Spending my entire life on this little island of only 32 square miles, it is here that I have accumulated all of my hopes and dreams. Just because I live on a small Island, does not mean that I am destine to small dreams. My hopes and dreams soar beyond the confinement of an island, and into a world of opportunities. Biomedical engineering has always been my passion. However, I have also wrestled with the idea of becoming a petroleum engineer, and add my contribution to the discovery of new and clean energy sources to help alleviate the energy crisis facing our nation.
Midway through my 11th grade year, however, darkness was about to overshadowed my life. Football season had just finished and we reigned supreme as the territorial champions. My grades were amazing. I was poised and ready to prove to my mom that I can be both successful in athletics and academics simultaneously. I felt unbeatable, untouchable and unstoppable. One day at the peak of my success in both areas, as I enter my home, my mother solemnly greeted me clutching a piece of paper as if her very life depended on it. Itching to see what was on that paper, my eyes followed it until she placed it in her dressing table drawer. I took the chance and stole the paper from the drawer. What I read was devastating. My mother was diagnosed with cancer. That night I prayed and cried asking God not to take my mother. As a teenage boy in a single family household, I just could not image life without my mother, the only constant in my life. I awoke with the strength of a lion determined to make sure my mother would not die. The bible says, "Knock and it will be open," and God was about to hear my constant knocking. I secretly researched cancer fighting foods and told my mother the coach wanted us to change our diets. I was more helpful around the house doing my chores. Hungry and exhausted, after football practices, I would go straight to the kitchen table and start my homework or studying to reduce stress level.
I attended school each day as if everything was normal but I was literally dying inside. In the morning tears would pour down my cheeks, but I was determined to save my mother. "No tears," I would say, and wipe the unwelcoming fluid from my eyes. In class I forced myself to stay alert, but at times I became completely unaware of my surroundings, drowned in thoughts of how I would be able to help my mother if I were a biomedical engineer and had somehow found a cure for cancer. When mother finally told me that there was a mass in her left breast, two months had passed, but it felt like a lifetime of heart-wrenching and unbearable suffering. Due to early detection, the doctors successfully removed the mass. Today she is cancer free.
A few weeks ago, I fractured my right tibia bone while practicing high school tackle football. I started the school year excited about playing my last year of football, but now I may not be able to play this season. Tackle football is a dangerous sport and injuries are inevitable. Perhaps it is the engineer in me, but I am convinced that the invention of more effective and fast acting medicine would tremendously reduce the healing and recovery process.
My mom's cancer scare and my injury have greatly influenced my interest in Biomedical engineering, and my desire to use my intelligence, love for science and mathematics abilities to make my contribution in finding a cure for cancer. As a result of these challenges that I have experienced, I am more determined to pursue and succeed as an outstanding biomedical engineer. One who will make a strong impact in the field of medicine.
Midway through my 11th grade year, however, darkness was about to overshadowed my life. Football season had just finished and we reigned supreme as the territorial champions. My grades were amazing. I was poised and ready to prove to my mom that I can be both successful in athletics and academics simultaneously. I felt unbeatable, untouchable and unstoppable. One day at the peak of my success in both areas, as I enter my home, my mother solemnly greeted me clutching a piece of paper as if her very life depended on it. Itching to see what was on that paper, my eyes followed it until she placed it in her dressing table drawer. I took the chance and stole the paper from the drawer. What I read was devastating. My mother was diagnosed with cancer. That night I prayed and cried asking God not to take my mother. As a teenage boy in a single family household, I just could not image life without my mother, the only constant in my life. I awoke with the strength of a lion determined to make sure my mother would not die. The bible says, "Knock and it will be open," and God was about to hear my constant knocking. I secretly researched cancer fighting foods and told my mother the coach wanted us to change our diets. I was more helpful around the house doing my chores. Hungry and exhausted, after football practices, I would go straight to the kitchen table and start my homework or studying to reduce stress level.
I attended school each day as if everything was normal but I was literally dying inside. In the morning tears would pour down my cheeks, but I was determined to save my mother. "No tears," I would say, and wipe the unwelcoming fluid from my eyes. In class I forced myself to stay alert, but at times I became completely unaware of my surroundings, drowned in thoughts of how I would be able to help my mother if I were a biomedical engineer and had somehow found a cure for cancer. When mother finally told me that there was a mass in her left breast, two months had passed, but it felt like a lifetime of heart-wrenching and unbearable suffering. Due to early detection, the doctors successfully removed the mass. Today she is cancer free.
A few weeks ago, I fractured my right tibia bone while practicing high school tackle football. I started the school year excited about playing my last year of football, but now I may not be able to play this season. Tackle football is a dangerous sport and injuries are inevitable. Perhaps it is the engineer in me, but I am convinced that the invention of more effective and fast acting medicine would tremendously reduce the healing and recovery process.
My mom's cancer scare and my injury have greatly influenced my interest in Biomedical engineering, and my desire to use my intelligence, love for science and mathematics abilities to make my contribution in finding a cure for cancer. As a result of these challenges that I have experienced, I am more determined to pursue and succeed as an outstanding biomedical engineer. One who will make a strong impact in the field of medicine.
