Living without both parents is tough, especially as a child. Everyday children lose a parent in their household due to death, divorce, deportation, incarceration, etc. Though none of these specific examples apply to me, at 14 years old my mother had to make a choice between going back to Mexico and take care of her dying mother after more than 20 years of being away from her, or stay with her children and never get the chance to see her mother again. She ended up going to Mexico, taking my 8 year old brother with her, and left my older brother, father, and I in the U.S.. While this was by her own choice, due to her status, my mother was unable to return to the U.S. and I was unable to see her and my little brother for two years. Once she left, I was alone for the majority of the time. My older brother would go out with his friends or his girlfriend the majority of the time and my dad would have to work late nights in order to support both my older brother and I, while paying the bills, and having to send money to my little brother and my mom in Mexico. Being alone for so long I'd say definitely affected me, but because I literally had zero distractions, I would fully immerse myself into my studies. School was my distraction from what was going on in my family. I would spend hours studying and constantly do practice problems just to forget that no one else was home. After two years of being home alone had passed, my dad decided that it was time for my little brother to come back to the U.S. for his education. I remember getting up at three in the morning to drive all the way to Tijuana and pick him up at the airport and finally see my mom in person after two years. Seeing my mom and my little brother for the first time was so unreal. We didn't know how long it would be until we would see each other again. I remember seeing a short boy, with the ugliest, brightest shirt, and instantly know that it was my little brother. When I looked at the short lady next to him and saw that she had her signature high ponytail I couldn't stop the tears from spilling out. We hugged for so long and we sobbed into each others arms. We were in the airport for around three hours before we had to go through U.S. Customs and Border Protection, this time with my little brother. Having my little brother back home was amazing but it too brought its own challenges. Without my mom, my older brother and I had to so enroll him back into elementary school because my dad had to work. I had to call all the school in my district to see where he had to attend school. I also had to cook for two now, since my little brother was way too young to want go out with friends, even though at that point he hadn't even made friends yet. I had to take on the mom role and make sure he had snacks, food, make sure his chores were done, show him how to do his chores, etc. Was I way too young to take on this responsibility? Yes, but would I do it again in a heartbeat. My little brother is my world, and now that I am in college and my older brother being stationed in another country for as a Marine, it unfortunately is my little brothers turn to stay home alone, until my dad gets home from work. While this does sound a little sad, and I wouldn't want anyone else to go through it, I look at it in a way of making me stronger. This unfortunate experience has made me who I am. If this would have never happened I might not be where I am today. Instead of being consumed my sadness and feel sorry for myself, I put my frustration into school. I worked so hard to get into a great university, which I did manage to get into, UC Berkeley. But going to a school two hours away from my family is hard. It's not too far, but far enough to where I can't be there for my little brother when he needs me. I'm a great candidate because even though I have had some unfortunate events happen to me I continue to stay persistent and won't allow any obstacle to keep me from furthering my education to become a doctor. Not only that, but I will continue to be an example to my little brother and many other minorities show them that they can persevere and demonstrate how they too can overcome hardships in life. Currently I'm a full time student, that works as much as possible and though I was lucky enough to qualify for financial aid, it wasn't enough to cover all my expenses. I pick up as many shifts as I can, but still live paycheck to paycheck to cover rent. If I'm going to be away from my family to break the generation cycle of living paycheck to paycheck I want to make the most out of my four years in college and not have to miss classes in order to make more money for rent. Or having to ask my dad for money knowing that he already has bills to pay and support my mom in Mexico.

"Mi doctora", which translates to "My doctor" in English is what my dad would always tell me after I carefully and successfully removed splinters that he got from work and/or cleaning and dressing a nasty wound. These types of wounds did not require a visit to the doctors, but when my parents had intense internal pain where I was useless and physically unable to help, a visit to the doctors would have been extremely helpful. Watching my family not have access to healthcare while they were in pain, knowing that my siblings and I had insurance was heart-wrenching. Their source of "healthcare" consisted of me asking them their symptoms and endlessly Googling them and reading the articles in their entirety to ensure not a single symptom was missed. Then I would officially "diagnose" them and tell them, essentially what their treatment options were. If one treatment option didn't seem to work, we would move to the next recommended option. If the pain was unbearable, which often was for my mom due to her recurring painful headaches, she would go to the ER. I recall my mom reaching her breaking point quite a few times due to the pain and not being able to have any tests done because of how much they would be out-of-pocket, so she was stuck in a constant cycle. Though my mom would go to the ER for the pain, I can't recall a time my dad went in for his knee pain. He's a soccer fanatic, and over the years of being an athlete, he had worn down the cartilage and still currently deals with constant knee pain. Due to all these experiences and many more, I vowed to help as many people as possible, specifically low-income families. Growing up in a Hispanic/Latinx community I realized this was a common trend with my friends’ parents. Their parents’ immigration status and many of them running their own business/working for themselves, also was a big factor in not having access to insurance and healthcare. This sparked an outrage in me and knowing that I wanted to physically help people I knew being a doctor, and I knew it would be possible if I became a surgeon. It’s a known fact that doctors help people and are among the highest paying in the world, but the term doctor has a different meaning in everyone’s mind. To some, it means becoming wealthy, helping people, stressful, and the list goes on. To me, becoming a doctor will be the most difficult thing I do, but the most rewarding, not for the money, but because I will have the knowledge and skills to heal people from their pain. I never really struggled in school, but so far, my first year as a first-generation student in college has changed that. I excel when it comes to reading and writing, but science and math is another story. I know this and use this as an advantage. I spend more than 15 hours a week solely in office hours and asking for help. I also practice doing more calculations on my own to fully grasp a concept. Many students go towards what they know they’re good at but doing something I’m good at is nothing to me if there’s no passion. Though I know it will be much harder for me knowing my struggles I will do everything in my power to become a surgeon and help as many people as possible, in doing so I will also bring more female Hispanic/Latinx representation to the medical field.