It is said that what doesn 't kill you makes you stronger. I believe it is also true that what can and will kill you, can make you stronger. My beautiful sons are living proof of this. 1998, when our older son John turned seven, my wife, Lori, and I shared a parent’s worst nightmare: “Your son has a neurological disease. It is fatal,” the specialist said. I don’t really remember everything he said. For that matter, I don’t remember the doctor or anything else of substance about the meeting. “Fatal” was all I remember. It was as if all the oxygen and warmth had been sucked out of the room. We couldn’t think. We couldn’t breathe. Shocked, we collapsed into the sterile chairs of the doctor’s office. They offered no comfort from the weight that had been dropped on us. Slowly, emotion crept up from the bowels of our innermost being and we gave way to a torrent of tears. Needing to breathe, we tried to gulp in air through our sobs as the doctors explained the horrible progression of the disease: blindness, seizures, feeding tubes, loss of motor and cognitive function, leading to John’s death in his late …show more content…
It couldn’t be worse. Right? Six months later we were told our other son, Ben, four years old, suffered from the same disease. Two sons stricken with the same debilitating disease and a lifetime devoted to dealing with the effects. How could we find a path through life knowing we’d just been given a death sentence? If hope is defined by believing in the good one can’t yet see, what chance would there be for us to have any hope, given the bleak picture that had been painted for us? We had no oasis, no shelter. The doctors said much, but gave nothing. Our senses of hope and belief were starved of all their vital nutrients and hydration, and left a bleak desert in their stead. Flesh of our flesh, bone of our bone. How could we watch it dwindle and waste and not die
His sister, Dawn, also had the disease but she was the lucky one and survived. Down the road when John was ten, he and his family moved to Oak Creek, WI. While John was living in Oak Creek, his classmates at the time taunted him, telling him he was a gawky beanpole(glossary). This drove him insane for a very long time, but didn’t put an end to his success. The statements John’s classmates spoke to him pushed him to be a strong young man. Later in his life, this inspired him to do great things and achieve his goals.
speak. After a time, he Afinally calmed down and the words came. The doctor was
It’s fall everyone and Halloween is coming.I would like to tell you that fall is the best season of all.
(A4) If being dead is not a painful experience, then being dead is not bad for the one who is dead.
Topic: Addiction to social media General Purpose: To persuade Specific purpose: To persuade my audience that social media is hurting us mentally and our social lives. Thesis: Social media can cause serious problems to you and your health, so we need to put addiction to social media to rest. I. Introduction A. Attention-getter: The ages of 55 and 64 year olds who use social media fell “worried or uncomfortable” when they can’t access any type of social media accounts (Wright, 2015).
had repeatedly come close to death in the war and in surgery and believed that he would
Imagine a camp where having the chance to see the ones that were significant in life was banned. Imagine a world where on a daily basis ,people got tortured in disturbing, immoral ways right in front of many viewing eyes from young to old. Image a camp where loved one’s life’s got stolen from them for all the wrong reasons. Strength and health was no longer an obstacle that had to be dealt with. The only thing left to do was to stride for something that could keep you going for the long run. What would happen then? Something new begins to grow. Something so powerful that it could possibly outshine strength and health. Hope. Hope is something that could get you farther than strength and health.
There is a saying that has stuck with me though this journey, “ what doesn’t kill you makes your
One fateful day at the end of June in 1998 when I was spending some time at home; my mother came to me with the bad news: my parent's best friend, Tommy, had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He had been sick for some time and we all had anxiously been awaiting a prognosis. But none of us were ready for the bumpy roads that lay ahead: testing, surgery, chemotherapy, nausea, headaches, and fatigue. Even loud music would induce vomiting. He just felt all around lousy.
It has been many years since his mom has had an episode. His brother has had many episodes over the past 6 years. He has been in the hospital several times and in jail once. I see how this illness has impacted their lives and the lives around them.
Topic: improve, change and secure our future by matching vulnerable at-risk children with committed mentors who offer maintainable investments of time, thought and resources.
For my “How to do” speech my goal was to share with the class an interesting and informative way to learn something new. Due to the speeches time limit, I knew I needed to be well prepared. I wanted to be less nervous before and during my speech. While presenting I was nervous, but I didn’t really have time for these feelings to sink in because I was focused on the information I wanted to share with the audience. I enjoyed presenting in the second group of speeches so I could see my peers different types of speaking style. The audience seemed alert and interested in my topic which made it a little bit easier for me to speak, because there weren’t any distractions in the room from people not paying attention. I think part of that was because
The movie “The Doctor” is a good example of how communications in the health field work to benefit not only the patient, but the doctor too. In this movie, the main character, also known as Jack McKee, is a heart surgeon. The movie begins by showing how McKee’s attitude towards his patients tends to be inappropriate. Jack jokes about his patients and laughs at their concerns. His home life is also a struggle; his relationships with his wife and son are falling apart. The movie takes a turn when Jack becomes suddenly ill. He begins coughing up blood. He meets with a specialist by the name of Lesley. Tests reveal that Jack has a serious tumor on his vocal cords. He has now become the patient. He begins treatment but the results are not what they expect. Along the way, he befriends a brain tumor patient by the name of June. She will teach Jack how to empathize. He will learn how to feel and communicate not only with his wife and son, but for his patients as well.
We arrived at the emergency room only to find several people already there. Joey was begging me to do something to stop the pain in his back; we waited and waited and waited. Finally, in total anger and despair I set out to find someone to help. The doctor came over, examined him and asked me several questions; it was slowly becoming apparent to me that this doctor did not have any answers. Meanwhile I was growing more concerned about the unknown; what was wrong with my child? The doctor, obviously puzzled by the situation, decided to run a CBC (complete blood count). This took what felt like an eternity, suddenly the doctor became somewhat evasive, almost secretive. I was exasperated, determined to find out what was wrong with Joey’s lab report. I inched my way over behind the curtain, so I could overhear bits and pieces of the doctor’s conversation. They were discussing things like a low hemoglobin count and a high white blood cell count, then I heard it, the most devastating word I have ever heard a doctor say-Leukemia.
Elofsson, J., Gamson, D., Tamposi, A. (2011). Stronger (What doesn’t kill you). [Recorded by Clarkson, K.] On Stronger [CD]. Los Angeles: RCA.