During my first year of undergrad, I was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation (a condition where a portion of the cerebellum herniates out of the bottom of the skull, compressing the brainstem) and Syringomyelia (the development of a fluid-filled cyst (syrinx) within the spinal cord). At the time, I had no idea my life would change forever. Since then, I’ve lived in and out of the hospital, sometimes hospitalized months at a time. I’ve undergone 6 major brain surgeries, 4 feeding tube surgeries, 5 shunt surgeries, multiple procedures, diagnostic tests, and have been diagnosed with Hydrocephalus (a buildup of too much cerebrospinal fluid in the brain), Trigeminal Neuralgia (a chronic pain condition that affects the 5th cranial nerve), Adrenal Insufficiency (a condition in which the adrenal glands do not produce adequate amounts of steroid hormones) and Tethered Brainstem (where the brainstem becomes pinned to the dura, the outer covering of the brain) along the way.

In February 2017, I went in for my 6th brain surgery to fix a Tethered Brainstem I developed and I woke up from surgery unable to function from the neck down. There are only 3 or 4 case reports of a Tethered Brainstem in the literature; because of this we knew surgery was going to be risky and experimental. An MRI after surgery showed I suffered a stroke to my brainstem during surgery. Because of this I spent months in the hospital re-learning how to do absolutely everything. From learning to bathe, dress, feed myself again, to becoming left-handed and learning to write, type, and turn a page in a book and even how to walk again. Every single thing we do in everyday life that most of us take for granted, I had to re-learn, all while trying to still continue medical school and follow my dream of becoming a doctor.

There were days when I’d study just by listening to recordings of lectures because I couldn’t see, days when I used audio command to operate my computer because I couldn’t lift my hands, days when I had to have someone push me in my wheelchair to be able to go to school because I couldn’t push myself, days when I had to attend dinner meetings and just look at other people eat at the table while my feeding tube was hooked up to my body because I couldn’t swallow anything by mouth. But, in my eyes, these were the good days since I was still able to do something because some days, I was unconscious in a hospital bed.

Being the first person in my family to graduate from college and, of course, the first to attend medical school, I feared that maybe my dreams were too big. I feared failing amidst many of my fellow classmates who have parents who are physicians.

As a patient, I’ve been treated at Memorial Hermann in the Texas Medical Center. This also happens to be one of the major teaching hospitals for my medical school. As a patient, I loved the care I received from all my teams of doctors and knew I wanted to go to medical school here. I’m now attending the same medical school that has treated me all these years and many of my doctors are also my teachers.

I’ve had to balance multiple hospitalizations, brain surgeries and health issues throughout medical school, which has been incredibly difficult.  I’ve gone to school and have even seen my own patients while having to use a wheelchair or using a walker and have had to carry a feeding tube pump and feeds with tubing connected to my stomach.  It has been hard, but thankfully my school has been incredible in working with me. Where there is a will, there is a way. 

Story courtesy of the (AAMC) American Association of Medical Colleges (Aspiring Medical Student Stories).