Cancer. Six simple letters forming the most complex word a seven-year-old could ever comprehend. I couldn’t even spell it, let alone know what it meant. All I knew at the time was that it was killing my father. I had lost my grandmother and both grandfathers by that time. Loss was something I had already grasped. My dad was dying and the one person in my family that I desperately needed, my brother, was off deployed across the world. It was incredibly difficult to not have him around during this time and everything was going downhill faster than the speed of sound.
Walking around the halls of Tyler Elementary, I felt as if I had no one to talk to. Not many people could relate with a little girl who had a dad battling cancer. While I was playing on the monkey bars during recess, my dad was fighting for his life. While I laughed with friends, he was going through the worst moments he has ever experienced. When I would get home, he would be on the couch with his chemo bag next to him, pumping medicine into his sick body. The pancreatic cancer cells and tumors wrapped around his arteries and veins as I wrapped my arms around him to give him a hug. All I wanted was for him to feel better so we could be a happy family again.
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My tiny child-sized legs wandered the hospital halls, my curious eyes watching people in lab coats and scrubs save patients and make people’s lives a little bit better. Even in terrible circumstances, I was amazed by their immense knowledge and care for every single person that walked through the hospital doors. The way they almost automatically knew what to do in situations and the ability to develop a personal connection with their patients and coworkers left me in awe. This added a light in my life and sparked what I am most passionate about today-
I was then introduced to a patient who was in isolation. Her legs were immovable and were crossed in a very uncomfortable position. I wish I could’ve done something so that her legs could be in a more comfortable position, but all I could do was observe and get her a cup of ice cold water to drink. During this clinical observation, I didn’t get to see much but overall, it was a good experience. It made me realize what it was like to be in a hospital setting and what it meant to be a nurse. Seeing how the patients were still able to smile through all the pain they went through, it made me want to become a nurse even more because I would also like to make my patients happy. If I could do one thing differently during this clinical observation, I wish I didn’t ask my senior nurse about what externships she took and instead, I wished I asked her more questions about the patients in order to gain more information about
Isn’t it overwhelming to consider the fact that approximately one in eight deaths in the world are due to cancer? To make this more comprehensible, the number of deaths caused by cancer is greater than caused by AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Along with the idea that this disease does not have a definite cure is a mind-staggering concept to grasp. If not caught in time, cancer means guaranteed death. These types of thoughts were floating around my head when my mother had told me that my father had mouth cancer.
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
I had known for years that I wanted to work in the health care field, but I always believed it would be as a doctor. I watched for the first few years of my brother’s life as he struggled with different health challenges such as being born premature, having croup and breathing difficulty, and speech impairment. Watching my brother struggle and then being able to overcome these difficulties, as well as seeing other children around him who were not as fortunate, really pushed me even at a young age to make a difference. My family, both immediate and extended, were very supportive, and I felt a real positive push towards working hard to achieve that goal of working in health care. In high school, I was fortunate enough to do a cooperative placement at the Peterborough Regional Health Center’s Intensive Care Unit. Through observing rounds and being in the medical setting, I truly knew this is where I wanted to
"Ring, ring", I wondered who was calling me at this time of evening. "Yes; o.k.; Yes, I'll be there", I said before hanging up the phone. What was wrong, I wondered all that evening that the doctor wanted me to come in to discuss my lab results? I had never been asked to come in to the office after doing blood tests before; when receiving a call as this the mind plays tricks on the person and wild things start popping up in the head.
...epersonalized. Although not every patient is easy to deal with and doctors are under colossal pressure, by inspiring students with a possible future in the medical field to get involved with type of community service early we can ameliorate the distressing situation. Coming into contact with, speaking to, and intimately understanding these incredible individuals can dramatically alter one’s perspective and ensure treatment with self respect and dignity. I strongly believe in this notion of early involvement. My changed view coupled with my future medical training in college will allow me to be a figure to emulate and hopefully inspire others to follow this path. By embarking on this monumental journey mankind has the opportunity to shape history and enrich the lives of others while personally experiencing the most rewarding of all endeavors: helping someone in need.
