The Challenges Of My Life

1 I like to think of my life experience so far as being unconventional. I have had challenges that for others would be unfathomable at an early age. However, when I take a moment to look back at those challenges and see where I am today, they are a reflection of the internal perseverance that is part of what makes me unique. My life has been constantly challenged from a health perspective mainly because I was diagnosed with leukemia at a young age. I endured a bone marrow transplant doing my first months of life at the same time, I was able to continue to break down some of the barriers that were put on me simply because of my diagnosis. I continue to develop who I am today because I never took those ideas and put them in my heart. I knew that I had to recognize that conceptions and educated assumptions from both doctors and researchers who made predictions about the type of person I would be were not set in stone. They said that I wouldn't have a high level of intellectual capacity, I would

However, my challenges have the type of gravitational pull that often times destroys people mainly because the ideas and predictions that are made about the quality of life are grim. However, when I take a moment to reflect on how I was able to overcome these challenges and develop into the person I am today, I consistently think of who I am to begin with. I am a person who is consistently looking for ways to give back to the community. I volunteer at the local blood center, I work in gymnastics, and I consistently engage in activities such as swimming, dance, and choir. What makes me unique is not the fact that I was able to survive a medical crisis. This is not part of what creates the person I am. To say that it has not affected me would be an understatement however, it did not create the foundation of who I am