A large crowd of spectators was gathering around the frail, almost lifeless body of a man who had just collapsed and was lying on a gravel driveway. I yelled for someone to call for help as I noticed that the man was barely breathing. The gravity of the situation then hit me. I began to administer CPR as my brain raced with thoughts of what else I could do. Over thirty minutes passed before the paramedics finally arrived, but by this point, the cardiac arrest had already taken its toll.
That man was my grandfather, and that incident was the most challenging and devastating situation I have ever faced. It caused me to be resolute in my determination to learn all that I could, work as hard as I could and receive the training available to me to prevent such tragedies from occurring. It caused me to want to be a doctor.
At the Ohio State University I was able to realize my academic competitiveness and this experience gave me the confidence to know that I could succeed. I initially was nervous about my courses, especially organic chemistry, due to my previous academic hardships at Purdue University. I knew that the course load in medical school would be very challenging and therefore I decided to take as many difficult courses as possible in preparation.
At first it was very difficult, but the confidence my professors had in me, especially my organic chemistry professor, Dr. Callam, inspired me. During office hour visits, Dr. Callam challenged me in new ways by presenting me with problems that required a deep understanding of the concepts in organic chemistry as well as other courses. I realized that to succeed I need to push myself beyond others expectations and in the process I developed an understanding of my abilities to succeed in medical courses. I decided to volunteer in the Emergency Department at Mt. Carmel West Hospital because again I believed that to succeed as a doctor I needed to be able to handle the stress and intensity of the environment.
Instead of stress though, I found care, compassion, and my real passion for clinical care. Whenever I had any free time I visited patients in their rooms to listen to their stories and empathize with them. That’s how I met Louisa. She was sent to the hospital to have her arm x-rayed. When I stopped by her room she was sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the wall, which made me think something was wrong. I knocked on the open door and asked if everything is okay. She responded almost automatically, “I’m fine.” I walked in and sat down next to her, and again asked her, “Is everything really okay?”
This time she actually looked up at me, holding back tears. Then she told me in a whisper, as if she herself didn’t want to hear it, “I have cancer.” She had just found out a few days ago and was unsure how to proceed with her life. “If something happened to me what would my children do?” she asked. Recalling my experiences of both my uncle and aunt having cancer I told her that her family was there to support her and that it was important that she let them know. We talked for awhile longer and before she left she sincerely thanked me. Although I could not be her doctor, I was glad to be her friend.
I chose to pursue a Masters of Public Health (MPH) program at the University of Virginia (UVA) to gain an outside perspective on medicine in order to be a more understanding and well rounded doctor. During my education, I took a wide variety of courses, but global health was a topic that particularly moved me. On the first day of class, my professor, Dr. Dillingham, explained how a girl in South Africa was shot and killed over a couple of dollars. The way of life for many of the citizens in third world countries, especially their health status, was unfathomable. It made me very upset and angry. After having heard such stories, I became inspired to help promote change. I joined a project at UVA to decrease neonatal mortality in Bangladesh, a country that has one of the highest neonatal and infant mortality rates in the region. Over the span of several months I researched WHO initiatives and wrote up a grant proposal focusing on educating traditional birth attendants.
Through my educational and personal career, I have found that medicine satisfies both my educational interests and my desire to serve others. I specifically realized that for me to do everything I can to help someone, a medical education is necessary. With a lifelong educational career in medicine, I will have the opportunity to use my knowledge and compassion to come to the rescue when someone else’s grandfather needs help.
