<p>I wrote this for Villanova, “an experience that changed you”, and used it as my common app. Attending Villanova, accepted to BC, waitlisted at G-town</p>
<p>t’s Thursday, 3:00 P.M in May of 2006, and I’m staring blankly at the moving landscape as I apologize to my friend for not talking. We’re not having an argument, I just can’t seem to gather the energy to move my lips and form an engaging, let alone coherent, sentence. “Hadden”, I say to the busdriver, and she apathetically dumps me off three blocks from my house. Normally, I don’t mind the walk- there’s so much to look at, especially on a gorgeous day like today. Today however, I can’t seem to break my concentration on my house in the distance, hoping and praying that it would fly over to me in its best Wizard of Oz impression. After what seemed like the equivalent of a hike from L.A to N.Y.C, I step up to my front door, take out the door key from its cleverly hidden home, and collapse on my bed. I will surely have to cancel tonight’s plans, although Memorial Day Weekend is quite the celebration at my school. I close my eyes, with the assumption that I just need a nap to de-stress from the busy week I had. Four hours and several tosses and turns later, my mom calls me down for macaroni and cheese- my favorite. I pass on the offer; in retrospect, I guess this is when I knew something was wrong. I drape myself under my snug fleece blanket and close my eyes once again.
It’s now 10:00 A.M on a Friday morning and I fret that I missed the bus, only to soon remember we have off from school. Relieved, I sigh and again submerge myself in the cozy sea of blankets. I can hear the bustle of preparing for summer downstairs and I attempt to get out of bed and greet everyone. I take one step out of my bed when my body starts to scream in pain. It feels as though someone has taken a knife, stabbed me, and twisted my stomach into a pretzel. I wince and fall on the floor, rolling and squirming until the pain seems to temporarily pass. I realize that going downstairs is a near impossibilty at this point, so I decide instead to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom. I notice that there I’m bleeding, but for some reason, I choose to ignore it and focus on the dangerous four foot trek to my bed. The pain continues regularly at ten minute intervals, and I can do nothing but watch re-runs of Nickelodean cartoons to pass the time.
It’s 7:00 P.M and I finally decide to tell my mother what has been happening. She is worried, and insists that I go to the hospital with her on her way to work. I meekly agree- at this point I will do anything to get rid of this pain. I’m sorted by my level of importance, and shoved into a personal waiting room in some lonely wing of the E.R. I am greeted by overenthusiatic nurses, my mother’s co-workers, and countless doctors that all ask if I’m pregnant. I am told that I will need a cat-skan, and to start the process, I will need to drink a gallon of gastrointestinal juice. After nearly two days of starvation, I certainly did not want gastrointestinal juice to be the first thing that I drink. I am given two hours to drink the entire thing- which may seem like more than enough time to a bystander. This “juice”, however, was the most repulsive thing I have ever come within a two foot radius of. I’m crying hysterically; I can’t do this, I keep saying. With 15 minutes to go and still a good pint left, I decide that I need to suck it up (literally), and down the concoction in one gulp. The scan shows a severely inflamed colon, and I am admitted to room 11-10 North, where an adjustable bed and a single chair awaits me.
It’s 2:00 A.M by the time I am finally checked in. My mom sits in the green chair to my right as I adjust the bed to my liking. My former babysitter is ironically taking care of me again, this time as my nurse. I am worried about the days to come; the doctor’s dont know what’s wrong- their only lead is Chrons disease, a disease that would follow me for the rest of my life. If things proceed as the way they are now, I could possibly go into kidney failure. My mom finds a blanket and spends the night next to me in a chair as I cry in pain until I finally fall asleep.
It’s 8:00 A.M and I roll over to find my dad sitting in the green chair with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. He has been there since seven, when he traded places with my mom. I seem to be getting worse, and my room floods with family checking up on me. My parents stay until they are kicked out for the night, but arrive as early as possible the next morning. My cousin drives out from Manhattan, and my aunt comes with her three young children. Until now, I had never really noticed how much people cared about me. I thought I was average, nothing special, I hadn’t really changed anyone’s life or anything. I felt like I didnt deserve everyone’s time, my parents had given up their whole weekend to sit in a hospital with me. Later that night, when everyone had left, I thought about how I had taken most people in my life for granted. I had never really known the significance of what it meant for someone to always be there for you until now. The once bare white walls were covered with pictures of me and my family and cards from people wishing me to get well. I broke down- this was the moment when I truly realized what it feels like to be loved. Maybe I was put through this whole thing for a reason, to re-evaluate my life and what I live for. My fifteen years of life seemed almost worthless, I had never truly given myself to anyone like my family had to me. I still couldnt believe that my family had given up so much for me, and I cried because I felt like I had done nothing for them. From that moment on, I promised myself to take more of an interest in the lives of others, to help other people besides myself. I think this is the moment where I decided what I wanted to do with my life- I wanted to become a doctor.
I was later diagnosed with E-Coli 0152, which has the potential to be fatal. I had almost died without really changing anyone’s life. The whole experience has taught me so much, to live for other people, and to take advantage of the one life you are given. I think this was also one of the first times that I realized weakness in myself, but I now know that having a weakness is okay, and we all need to ask for help at some point. Although I can definitely say that E-coli was the most painful thing I have ever had to experience, I can also say that I am glad for the lessons I have learned.</p>
what started your fascination of them?</p>