A Dad is someone who loves and cares for their children. A father is a man who has a child. A father is what I had. My parents sat me and my brother down on the couch on Christmas Eve and told us that “Mom and Dad still love each other very much” and that “we have decided to live in different houses.” I was eight and my brother just five years old. The hatred that I saw in the following years proved to me that their divorce wasn’t just because “some people fall out of love.” I watched my father spiral out of control; unachievable promises and erratic behavior, misplaced anger taken out on my brother and I, all while the bottles and cans stacked on top of each other spilling onto the ground from the dinner table that hadn’t seen a plate since that Christmas Eve when I was eight. My brother was oblivious. He was young and he couldn’t understand that our father’s behavior was directly related to the amount of drugs he had shot up or alcohol he had drank. My brother only knew that when he did everything he could, he would never make our father happy. He was a functional drunk so no one knew what was happening behind closed doors. I knew telling my mother would destroy her. I was 10. More and more strange men would come around the neighborhood but I didn’t think anything of it. I was happy that my father had “friends.” I didn’t know any better. I was a little girl in a room full holes in the walls, vomit stained carpets, and tall men with red noses, yellow eyes, and creative language. If this is what “adulthood” looked like then I did not want it. This was the first time I couldn’t see myself making it to adulthood. I was 12. My mother lived with her parent and was trying desperately to make ends meet. I couldn’t tell her anything. I knew she would fight for full custody and I wanted that more than anything. She knew it wasn’t perfect at my father’s house but she did not see what my brother and I saw. And we didn’t dare say a word. Without warning my father dropped us off at my mother’s house without an angry word. He was pleasant. That made me nervous. He told us that he had a new job as a semi truck driver after getting fired for drug use and that we wouldn’t see him for a little bit. I was 14. I received a text message from him a few hours later that I decided to show my mother. It was a suicide letter. I was 14. After that day I never saw him again. I am now 20. My father missed my high school graduation. He will miss my college graduation and he won’t get to walk me down the aisle that he promised me as a kid. The events that I have written are few of many but I have no recollection of them. The only reason I know they happened is because I wrote everything down in a small white journal. I have a new journal filled with friends and accomplishments and ups and downs and I still write down everything. The old journal is no longer white but it is the only thing I have of my father the man I once called Dad.

“She will never walk again.” “She will never be able to be independent.” She will never use her left side again.” “She will never...” A sentence I have heard more times than I can count is a sentence I have proved wrong equally as much. With two genetic disorders, I have learned to adapt to any situation and work harder to meet any goal. From being paralyzed twice, the first in both legs and the second on my left side to having up to twelve seizures a week, relearning how to walk, talk, write, and do most daily functions in high school set my academic career on hold. My grades started to slip, and my social life began to fade, I spent the last year rekindling those connections, making up for the lost time and using available resources to accomplish every one of my goals. I do not see my life as an unfortunate story but rather one of resilience and motivation. I have utilized various platforms such as writing, public speaking, and social media to advocate for those in similar situations because I am far from alone. My conditions are two that, with further research, can be prevented with genome editing technology, a process that I have begun to write a book on, specifically CRISPR/cas9 and believe is a major component in the future of medicine. I fully support the advancement of these technologies with precaution and with consideration for moral/ethical concerns. Gene editing can be a slippery slope in regard to ethics however I truly believe that it can be used to positively impact the world. Genetics and molecular biology have been a passion of mine since I was a child after being introduced to them by my grandfather. After high school, I intend to pursue a major in biomedical engineering and then medical school. I’d like to focus my career on the advancement of biotechnology while using my platform to educate those around me. There are many lofty goals I intend to accomplish that include but are not limited to publishing two books, one regarding the bioethics of gene editing, which is currently almost finished, and the second being a children's book focusing on treating those with disabilities with kindness, giving a Tedtalk on the bioethics of CRISPR-Cas9 and why it will give a better quality of life to those with life-threatening conditions, and doing all of these things while pursuing higher education. Achieving such things is how I intend to give back to my community and to people with disabilities across the globe.

“She will never walk again.” “She will never be able to be independent.” She will never use her left side again.” “She will never...” A sentence I have heard more times than I can count is a sentence I have proved wrong equally as much. With two genetic disorders, I have learned to adapt to any situation and work harder to meet any goal. From being paralyzed twice, the first in both legs and the second on my left side to having up to twelve seizures a week, relearning how to walk, talk, write, and do most daily functions in high school set my academic career on hold. My grades started to slip, and my social life began to fade, I spent the last year rekindling those connections, making up for the lost time and using available resources to accomplish every one of my goals. I do not see my life as an unfortunate story but rather one of resilience and motivation. I have utilized various platforms such as writing, public speaking, and social media to advocate for those in similar situations because I am far from alone. My conditions are two that, with further research, can be prevented with genome editing technology, a process that I have begun to write a book on, specifically CRISPR/cas9 and believe is a major component in the future of medicine. I fully support the advancement of these technologies with precaution and with consideration for moral/ethical concerns. Gene editing can be a slippery slope in regard to ethics however I truly believe that it can be used to positively impact the world. Genetics and molecular biology have been a passion of mine since I was a child after being introduced to them by my grandfather. After high school, I intend to pursue a major in biomedical engineering and then medical school. I’d like to focus my career on the advancement of biotechnology while using my platform to educate those around me. There are many lofty goals I intend to accomplish that include but are not limited to publishing two books, one regarding the bioethics of gene editing, which is currently almost finished, and the second being a children's book focusing on treating those with disabilities with kindness, giving a Tedtalk on the bioethics of CRISPR-Cas9 and why it will give a better quality of life to those with life-threatening conditions, and doing all of these things while pursuing higher education. Achieving such things is how I intend to give back to my community and to people with disabilities across the globe.

