I can sincerely state that my losses have impacted my outlook on life. In a span of 5 years, I was forced to watch my father and grandfather lose their motor abilities and communication skills, as brain cancer robbed them of their tomorrow. This taught me that we have a limited amount of time to make an impact. I believe that every day is a gift and that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I believe that my loss has fueled my passion to learn, focus, and someday make a positive contribution to society. I will make the most of the educational opportunities available to me because I am lucky to be alive and will not waste my tomorrows. After growing up in a household where I saw the impacts of brain cancer on my father and grandfather, I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine to help others. I studied to become an EMT as soon as I started college and started working as an EMT after earning my National certification. I have now worked as an EMT for over 2 years and find such joy in helping others. I also volunteer my EMT services at a weekly clinic for the unhoused in the Sacramento area. It is incredibly tough to see so many people suffer with issues arising from something minor that has been neglected, such as a simple cut that gets infected or a cough that develops into pneumonia. The hardest that I had to witness was an elderly unhoused woman who had to have her foot amputated because she could not afford her diabetes medication and did not have access to care to check a small wound on her foot that would trigger a life changing loss. I leave each shift at this medical clinic saddened to see so many who suffer but grateful that I have the ability to help them in any small way. I also am blessed to have known amazing hospice nurses who visited my home during my father and grandfather's decline. They inspired me to volunteer with a hospice organization because I recognize that although I had a large family to support my loved ones during their final days, there are many who face death alone. My role as a hospice volunteer allows me to spend time with senior citizens who are under hospice care without any family support. My heart flutters when I see my patients face light up when she sees that I have come for a visit. I will spend 2 hours just sitting by her bed listening to her reminisce about her life or family and sometimes we just sit in silence. Regardless of what we are doing, she knows that I am here for her and I am blessed to be able to provide a friendly face and hug during her darkest days. For now, I am still a student working towards medical school and a career in medicine, but I will give back to the community in any way possible during my journey because I have been blessed to be able to add value to those around me.

We take for granted the human body when everything works as intended. We can have a thousand problems until the day our health is impacted. When our health is impacted, the severity of all of our other problems slip to a lower order of importance. My family and myself have been impacted by numerous chronic medical conditions. We know the impact of not being able to take a full breath or move our joints without pharmaceutical assistance. These were the most minor of health plagues that affected my family. I watched my father and grandfather slowly lose their ability to communicate and lose their ability from brain tumors. Ultimately, they both lost their dignity before they eventually lost their lives. I was born with a brain tumor and Hydrocephalus but have been blessed to still be here today. Given the losses I have witnessed, I will not waste my gift of life without working to help others. We spent an obscene amount of money on medicines to treat our symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies have benefited from the norm of treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause. It is not profitable to cure a disease with one medicine when that disease can create a need for seven different medicines to treat the symptoms. It was ironic that the medicines only became free for my father and grandfather when they were in the hospice phase of their decline. Hospice providers were able to provide us with all the medicine we needed to keep them comfortable until they passed away. Throughout the many years of doctors visits, tests, and procedures, I learned that the healthcare providers we encounter have a big impact on our daily outlook. A simple smile, an honest conversation, a sincere and caring demeanor have the ability to make a difference in our own situation. A healthcare professional who takes the time to help us understand specifics instead of rushing thru a visit allows us to feel involved in our own fight instead of feeling like a victim waiting for the next bomb to drop. This exposure was the root of my passion to make a difference in the health journey of others. I don't expect to cure cancer but I do plan to help those who suffer from chronic medical conditions. I have spent the past two years working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to help people while I continue my undergraduate studies towards a career in medicine. I volunteer with a hospice organization because everyone deserves to see a friendly face when they are facing death. I thoroughly enjoy being able to lend a friendly ear as my patients reminisce about their memories. I listen and offer my assistance to keep them comfortable. I also volunteer at a medical camp for the unhoused in Sacramento to try to help make a difference in their health situation. I will continue my journey to try to make a difference for those who live with chronic health conditions, regardless of their financial situation because all humans should have a right to medical care.

