Medicine

While driving down Powhite, I felt alive today. I felt the exact reason why I want to do medicine so I decided to blog about it:

I was born with Hirschsprung’s Disease, a rare gastrointestinal disorder that lead to several bouts with illness. I was in and out of the hospital all of my childhood and nearly died twice. When Dr. Kessel told me it was a complete blessing from God that I was alive, I had the childhood ambition of becoming a doctor in fifth grade. Walking out of the hospital, I decided I wanted to use the blessing of life I had been given to help others recover from sickness so they could experience this blessing. My experience with an obstructed transverse colon in fifth grade gave purpose and meaning to life; I began to believe in God because I knew there must have been something miraculous behind my recovery and I found my vocation to be a doctor. These two findings eventually developed into finding a relationship with God and a dream to one day become a doctor in Africa. Experiencing illness firsthand helped me find meaning and purpose in life. Life has meaning because there is a God and I feel my purpose in life is to help the sick in hopes they could understand the same blessing I found that life is when I recovered from my own sickness.

I want to do medicine because if I can help one sick person recover and experience the blessing of life and how much God loves them the way I have through my recovery from sickness then I have used my life purposefully. All the tests, all-nighters, years of studying, sacrifice, etc. will be worth it if one other person experiences the blessing that I have experienced. After coming close to death, I know life is a blessing and that God infinitely loves me. This is the meaning of life: to know God couldn’t be anymore in love with you and that life is a blessing.

To be continued…