If there is one person I can say I am doing this all for, it would be my grandmother Rendel. From the age of two weeks, my grandmother took me into her home and sheltered me when my parents neglected to do it themselves. In her rather old age, she took on the responsibility of a child so young as I and treated me as her own. Thinking back to the days where my grandmother would tell me how she came to rescue me from my parents always brought a tear to my eye. However, when I look at the overall picture, I am rather happy to have spent my childhood around such a strong, caring, independent woman. As a child, my grandmother and her daughter, my aunt, were the only two parents in my life. My father had moved to America to pursue his dreams of becoming a contractor, and my mother wanted nothing to do with me, nonetheless. My grandmother, my guardian angel, so bravely stepped up and took me into her home with open arms, something I will forever be eternally grateful for. She worked as a Certified Registered Nursing Assistant in our small town, and even at a young age as my own, I could see the toll it took on her. She often came home tired and exhausted from the long shifts she had to work to provide for me. Even when her hands were aching and bruised from tending to her patients all day, she always found time to entertain me and mentor me in the kitchen while she cooked her delicious meals. When we both moved to America, I knew that I could conquer this new world with her by my side. My grandmother was nothing short of a hero, and she is the reason why I have also dedicated my future studies to Nursing. When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit, my grandmother fell rather ill. When she called me frantic, stating that she couldn't breathe, I rushed over to her home, hoping and praying that she would be alright. When I got there, her face was drooped, and she was gasping for air on the Victorian-style couch in her dining room. I immediately rushed her over to the nearest hospital and called for the nurse to aide her. To see my grandmother rushed away from me in such a split second broke me. I stood there in the waiting room, hopeless and anticipating what was yet to come. In my head, I was replaying the last few moments, wondering what I could have done better in such a situation. I stood in the hospital, beating myself up because there was nothing I could have done to protect my grandmother from this untouchable enemy. When my grandmother was officially diagnosed with Coronavirus, I felt like my whole world was falling apart. I was not able to see her, and those two weeks I spent quarantined felt as they would never end. At this moment, I realized how helpless I was. I could not tend to my sick grandmother, who had given up her own life to save mine, and for this, I was devastated. And so, I began researching. I looked up every remedy and researched this virus to aid my grandmother in some sort of way. To say this experience has awoken a passion in me is nothing short of the truth. I shall use this experience as a pave to my career in Nursing. To help even one person, where I failed to help my grandmother, would make this all worth it.

On the day of his funeral, they covered my grandfather’s coffin with an earthy colored blend of rocks, disintegrated organic entities, and weeds. When it was my turn to speak, I choked up. All the memories I had formulated with my grandfather ran through my mind, taunting me in my moment of weakness. I looked over at his body. This wasn’t him. This looked nothing like my grandfather, and I could not find it in me to utter the words I had stayed up the night before perfecting. I would not relinquish my grandfather, to acknowledge a passing that I had not seen coming, to accept that sickness could steal my grandfather from me, a valuable soul who was gone too soon. When my grandfather passed, I found myself in a dark place. I wondered what I could have done. If there was anything I could have done to help him during his final moments - to provide him with the peace I desperately needed now. When my parents revealed to me that he had cancer all along, it broke me. All this time- he was in pain, and I was so oblivious to it. I replayed the moments in my head over and over, torturing myself because I thought it would make up for the time lost, that I would never be able to get back. As a way to liberate myself from the ignorant bliss, I felt every single day, I engulfed myself within my studies. I spent day and night researching the sworn enemy. Days and nights under a small lamp in my room researching any and everything I could find on dreaded cancer that stole my grandfather from me. I tried to absorb each and every bit of information I could, hoping that it would amount to the fact that I could not fathom the final words I would ever speak in my grandfather’s presence. When I read about the pain these patients endured, I found myself crying. To know that my grandfather experienced that himself, was truly a life-changer. From there on, I devoted myself to researching cancer. I wanted to find ways to ease the pains of those having to battle this dreaded disease. To even provide one person with ease would have fulfilled this goal of mine. And so, I began volunteering. I traveled to my mother’s hospital and volunteered to aide their patients each day after school. I found myself laughing alongside them and making jokes, bringing a bit of light to their situations. This, was my happiness. Volunteering at this hospital helped me realize my calling to Nursing. I want to help those unfortunate, who cannot help themselves. I want to provide others with the comfort and ease that my grandfather never acquired. I want to make a difference within this world and beyond because I know that my grandfather is looking down on me, proud of all I have done so far. Even if I have to pace myself to one patient at a time, I will devote myself to providing aid to those unable to find comfort within the confines of a hospitalized setting. This, and only this, is my true happiness. Although Cancer was able to grasp my grandfather from my reach, I now realize that this was only a fraction of the moments I spent with him. There are so many more amazing memories that I recall and choose to remember my grandfather by. Not by the weakened state, he was in during his final hours, but by the powerful, gentle, and kind soul he was. As a nurse, I will aim to remind my patients that this disease is nonetheless, just a disease. We can fight this battle together and stress the importance of having emotional support during these times. With this, I can find the words to utter to my patients, those that I was not able to utter to my grandfather.

If there is one person I can say I am doing this all for, it would be my grandmother Rendel. From the age of two weeks, my grandmother took me into her home and sheltered me when my parents neglected to do it themselves. In her rather old age, she took on the responsibility of a child so young as I and treated me as her own. Thinking back to the days where my grandmother would tell me how she came to rescue me from my parents always brought a tear to my eye. However, when I look at the overall picture, I am rather happy to have spent my childhood around such a strong, caring, independent woman. As a child, my grandmother and her daughter, my aunt, were the only two parents in my life. My father had moved to America to pursue his dreams of becoming a contractor, and my mother wanted nothing to do with me, nonetheless. My grandmother, my guardian angel, so bravely stepped up and took me into her home with open arms, something I will forever be eternally grateful for. She worked as a Certified Registered Nursing Assistant in our small town, and even at a young age as my own, I could see the toll it took on her. She often came home tired and exhausted from the long shifts she had to work to provide for me. Even when her hands were aching and bruised from tending to her patients all day, she always found time to entertain me and mentor me in the kitchen while she cooked her delicious meals. When we both moved to America, I knew that I could conquer this new world with her by my side. My grandmother was nothing short of a hero, and she is the reason why I have also dedicated my future studies to Nursing. When the Coronavirus Pandemic hit, my grandmother fell rather ill. When she called me frantic, stating that she couldn't breathe, I rushed over to her home, hoping and praying that she would be alright. When I got there, her face was drooped, and she was gasping for air on the Victorian-style couch in her dining room. I immediately rushed her over to the nearest hospital and called for the nurse to aide her. To see my grandmother rushed away from me in such a split second broke me. I stood there in the waiting room, hopeless and anticipating what was yet to come. In my head, I was replaying the last few moments, wondering what I could have done better in such a situation. I stood in the hospital, beating myself up because there was nothing I could have done to protect my grandmother from this untouchable enemy. When my grandmother was officially diagnosed with Coronavirus, I felt like my whole world was falling apart. I was not able to see her, and those two weeks I spent quarantined felt as they would never end. At this moment, I realized how helpless I was. I could not tend to my sick grandmother, who had given up her own life to save mine, and for this, I was devastated. And so, I began researching. I looked up every remedy and researched this virus to aid my grandmother in some sort of way. To say this experience has awoken a passion in me is nothing short of the truth. I shall use this experience as a pave to my career in Nursing. To help even one person, where I failed to help my grandmother, would make this all worth it.