We take for granted the human body when everything works as intended. We can have a thousand problems until the day our health is impacted. When our health is impacted, the severity of all of our other problems slip to a lower order of importance. My family and myself have been impacted by numerous chronic medical conditions. We know the impact of not being able to take a full breath or move our joints without pharmaceutical assistance. These were the most minor of health plagues that affected my family. I watched my father and grandfather slowly lose their ability to communicate and lose their ability from brain tumors. Ultimately, they lost their dignity before they eventually lost their lives. We spent an obscene amount of money on medicines to treat our symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies have benefited from the norm of treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause. It is not profitable to cure a disease with one medicine when that disease can create a need for seven different medicines to treat the symptoms. It was ironic that the medicines only became free for my father and grandfather when they were in the hospice phase of their decline. Hospice providers were able to provide us with all the medicine we needed to keep them comfortable until they passed away. Throughout the many years of doctors visits, tests, and procedures, I learned that the healthcare providers we encounter have a big impact on our daily outlook. A simple smile, an honest conversation, a sincere and caring demeanor have the ability to make a difference in our own situation. A healthcare professional who takes the time to help us understand specifics instead of rushing thru a visit allows us to feel involved in our own fight instead of feeling like a victim waiting for the next bomb to drop. This exposure was the root of my passion to make a difference in the health journey of others. I don't expect to cure cancer but I do plan to help those who suffer from chronic medical conditions. I have spent the past two years working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to help people while I continue my undergraduate studies towards a career in medicine. I volunteer with a hospice organization because everyone deserves to see a friendly face when they are facing death. I thoroughly enjoy being able to lend a friendly ear as my patients reminisce about their memories. I listen and offer my assistance to keep them comfortable. I also volunteer at a medical camp for the unhoused in Sacramento to try to help make a difference in their health situation. I will continue my journey to try to make a difference for those who live with chronic health conditions, regardless of their financial situation because all humans should have a right to medical care.

I can sincerely state that my losses have impacted my outlook on life. In a span of 5 years, I was forced to watch my father and grandfather lose their motor abilities and communication skills, as brain cancer robbed them of their tomorrow. This taught me that we have a limited amount of time to make an impact. I believe that every day is a gift and that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I believe that my loss has fueled my passion to learn, focus, and someday make a positive contribution to society. I will make the most of the educational opportunities available to me because I am lucky to be alive and will not waste my tomorrows. My father was my basketball coach since the age of five years old. He was my biggest fan and my biggest critic. He taught me to not accept normal but always strive for excellence in anything I do. He was so excited to watch me play basketball in high school after playing at a highly competitive level throughout my childhood. We did not expect cancer to deprive him of this by taking him from us when I was only in eighth grade. I did continue to play competitively throughout high school for him. To be honest, I lost the joy of the sport after losing him, but I continued to play my best in hopes that I was still making him proud of me. I played through numerous injuries resulting in an unplanned surgery. I worked hard to recover and return to the court because I knew that was what my father would have wanted me to do. I played through pain until I decided that my father would not want me to continue to suffer. I then chose to make him proud in a different way. I turned my grief into motivation to pursue a career in medicine to help others when they are the most vulnerable. Neuroscience fascinates me because so much is left to be learned, despite how much we already know. Although the brain has been studied, examined, and dissected for hundreds of years, it still remains the most mysterious organ in the human body. Our brain gives rise to every movement we make, internally and externally. It allows us to communicate with others, while also coordinating our heartbeat, digestion, and respiration. In college, I hope to pursue my interests in neuroscience by getting involved in labs and research projects. I hope to help make advancements in the field to continue to uncover the mysteries of the brain. For now, I am quite content working as an EMT while completing my undergraduate studies as it allows me maximum exposure to the clinical aspect of medicine. I thoroughly enjoy helping people even though it pays less than my fellow students working at McDonalds. I find my EMT job and my hospice volunteering to be truly rewarding. I take pride in being able to help those who really need help. I know my father is proud of me and my journey. This journey comes with an expensive price tag. I am working 3 part-time EMT jobs while maintaining a 3.7 GPA through my first two years of undergraduate studies but this does not cover the expenses. My widowed mother helps fund my education and living expenses as best she can but the financial burden for medical school will be an endeavor. A scholarship means that I can lessen the burden of the cost of pursuing my dream to help others.

