Going into my freshman year of high school, I had just started playing football for the first time, and between practices and homework, I was having real trouble finding time for the camping trips and boy scout activities I’d always loved. I had always been told, though, that playing sports while remaining active in your […]
Cancer took me by surprise; like a prowler. Cancer was lurking in the shadows of my body waiting to pounce and rob me of good health and happy times. After a little over two months of feeling tired and being in pain, I was scheduled for an appointment during Christmas break to see a doctor […]
Ten years ago I was diagnosed with Wilm’s Tumor Cancer in my right kidney and other organs. At seven years old, I was above the average age for the disease, which caused the cancer to spread throughout my torso and made a two hour surgery last 8 and a half hours, leaving a scar of […]
As citizens of the world, we have a deep responsibility to fulfill each other’s dire need to be molded and shaped into people that will make the world a better place. We have a responsibility to impact others. A responsibility to change lives. Luckily for me, I was born with Von Willebrand Disease, which I […]
Storms are a part of life; they are inescapable. My pastor is fond of saying that you are either in the middle of a storm, just left one or are about to enter one. I am smack in the eye of life’s storm. But just as hurricanes shape the beach landscape, adversity molds character. So […]
According to the Google dictionary, creativity is the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Sometimes, it feels as if there are no original ideas left. It seems as if every original idea in existence has been claimed. Original ideas in novels and TV shows have led […]
Extreme fatigue, sudden chills, and the absence of hunger, those were the only symptoms I displayed as doctor after diagnosed me as being “burnt out” and fabricating illness during the final stretch of fourth grade. As the summer commenced and my symptoms did not abate, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age […]
I’ve never missed school for a cold, cough, or fever. I’ve always known that my health is important, but I’ve also been terrified to miss school for anything trivial, anything I could ignore until 2:30pm. Even if my head was about to explode or my nose was a snot fountain, it wasn’t anything that Advil, […]
For me, LinkedIn is a special platform filled with myriad talent demonstrated by accomplishments both professional and personal that are regularly posted. It is its own motivational and living body of work made up of this thing we call the collective human experience. From time to time, I am moved to add my voice in a meaningful […]
As a child, I watched my parents deal with the adversity the world brought them. My parents immigrated from Mexico to the United States seeking a better future for their five children. Only speaking their native language, I was often the translator at doctor appointments and the filling of legal documents. My parents faced numerous […]