Facing Adversity The Roman poet Horace said, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." In the past year and a half of high school, I have had two large adversities to overcome. Both have altered my life permanently in some way or another.Sometimes I get depressed about what I have been forced to miss, but other times I am happy to see what I am capable of. I wonder what I would not have known about myself. The first adversity that I experienced came during the fourth week of football on September 10, 2001. I had been playing since freshmen year. I was hit, the next thing I knew, I could not move my leg. I had dislocated my left hip, an injury rarely seen. The doctor told me that I would need surgery to put the bone back in, and I might have to get a plastic hip. I was told that playing football was out and basketball and track were questionable. I refused to believe that an injury could stop me despite what the doctors and everyone close to me said. I was determined to prove them wrong. I started therapy right away. I worked with the trainer just about every day after school doing exercises to get stronger. I could not stay away from basketball though, consequently, I became the manager. I went to all the games and most practices in between therapy. With the other manager, we started the first-ever basketball program to be sold at home games. I also got a part time job at Corwin's Pharmacy. After seven months of therapy, I was finally able to join the track team. The trainer called it a medical miracle recovery, and he said we should have written down all the exercises we did for a medical journal. I was happy to be involved in sports again. Then on July 29, I faced my second adversity. On July 29, I went to see my doctor. Not because of my hip, but because of a chest pain I had. The doctor thought it was nothing, but gave me an EKG. That night I spent in the hospital. The cardiologist told me I had some sort of heart enlargement and I had to go see a specialist. The first specialist I saw said it was the same heart disease that my mother has, hypertrophic cardiomyopothy (thickening of the heart muscles). He said that I must stop all sports and strenuous activity. The disease could trigger an arrhythmia, which could kill me. He also said only a pacemaker could save my life. We wanted a second opinion, and this doctor wanted to do more tests. I still am testing with him. It has been about three months since I had the pain and I am slowly getting used to not playing sports. I still go to all the football games, and I look forward to being the basketball team manager. I have joined the school newspaper, student government, and I have become active in National Honor Society. I also plan on joining Spanish Honor Society. I really enjoy being active in my school. For homecoming week I even came to school dressed up as Santa Clause. Still, I cannot describe how much I miss sports and the way I feel standing on the sideline looking at all of my friends in football pads. I have pressed on and tried to make the best of my situation. I learned not to take things for granted like being able to walk. I also learned what kind of friends I have when the whole football team came to my house after I got out of the hospital. I learned not to let feeling sorry for myself stop me. More recently, I have learned that I have a very loving family. Sometimes, I wonder about giving in to adversity. I wonder about what talents I might not have found in myself. The thought of giving up and not achieving my full potential, therefore letting others and myself down, drives me every day. Article provided by View more articles | Information provided by collegeanduniversity.net |
