Writing Feedback / 'Since I was paralyzed..' - College Essay, give advice [5]

I woke up at 4 in the morning to my mom hysterical crying and me not being able to do anything about it. Not being able to get up out of my bed just watching my mom cry was a feeling I will never forget. When I was four years old I got diagnosed with Guillain Barre which is a sickness that 1 in 100,000 people get. When I first went to the hospital, the doctors did not know what was wrong with me since it was such a rare sickness. Guillain Barre is something that progress over time, so when my mom first took me to the hospital for being weak, they sent me home saying I have the flu. It took a few days and many different tests to confirm I had Guillain Barre. After it was confirmed, it changed my whole life, I had to receive blood transfusions to try to help me gain control again. It was a scary moment how I went from being able to do something as simple as getting out of bed to needing assistance for everything I did. I could not even use the bathroom by myself or brush my teeth or my hair, I could not do things a four-year-old was supposed to be able to do. I had to stay in the hospital for 3 months and 3 different hospitals. Since I was paralyzed I needed to learn how to walk, talk, and do everything all over again.

Waking up one morning being able to control your body then waking up another day not being able to control anything in my body was a scary feeling. Going through this obstacle helped me realize what really matters in life. Health, family, my independence and living each day as if tomorrow doesn't exist. While staying in the hospital, I was around people that were in worse conditions then me. For example, there was a girl named Pricilla who was diagnosed with Cerebral palsy, she is confined to a wheelchair her whole life. I'm thankful for the opportunity to gain my independence again and gain control of my body again. Family is important to me because, through everything I have been through they have always been here for me. They spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in the hospital with me. For Thanksgiving, my father bought a whole turkey to the hospital. For Christmas, my family brought all the gifts to the hospital and we all opened our presents in the hospital. There were certain days that I wasn't able to eat and if I didn't eat, they would not eat with me. No one knows what tomorrow holds, so you have to live your life as if tomorrow does not exist.

This experience has made me humble and appreciate the value of life. I went from brushing my teeth myself, taking a bath myself, talking, walking to needing assistance for everything. It made me feel weak and helpless at the time. My independence has become such a relevant factor in my life since there was a time I was not able to have it. Some days it is taken for granted because it is so natural to some of us. This experience has motivated me to pursue a career in the medical field. There is one quote in which I live off of and that is "Live, Laugh, Laugh".