“It’s going to be hard,” the doctor said as the surgery was completed and I was out of recovery. “What happened?” I asked a little worried about the way he was acting. “We had to remove your left eye because you had Retinoblastoma in it,” he replied. I went over to the mirror to see a patch on the left side of my face covering my left eye socket. Little did I know about how much this moment would change my life and make me who I am today. Growing up with only my right eye has drastically changed my life in some good and bad ways. At the beginning right after it happened I was ashamed. Whenever my family and I would go somewhere I would always have my face into whichever one of my parents was carrying me at that time. I had to adjust …show more content…
My friends all think it is cool that I am different than everyone else. We all joke around about it because it is a part of my life. I have embraced it as it not being an excuse for anything even though it would be really easy to name it as one. My friends say that because of this I can do some things most people have never seen before and amaze them with how I do it. Going forward in life I would like to help those affected by cancer. It is a very serious matter and should not be taking lightly. I would let people know to live life to the fullest because you never know when that one event will occur and will change your life forever. I would also like to help out the American Cancer Society in one day curing the gruesome killer. Lastly to let the kids and people going through the battle and let them know they are not alone and that there are people that will be there with them throughout the whole battle. If I could go back in time I wouldn’t change a thing. This life-threatening event has made me who I am today and has shaped my whole life around it. Sure it would be great to do some of the things I haven’t been able to do because of the event, but that would mean that I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. I know God had all of this planned for
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Everything will be all right.” My doctor was there. That reassured me. I felt that in his presence, nothing serious could happen to me. Every one of his words was healing and every glance of his carried a message of hope. “It will hurt a little,” he said, “but it will pass. Be brave.” (79)
During my childhood I was diagnosed as having poor eyesight and was prescribed glasses to assist with my vision correction. I realize how blessed I am to have had that as an option. I was always in awe of the environment and creatures who inhabited the various areas of nature. The sense of vision is very important and without the ability to see an individual would be missing out on many colorful life experiences. Blindness, which is the lack of the ability to see is a very dark and challenging disability. Without one’s eyes, everyday activities such a walking, reading, eating and identifying people can be a struggle. It has been proven that the brain will adapt to the loss by giving itself a makeover. If one sense is lost,
My father made a successful recovery and I became inspired. I realized that having the gift of sight is something people take for granted. Therefore, when I embarked on my undergraduate journey, I partook in several activities to help foster my thirst for knowledge about optometry. For instance, I became the treasurer of the pre-optometry club at the University of Florida. As an executive board member, I opened doors for others to find their passion for optometry through managing our budget and finances to sponsor trips and activities. Meanwhile, I also worked as a secretary and shadowed at the Eye Associates of Orlando, where I gained practical knowledge. I also volunteered for the KidSight Vision Screening Program where I entered data of visio...
I’m actually kind of shocked I could write about recovery because it is a topic with a special meaning to myself. But, I found it easier to write about my own experience with a negative event this time, and I believe it is because I grew as a writer. I saw the value the personal testimony adds to a piece, and thus I could add my own story.
The ride home that day was filled with questions and concerns about surgery. Being that both my eyes had a turn to them surgery was very critical and dangerous, and with the degree of my turns I had the potential to go blind. Dinner that night was another debate. Overall my parents choice was clear, all they wanted was for me to be okay, and for this situation that meant surgery.
Everyone is different in their own way. Our differences are what make us unique. Since no one is weird or an outcast, people are just misjudged or misunderstood. In one person’s eyes they might be different, but to another person they might be the center of their world.
My interest in the career of optometry stems from my first experience in the optometry office to receive my first pair of glasses when I was in middle school. I distinctly remember the moment when my optometrist slipped my new glasses over my eyes for the first time. Suddenly, everything in the room came into sharp, clear focus. I knew that the glasses would help me see the board in school, but I was astonished to find that I could see small details about the room, as it had never before occurred to me that I should have been able to see these details. I was also surprised that I was even able to see the expressions on the faces of people who were standing far away from me. It was one of the most incredible, freeing, and empowering moments of my life. As I walked out of the optometry office, I felt
It’s amazing how a horrific and negative life changing event can encourage and guide you in the path of your future. The end result may not be visible when it first takes place, but the process of a recovery can be extremely educational. You see, I was provided the opportunity of job shadowing firsthand the fields of athletic training and physical therapy due to a knee injury. I believe the majority of people would consider a severely damaged knee a dramatic setback in life. I was able to find the silver lining during the recovery.
When my dad was gone I had to help my mom and Ross out with some of Ross’ treatments, like the pressure garments that kept his skin grafts on. I learned a lot about the medical world from an early age which has been fueled by the science that I learned in school and has been nurtured by my love for it. For the rest of my life I hope that I will be able to keep this love going with a career in medicine working as a G.P, or a General Practitioner, so that I can help people stay happy and healthy just as my family got help so long
When I was just 11 years old, I fractured my ankle playing basketball at the local park. The pain was white-hot and excruciating. I was reduced to a sobbing, blubbering, mess and unrecognizable upon my arrival the doctor’s office. After the diagnosis and subsequent surgery, I was placed on crutches and barred from participating in physical activity for at least six weeks. This was paramount to torture for my 11 year-old energetic and hyper-active self. Seeing my friends run around short of breath because of their own intoxicating laughter was bittersweet at best. One evening at the local park, I was just about ready to go insane until I surveyed my immediate surroundings and noticed a couple of kids my age sitting at a wooden table a couple of feet
decisions I have made, because I would never be the person I am today or have
The idea of normality rarely bothered me. I began accepting my differences which ultimately allowed me to appreciate originality. During my last year of high school, I was given the chance to perform at the annual Senior Showcase. My family members scattered all over the United States flew out to hear me sing. The occasion felt too significant and too momentous for a random song that everyone would forget about hours after. That night I played and sang “True Colors” in front of one thousand peers, family members and parents to share a message that I will forever remember. I’m Adrian. I’m a fun loving, wild and outgoing kid that loves theater and is beyond proud to be black, white and homosexual. These things may be a part who I am, but they certainly do not define my character. So, I asked, and I ask everyone still, to think of me as Adrian. I don’t want to be referred to as the gay kid, the mixed kid or the theater kid simply because I am just Adrian. Differences may be advantageous, but why highlight them when defining an individual? Why make someone feel less of a person than what they deserve? The support I received after the performance gave me the strength I needed to start the next chapter of my life at college. Furthermore, my progress as a human being gave me the happiness and fortitude required to disregard the belief that normal is
look back in life, there are many things that I would change, but there is one decision that
I’m not a doctor, I can’t stop someone from dying like that and I couldn’t have done anything to change the outcome. I didn’t become addicted to meth or anything like that afterwards. I was sad but not enough to do something drastic like that. I think that my actions mainly consisted of processing the fact that I would never see my grandma alive again. I don’t think that I did anything harmful or reckless after that. I don’t even think I missed a day of school. I think any actions that I did or did not take were reasonable. I don’t think that any actions that I might have taken hurt anyone, or that they were bad. If I could go back in time, I would not change any of my actions because I don’t think that I did anything wrong.
I never really talk about the affects my father’s motorcycle accident had on me because it hurts to know I went through something like that at such a young age. Where I am now is where I want to stay because it is nothing but progress from where I was then. I may have grown from my father’s motorcycle accident, but also developed a lot of good and bad memories that I would not trade for the world.