“She will never walk again.” “She will never be able to be independent.” She will never use her left side again.” “She will never...” A sentence I have heard more times than I can count is a sentence I have proved wrong equally as much. With two genetic disorders, I have learned to adapt to any situation and work harder to meet any goal. From being paralyzed twice, the first in both legs and the second on my left side to having up to twelve seizures a week, relearning how to walk, talk, write, and do most daily functions in high school set my academic career on hold. My grades started to slip, and my social life began to fade, I spent the last year rekindling those connections, making up for the lost time and using available resources to accomplish every one of my goals. I do not see my life as an unfortunate story but rather one of resilience and motivation. I have utilized various platforms such as writing, public speaking, and social media to advocate for those in similar situations because I am far from alone. My conditions are two that, with further research, can be prevented with genome editing technology, a process that I have begun to write a book on, specifically CRISPR/cas9 and believe is a major component in the future of medicine. I fully support the advancement of these technologies with precaution and with consideration for moral/ethical concerns. Gene editing can be a slippery slope in regard to ethics however I truly believe that it can be used to positively impact the world. Genetics and molecular biology have been a passion of mine since I was a child after being introduced to them by my grandfather. After high school, I intend to pursue a major in biomedical engineering and then medical school. I’d like to focus my career on the advancement of biotechnology while using my platform to educate those around me. There are many lofty goals I intend to accomplish that include but are not limited to publishing two books, one regarding the bioethics of gene editing, which is currently almost finished, and the second being a children's book focusing on treating those with disabilities with kindness, giving a Tedtalk on the bioethics of CRISPR-Cas9 and why it will give a better quality of life to those with life-threatening conditions, and doing all of these things while pursuing higher education. Achieving such things is how I intend to give back to my community and to people with disabilities across the globe.

“She will never walk again.” “She will never be able to be independent.” She will never use her left side again.” “She will never...” A sentence I have heard more times than I can count is a sentence I have proved wrong equally as much. With two genetic disorders, I have learned to adapt to any situation and work harder to meet any goal. From being paralyzed twice, the first in both legs and the second on my left side to having up to twelve seizures a week, relearning how to walk, talk, write, and do most daily functions in high school set my academic career on hold. My grades started to slip, and my social life began to fade, I spent the last year rekindling those connections, making up for the lost time and using available resources to accomplish every one of my goals. I do not see my life as an unfortunate story but rather one of resilience and motivation. I have utilized various platforms such as writing, public speaking, and social media to advocate for those in similar situations because I am far from alone. My conditions are two that, with further research, can be prevented with genome editing technology, a process that I have begun to write a book on, specifically CRISPR/cas9 and believe is a major component in the future of medicine. I fully support the advancement of these technologies with precaution and with consideration for moral/ethical concerns. Gene editing can be a slippery slope in regard to ethics however I truly believe that it can be used to positively impact the world. Genetics and molecular biology have been a passion of mine since I was a child. After high school, I intend to pursue a major in biomedical engineering and then medical school. I’d like to focus my career on the advancement of biotechnology while using my platform to educate those around me. There are many lofty goals I intend to accomplish that include but are not limited to publishing two books, one regarding the bioethics of gene editing, which is currently almost finished, and the second being a children's book focusing on treating those with disabilities with kindness, giving a Tedtalk on the bioethics of CRISPR-Cas9 and why it will give a better quality of life to those with life-threatening conditions, and doing all of these things while pursuing higher education. Achieving such things is how I intend to give back to my community and to people with disabilities across the globe.

“She will never walk again.” “She will never be able to be independent.” She will never use her left side again.” “She will never...” A sentence I have heard more times than I can count is a sentence I have proved wrong equally as much. With two genetic disorders, I have learned to adapt to any situation and work harder to meet any goal. From being paralyzed twice, the first in both legs and the second on my left side to having up to twelve seizures a week, relearning how to walk, talk, write, and do most daily functions in high school set my academic career on hold. My grades started to slip, and my social life began to fade, I spent the last year rekindling those connections, making up for the lost time and using available resources to accomplish every one of my goals. I do not see my life as an unfortunate story but rather one of resilience and motivation. I have utilized various platforms such as writing, public speaking, and social media to advocate for those in similar situations because I am far from alone. My conditions are two that, with further research, can be prevented with genome editing technology, a process that I have begun to write a book on, specifically CRISPR/cas9, and believe is a major component in the future of medicine. I fully support the advancement of these technologies with precaution and with consideration for moral/ethical concerns. Gene editing can be a slippery slope in regard to ethics however I truly believe that it can be used to positively impact the world. Genetics and molecular biology have been a passion of mine since I was a child after being introduced to them by my grandfather. After high school, I intend to pursue a major in biomedical engineering and then medical school. I’d like to focus my career on the advancement of biotechnology while using my platform to educate those around me. There are many lofty goals I intend to accomplish that include but are not limited to publishing two books, one regarding the bioethics of gene editing, which is currently almost finished, and the second being a children's book focusing on treating those with disabilities with kindness, giving a Tedtalk on the bioethics of CRISPR-Cas9 and why it will give a better quality of life to those with life-threatening conditions, and doing all of these things while pursuing higher education. Achieving such things is how I intend to give back to my community and to people with disabilities across the globe.