Introduction-My Birth
All my life, I’ve had to fight for something. When I was born, I had to fight to stay alive. As I grew into a young child and teenager, I had to fight to avoid getting Leukemia as well as other diseases. Now as an adult, I’m fighting to remain healthy, stay afloat in financial water, and protect my reputation.
Most of my life, I was put down by those closest to me. People told my parents to put me in a home for sick children and just forget about me. I was constantly told that I’d never become anything and I was worthless.
After being constantly told I’d never be anything and I was worthless for most of my life, I started to believe it. It may take a lot of years of positive encouragement to convince myself and others that I am worth something and that I will become someone someday. I just hope it will be worth the fight.
I was born two months premature and only weighed three pounds. I had an expiration date put on me right then. Doctors didn’t expect or think I’d make it. Right after my birth, I had a shunt placed on the right side of my head due to a condition called Hydrocephalus (also known as water on the brain). I endured the condition because of my premature birth. After my shunt was surgically placed in my head, I immediately had to be flown from Sparks hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Children’s hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. The doctor in Fort Smith had put my shunt in backwards.
Early Life
When I was eight years old, the shunt malfunctioned and I had to be rushed to the Children’s hospital. My shunt had fallen apart and it was barely dripping. I was immediately rushed into surgery as soon as we (my parents and I) arrived at the hospital. The doctor said I’d been dead soon if we hadn’t gotten there in time.
After my shunt revision surgery, I started having leg pains. My doctor said that leg pain is the first sign of Leukemia. That scared the hell out of my parents and...