<p>PsychoDad… </p>
<p>Sorry that your son has gone through all of this, but it seems a lot of good has come about because of it. It shows your son’s strengths and I think it is definitely a topic worthy of the personal statement. Every one of the choices on the Common App is actually asking the same sort of thing: Who is the applicant, apart from stats?</p>
<p>Now, let me give some practical advice. (Since I wrote a book on writing admissions essays, I can pretend that I know something. 
) </p>
<p>The topic itself is a good one, but it definitely runs the risk of coming across as “I-faced-huge-life-issues-but-look-how-great-it-made-me.” This essay definitely needs to take almost a cinematic approach, each paragragh a “scene” in the story. Don’t TELL the reader how great you are… let the reader DISCOVER that by what you SHOW.</p>
<p>For example, on what he “has gone through,” don’t tell that story: show it with a scene deep with the sights, sounds, smells etc of the moment, perhaps when the first blood clot in the lung happened: I awoke surrounded by machines, humming and dripping and beeping… etc etc. The problem could then be briefly explained by describing the conversation with the physician.</p>
<p>Instead of saying he “became an advocate for patients. He has joined a national organization as the Young Adult Representative of an advocacy committee and will be working with the organization and the Cardiologist this summer. He is also starting a patient support group in our town for children and adults,” consider describing a scene where he is working with a child, seeing in him/her a reflection of himself. Again, let the reader discover who he is.</p>
<p>It has all of the elements needed, but the essay will have to be constructed carefully.</p>