The medical field has always been a fascination of mine. When I was a little kid, my favorite game to play with my friends was doctor. I would come up with crazy scenarios, getting stung by a black sea urchin, or being bitten by a rattlesnake, and fake the treatment for the situation. As I […]
A stabbing pain rung through my heart as my achy and trembling body sat in disbelief. My eyes slowly started to swell up with tears. I held them back without a blink; afraid I would look weak if I let the tears roll down my face. Keeping it together as best as I could, my […]
My name is Anna Mathias. When I was twenty-two months old I was diagnosed with a malignant neuroblastoma, located in the nerves along my spinal cord. I soon underwent a twelve hour surgery that resulted in ninety-five percent of the tumor being removed. I then was given several rounds of chemotherapy, in hopes of killing […]
Even though something like cancer is a very negative thing, there are also some positive things that come out of it that some people overlook. The experience I went through caused me to choose my career. My nurses would always go above and beyond for me to make sure I was always smiling as I […]
People always say to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Your worst enemy could be your best friend, and your best friend could be your worst enemy. To me, chemotherapy was both my best friend and worst enemy. This beautiful poison was designed to strip away the person I once was, and sculpted […]
During sixth grade, I wandered through my family’s plot at the local community garden. My mind was curious about a certain crop in our garden; it was unlike anything I’d ever seen, and to my surprise, it was an agave plant. This was the first time I saw a native Mexican grown crop. From then […]
I am a junior who is attending Georgia State University to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Science for a career as a Pediatric Nurse. At birth, I was diagnosed with a genetic blood disorder called sickle cell anemia. Since my diagnosis, my life has been filled with the challenges of a chronic illness. […]
At the age of 5, my parents woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my screams. My parents found me in the bathroom and saw the bloody mess I left behind in the toilet. They hurriedly drove me to the emergency room, and after a colonoscopy and some blood work, […]
Well I was born with severe hemophilia, my parents never sheltered me from exploring sports. They allowed me to try sports such as soccer, basketball, running and baseball. I was never really good at any of them other than basketball. Basketball led me to be able to do many things in my life and taught […]
Though medical research and practices have come a long way over the years, the sad truth is that around 1.9 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States by the end of 2021, resulting in 608,570 deaths. No matter where you live, there are likely many individuals in your community who are […]