Never would I have expected something this exponential to happen to my father and have such an impact on my family. When I was younger I used to be upset that I was the only one doing things around the house, but as I got older I knew my father appreciated all my help. My grandparents would also try and help as much as they could. I am thankful that I have become a better and stronger person during my father’s battle with this horrific disease. It has made a huge impact on the person I am today and the person I plan to be as I grow older. My father will always be an amazing person and a substantial fighter in my eyes. He decided to go and buy an iPhone so that we can FaceTime at least once a day and it’s something I always look forward to. No matter what mood I am in, Dad always knows how to put a smile on my face. We all urge everyone to go and have their house tested for radon levels just to be safe. So tell me, when was the last time you told your parents you loved
Back to my first day, I knew that as a volunteer I would be helping others in the hospital, but was unaware of how much my life would change. I entered volunteer services in my candy striper uniform and prepared myself to enter the Pediatric Emergency Room. This was my first assignment as a volunteer and the first time I realized pediatrics was the field I hoped to further study. As a volunteer, I prepped patients’ rooms and helped patients with their paperwork. Working with children directly, I was fascinated by the unique way they expressed their aches and pains. I was intrigued by the way children described their pains, in words and hand gestures, and how the doctors had to unscramble the puzzle to find a cure.
As a student at RFUMS, I will use my experiences as a paramedic to contribute to the university's diversity. My paramedic career has granted me the opportunity to interact and treat patients outside of the hospital, offering the rare perspective of viewing the environment from which our patients come from. This has opened my eyes to the barriers those in a lower socioeconomic status face. By applying and sharing my experiences, I can help others understand and empathize with patients. I will embrace and respect the experiences offered by other students, working together to provide exemplary and compassionate patient
...the opportunity to act as a triage nurse taking weights and blood pressures of our 1600 patients and seeing first-hand how hard it must be to receive quality medical care in their country. Many walked for hours and then stood waiting to be seen in the rain. To them, medical care is more a privilege than a right. This also seems to be true in the United States where the uninsured are turned away from many hospitals to ones, which often lack the resources for expensive operations. This experience has inspired me to serve the underserved.
As I grew, I expanded my broad aspect of knowledge of science, increased my exposure and refined my scientific research interests to what they are today. Volunteerism has been a constant feature in my life, working at university hospitals and schools whenever I could, thoroughly enjoying the interaction with multidisciplinary teams as well as patients and students. I came to understand their unique life challenges, noticing common threads, and the needs to contribute to the lives of many people. My career in medicine was pure to sacrifice, hard work, focus and patience though it was hard for me, I enjoyed doing it. The role I took on willingly, conducting hours of research and talking to medical professionals, earning me the nickname “Dr. Hema” by friends and
Cancer. It has been a huge part of my life since I was little. My mother was first diagnosed with Stage two Breast Cancer when I was a little girl. As a child, it was frightening seeing my mother vomiting, sweating, and ill. Within my teenage years, my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer again. This had been the second time and I was and wanted to be even more aware of the illness. Immediately, I took upon myself to find out all the information I could understand about cancer. At this point, I thought this was the end of the relationship I had with cancer but no, it crept right back into my life, this time succeeding. It grasped on and held tight onto both of my grandmothers. Regardless of the fight, it would not give up and release them.
After many nervous phone calls to various hospitals, I finally found the volun-TEEN program at Carolina's Hospital System to dedicate myself to for most of the summer. On the first day of work, I strolled into the building, hospital badge proudly pinned to my uniform. As I approached my station, the curious, eager feeling in my heart dissipated as I gazed upon the giant stack of paperwork that was slammed down before me. This was not the glamorous Grey's Anatomy type of work that I'd expected, but as I endured the sticky pages and paper cuts, I found myself falling in love with the atmosphere and people within the hospital. As I spoke with the nurses and doctors about their experiences, I found that we shared certain characteristics that seemed vital to their chosen career.
I was always ready to help in the ways that doctors and nurses needed, but my main goal became showing the patients that
Have you ever wanted to meet yourself from three years ago to see how you were like? I remember exactly how I was like three years ago, and I know I’ve changed a lot. I became more mature because I get into less trouble, have better grades and have a job. I changed because I realized what was important. I changed because I didn't want to be childish anymore.