Kevin R. Mabee Memorial Scholarship

Waking to the screams of my sister rolling in pain plagued me as a child. My oldest sister Morgan started experiencing symptoms of arthritis when she was in 8th grade and from there it quickly escalated. She went to doctor after doctor before there was an actual diagnosis made. Rheumatoid arthritis in her knees. She would limp, sometimes she couldn't even stand, and she especially struggled when she played her favorite sport, volleyball. She was depressed, she felt handicapped. It made me sick to think about how she had to deal with this illness from such a young age. Being a Seventh-day-Adventist, a religion focusing on health, we grew up eating lots of healthy foods. You would think that being healthier would have deterred her from getting this condition but it didn't seem to help much. However, there was an aspect of our religion we had overlooked: vegetarianism/veganism. My family still ate meat, but one day my sister took it upon herself to stop eating meat as many arthritis patients found that stopping meat consumption lowered the inflammation in their joints. I knew how hard sticking with such a drastic diet change would be for my sister, as meat is such a staple part of the human diet. I decided to join her on her vegetarian journey in support of her. Having someone to hold her accountable would be helpful. At first, it was hard, we craved meat every day as we watched the rest of my family eat their protein-packed dinners. In the beginning, we caved and ate some of my mother's glorious cooking, however as time wore on I noticed that I longed for meat less and less. It got to the point where the smell of meat made me feel nauseated. To my sister's relief, the diet change helped significantly and she could go back to regular activities like running and playing her favorite, volleyball. As time wore on though my sister's symptoms of arthritis diminished for whatever reason and she went back to eating meat. On the other hand, I stayed with the diet, it just seemed like it was a part of who I was. Being vegetarian opened my eyes to see how badly the meat industry treats its animals and the horrible chemicals that they are injected and cleaned with. This directly translates to lots of health conditions in Americans today and hormones have a significant effect on the growth of children today. Because of this, I promised myself to educate myself and others on how to treat their bodies with respect by what they put in their stomach, and eventually, that led to my interest in nutrition. Curing people by only the food they eat can make such a huge impact on the illness rate in America and even the world. If I can just change the life of one person through food that would be enough for me.