What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? (Words 350)
When I was 13 months old, I was diagnosed with Histiocytosis, a rare blood disorder. I spent two years in extreme weakness, complete with noxious chemotherapy. We thought my system was clear by then, but the disease came back with a vengeance at age 5, just when my childhood was supposed to begin. While other kids spent their weekends playing Little League or at the beach, I spent them at the hematology clinic. Yet my trials were not over; I relapsed one last time at the age of 8. Since then, have been in remission, ending that chapter of my life. I have never viewed myself with pity, something I don’t want nor need. Instead, I remember my trials as the origin of my story and the lens through which I see the suffering of others.
In 5th grade, I developed a fervent interest in robotics. As middle school began, I expanded on my hobby and jumped into the engineering scene, making my own inventions to help others like myself who were unable to fully enjoy their childhood. Over the next six years, my science fair projects ranging from a wearable guidance system for the visually impaired to a point of care diagnostic device for degenerative diseases were recognized at the county, state and national levels. They followed a central theme of “lightening the burden of others”.
These science projects also nourished an idea I had conceived in my time working with autistic children at the Sedgwick summer school. Many of the students would frequently sift through sand in the sandbox, an action that seemed to subdue their subconscious torture. This observation fueled the development of my patented “Sensory Bag” engineered to tingle the senses using textures, smells, and colors. When I field-tested the bag in December 2015 at the Pacific Autism Center, the kids immediately adopted it as their new friend. That day, I saw my life come full circle. The child who himself sat in pain on the hospital bed was now sitting by the hospital bed, turning the frown of the child on it into a smile.