play on it until one time I was playing in a tournament, and I went up to block a girls shot and landed on my

It all started one day with my first high school tryouts. I had thought something was wrong with my knee for a while however never took any interest in it. We were playing a scrimmage against each other so that the coach could see our skill level. Not trying to brag or anything , but I was rocking it out there. After a few minutes my knee started to feel strange

I had no idea that my path to dentistry had started years before I ever realized I wanted to become a dentist. Given that I was brought up in a somewhat strict household, and that I was essentially raised in a church, I was encouraged to invest in three areas, which would later become my passions and greatly equip me for a career in health professions and specifically dentistry. Those areas being education, music, and communication.

If I was asked why I wanted to study medicine a year ago I would have provided a fairly satisfactory answer but if I’m asked why I want to study medicine - or continue studying – now I’m positive that I can provide the best answer possible due to the fact that I have actually studied and engaged in Medicine the whole past year.

From the time I was a seven years old till the current day, as a Sophomore at Benedictine University, I have wanted to become a teacher. The four years of high school, Oswego High School, I truly become passionate to become a teacher. I took the necessary general education classes, and my elective classes learning about child development and early childhood education. Once I graduated high school, I felt confident to become a teacher, but I discovered that special education was what I truly wanted to do. From the first day or first grade up to now, I have become a success student, which I can’t wait to become teacher I want to be an aspirational teacher one day to my future students.

In high school during a basketball game, an opposing player and I collided going after a loose ball. Somehow my hand got caught beneath her as we fell to the ground. Hopping to my feet I felt some pain in my hand, but assumed I just jammed a finger. The game was too close and there was no time to worry about an injury. When my coach saw I was favoring it, he called a timeout. When asked if I was okay, I responded “It hurts, but I think I just jammed a finger” and proceeded to tape it myself. Once done, I was back on the court, playing through the pain. My team suffered a heartbreaking defeat that night and hours later I learned that my season could be over. The emergency room physician instructed me to see an orthopedic surgeon, my hand was broken.