We take for granted the human body when everything works as intended. We can have a thousand problems until the day our health is impacted. When our health is impacted, the severity of all of our other problems slip to a lower order of importance. My family and myself have been impacted by numerous chronic medical conditions. We know the impact of not being able to take a full breath or move our joints without pharmaceutical assistance. These were the most minor of health plagues that affected my family. I watched my father and grandfather slowly lose their ability to communicate and lose their ability from brain tumors. Ultimately, they lost their dignity before they eventually lost their lives. We spent an obscene amount of money on medicines to treat our symptoms. Pharmaceutical companies have benefited from the norm of treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause. It is not profitable to cure a disease with one medicine when that disease can create a need for seven different medicines to treat the symptoms. It was ironic that the medicines only became free for my father and grandfather when they were in the hospice phase of their decline. Hospice providers were able to provide us with all the medicine we needed to keep them comfortable until they passed away. Throughout the many years of doctors visits, tests, and procedures, I learned that the healthcare providers we encounter have a big impact on our daily outlook. A simple smile, an honest conversation, a sincere and caring demeanor have the ability to make a difference in our own situation. A healthcare professional who takes the time to help us understand specifics instead of rushing thru a visit allows us to feel involved in our own fight instead of feeling like a victim waiting for the next bomb to drop. This exposure was the root of my passion to make a difference in the health journey of others. I don't expect to cure cancer but I do plan to help those who suffer from chronic medical conditions. I have spent the past two years working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to help people while I continue my undergraduate studies towards a career in medicine. I volunteer with a hospice organization because everyone deserves to see a friendly face when they are facing death. I thoroughly enjoy being able to lend a friendly ear as my patients reminisce about their memories. I listen and offer my assistance to keep them comfortable. I also volunteer at a medical camp for the unhoused in Sacramento to try to help make a difference in their health situation. I will continue my journey to try to make a difference for those who live with chronic health conditions, regardless of their financial situation because all humans should have a right to medical care.

I learned very early that life really is inherently hard. That statement seems to be an understatement when I look back on my childhood. I can sincerely state that my losses have impacted my outlook on life. I have been impacted by brain tumors more times than should be legal. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor when I was 6 months old. I then spent aged 4 through 12 watching my loved one’s struggle with cancer, one at a time. I lost my grandfather to Brain Cancer when I was 10 years old and lost my father to Brain Cancer when I was 12 years old. My childhood involved accepting that I could not attend large birthday parties or have friends come to my house because we had to be hyper-vigilant about bringing germs into a house with someone always being immuno-compromised from chemotherapy. We have a room in my house that is referred to as the hospice room since my grandmother, grandfather and father all died in there. Sounds sad. It was definitely tragic, but it helped shape me into who I am today. I dedicate all my energy to pursuing a future in health care because I saw the impact healthcare workers had on my family. We were blessed to have hospice nurses and healthcare professionals visit our home who truly cared about what they were doing. They wanted to make the process of dying easier on the whole family, not just my terminally ill loved ones. This taught me that we have a limited amount of time to make a positive impact. I believe that every day is a gift, and that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I believe that my loss has fueled my passion to learn, focus, and someday make a positive contribution to society. I will make the most of the educational opportunities available to me because I am lucky to be alive and will not waste my tomorrows. I volunteered as a mentor to kids who were living with a terminally ill parent. For now, I am quite content working as an EMT while completing my undergraduate premed studies as it allows me maximum exposure to the clinical aspect of medicine. I thoroughly enjoy helping people even though it pays less than my fellow classmates working at McDonalds and Taco Bell. I find my EMT job and my hospice volunteering to be truly rewarding. I take pride in being able to help those who really need help. I volunteer at local homeless medical clinics to serve those who do not have access to healthcare. My outlook on life is very different from my peers as I have lost too many loved ones and seen the pain of having to watch your loved ones lose themselves to true suffering. I will not waste any opportunity that I have to make a difference in others’ lives. Although I am driven and focused on a long path for a career in medicine, I make it a personal goal to make one person smile each day as I feel that smiles are contagious and very fulfilling to me. I find joy in helping others and would like to think that I make my loved ones proud of how I have turned my losses into something positive.

