Why I am who I am by Mikel

Why I am who I am by Mikel - March 2025 Scholarship Essay

I was in my room stressing about math homework when I found out that my mom might die.
My dad called to tell me that my mom had ruptured her aorta, the main vessel that transports blood to the heart, and that she was going to receive emergency heart surgery. In my panic, the first thing I did was look at the survival rate of this procedure. The results made my heart sink to the floor. With the mortality rate being about 50%, it made me think that a matter of a coin flip would decide whether my mom would live or not. Despite the amount of distress I was experiencing, I still went to school and pretended like nothing was wrong. Like I wasn’t one phone call away from my whole world crumbling apart. I refused to tell a soul what was going on. I didn’t want to “ruin the mood” or even a small part of me thought that they wouldn’t even care anyway. When I did finally receive a call from my dad it was thankfully good news. My mom had won the coin flip and survived her surgery. It was at this point when my dad took me to the hospital to see my mom. Even though I was happy to see my mom alive it was still heartbreaking to see her in such critical condition. The doctor told us that they were glad my mom came when she did because if she had waited any later she would have died in her sleep. These words made me see the importance of listening to your body more than ever. It was at this moment that I realized I wanted to go into nursing or go pre-med. I wanted to major in something medical related so that I could help others win the coin flip like my mother did. In 10 years I want to be in the position to make positive impacts on people's lives on a grander scale. I hope to use this scholarship to become a miracle worker like the ones who saved my mom. I want to have a sound education to depend on when it comes time to make life-changing decisions and I’m more than certain that this scholarship can provide that for me.