As I sit here thinking and making an attempt to piece together an answer for the question on this application, my mind is racing through the many of the bitter and sweet experiences of the past. It seems to stops at this one point from where my life changed drastically. It made me realize life is not always pleasant and it does not always have to end at the age of 90 or 100. Sometimes it can be also be 16 or 17.

It was towards the beginning of last year that I had made a discovery on my throat. It seemed like a lump and I didn’t give it much importance although sometimes it did bother me. But it wasn’t until March that I came to know the reality, I was suffering from thyroid cancer. The word cancer has always scared me. It always made me think about death but I have always thought that cancer was only for people 40 and up; young kids like me don’t get cancer! Needless to say the news was shocking. I felt like my life was closing in on me. I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking to myself this is wrong, it can’t be! But the reality was that I had thyroid cancer. My parents came home with the devastating news and they were heartbroken. That’s when it all started- one blood test after the other, a painful biopsy and many other scans and x-rays. I was sick of it all. Unfortunately the doctors were never able to find the cause for the cancer and why it rarely occurs among young kids. All they said to my parents was that “we need to take her thyroid out before it’s too late”. On august 2nd 2007 around 10 am the surgery was done and the doctors were able to remove my thyroid gland. I wake up and see all these tubes attached to my throat and nose. I felt like ripping them off. The next couple of days were too painful filled with just more blood tests and nausea. I still bear the scar on my neck; a reminder of what I have been through. I am not saying this for any sort of sympathy but this is the incident that has truly changed my life.

From this I realized how short life can be and in an instant anything can happen that can totally change your life. But I wouldn’t give up, not yet. I had to keep trying, I had to fight. This was the point where I realized that I have to succeed in life. It instilled in me the courage to face various challenges and to learn how to say I can do it! I was encouraged to try harder, to achieve and to accomplish. I believed that if I could fight cancer I could accomplish anything else. So if anyone comes up to me and tells me “Jincy u cannot do it” I always tell them “I maybe cannot do it, but I sure can try”. I take up challenges and I succeed in most of them. I am not discouraged if I fail because I know success doesn’t always come easy. It takes time and hard work. At least I tried and that itself instills in me a feeling of success.

In addition, this incident has also shaped my career goals. I have always loved science and the human body and this incident made me all the more interested. Maybe someday I might find the cause to this disease. I am planning to major in biology and eventually become a doctor. I am reminded by my parents every time that being a doctor is not easy. It takes determination, hard work and above all the will power to achieve and strive for the ultimate goal. And I know that this incident had shaped these characteristics and other features in my life and with the help of this college’s excellent pre-med program and liberal sciences programs I can become a motivated student who strives to achieve success in life and reach the ultimate goal.