My parents were raised in an extended-family environment so when my grandparents started having health issues, there was no question that they would live with us so that we could care of them. I lost my grandmother when I was only seven years old. My grandfather was a Gastric Lymphoma survivor who required full time care when his cancer returned and metastasized into Brain Cancer. He eventually passed away when I was 11 years old. My childhood involved rushing home from school to sit by his side and help my parents in any way possible. I watched him slowly lose his ability to hold a spoon, button his shirt, speak and eventually lose his mobility. I learned that the physical pain he was enduring was nothing compared to the pain from losing his dignity when eventually being bed bound. I chose to skip birthday parties and social events since that could risk bringing home germs to my immunocompromised grandfather. Eventually cancer won the battle and stole my grandfather from us in 2015. As a family, we had to find our new normal since the previous decade had been dedicated to caring for my grandparents. We felt guilty moving on but felt that was what we needed to do. We took our first family vacation in 2016. We were looking forward to more family vacations in the future. The Universe had a different plan for us. In 2017, my father was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer, Glioblastoma at the age of 47. He was my hero, my everything. After seeing what my grandfather went thru, I refused to believe that my father would have the same fate. He fought with every ounce of his being. He endured chemotherapy, radiation, off-label therapies, and other experimental therapies. All this was to buy time with us. Glioblastoma has no cure. I spent the next 2 years making the most of every minute with my father while knowing he was not long for our world. My father passed away when I was only 13 years old. I spent the majority of my childhood caring for my grandparents and father until they all passed away. The experience I had shaped me to who I am today. I recognized the value of a simple smile from a caregiver and that laughter really is the best medicine. I learned that quality time making memories was priceless. I saw many hospice nurses go thru the revolving door of my home. I recognized that some even took the time to care for the caregiver which is often overlooked. I decided at a young age that as much as doctors know, there is just as much that science has not yet discovered. I myself was born with a brain tumor and diagnosed with hydrocephalus as an infant. Then I lost my father and grandfather to Brain Cancer. The doctors say that there is no medical correlation between any of these brain tumors. I believe that more research needs to be done to discover what we do not yet know. Hence I am a Neurobiology major at UC Davis pursuing a career in medicine. While I am a full-time student, I work as an EMT providing emergency medical support. I am also a hospice volunteer because the support my family received was priceless and I want to provide the same for others. I also volunteer as an EMT for local homeless shelters and clinics because everyone should have access to basic medical care and a smile from someone who truly cares. I will spend my life caring for others.

I can sincerely state that my losses have impacted my outlook on life. In a span of 5 years, I was forced to watch both my father and grandfather lose their motor abilities and communication skills, as brain cancer robbed them of their tomorrow. I was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus as an infant. I was fortunate enough to have been treated by an amazing pediatric neurosurgeon who saved my life and enabled me to live my life to the fullest today. My first three years of my life involved me visiting the hospital frequently. The next three years were a relatively normal childhood until cancer darkened our doorstep. The subsequent five years were spent watching my father and grandfather fight brain cancer until they passed away. This taught me that we have a limited amount of time to make an impact. I believe that every day is a gift, and that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I believe that my loss has fueled my passion to learn, focus, and someday make a positive contribution to society. I will make the most of the educational opportunities available to me because I am lucky to be alive and will not waste my tomorrows. Neuroscience fascinates me because so much is left to be learned, despite how much we already know. Although the brain has been studied, examined, and dissected for hundreds of years, it remains the most mysterious organ in the human body. Our brain gives rise to every movement we make, internally and externally. It allows us to communicate with others, while also coordinating our heartbeat, digestion, and respiration. In college, I hope to pursue my interests in neuroscience by getting involved in labs and research projects. I hope to help make advancements in the field by continuing to uncover the mysteries of the brain. For now, I am quite content working as an EMT while completing my undergraduate studies as it allows me maximum exposure to the clinical aspect of medicine. I thoroughly enjoy helping people even though it pays less than my fellow students working at McDonalds. I find my EMT job and my hospice volunteering to be truly rewarding. I take pride in being able to help those who really need help. My outlook on life is very different from my peers as I have lost too many loved ones and seen the pain of having to watch your loved ones lose themselves to true suffering. I will not waste any opportunity that I have to make a difference in others lives for the better.