How many times have we heard “everything happens for a reason”?
Our family holiday to Vietnam in December 2018, probably was the most significant holiday in my life. Not necessarily due to the events that took place, but more so, what those events ended up meaning for me.
Trip to Vietnam, Dec 2018
I traveled to Vietnam in a big family group with my aunt’s family and my grandparents. Upon reaching there, we realized that the weather was much colder than we had originally anticipated. As luck would have it, my grandma suffered a severe infection on the second day of the holiday, just the night before we were to go to Ha-Long Bay for a cruise. Brave lady as she is, she insisted that we don’t call off the holiday and accompanied us to give us more confidence in her health conditions. Things were not getting easy for her, and we finally decided to cut our holiday short. She was admitted to a hospital in Singapore for 2 weeks but has since not been completely healthy.
The uncertainty of these days and the stress that we went through as a family triggered the memories of how bravely she has overcome various medical situations she had to go through in the last few years. Starting from fevers leading to the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (an autoimmune disease where she had to adapt to live with this disease), then having a knee replacement surgery and learning to walk with a plastic knee, and worst of all, getting diagnosed with liver cancer and fighting it back with a lot of courage and patience. I felt overwhelmed knowing the fact that even with all the love, support, and medical care that she received, her health was never really good. However, she always remained strong, ready to take on anything.
As for me, I just wanted to see my grandma, back in her chair, sitting in the garden every early morning, reading the paper. I wanted her to be able to enjoy the weather, the birds, and her tea. Why did she stop doing all of that? Why did she have to suffer so much? Because everything hurt and she had progressively lost the strength to get up each morning or to just walk to the garden. This disheartened me.
As I thought about these situations, a certain idea started shaping in my mind. I felt that the events of the Vietnam Holiday had a reason and perhaps it was a way of nature to show me that I needed to do something. It seemed that the seeds of my future life were sown, as now I was thinking that maybe I wanted to choose medicine as a profession and train to be a doctor. This was my mind telling me that this is the best way to end the feeling of helplessness that I felt when I couldn’t be of much help when my grandma fell ill during that holiday. Maybe things really did happen for a reason? Now I was ready to give this thought shape and work. However, life is full of unpredictabilities.
It did help immensely that I come from a family of doctors from my father’s side. My grandfather and most of my aunts and uncles are doctors. Seeing how clinics work, the hard work, and sincere efforts that doctors put in was very apparent to me from a young age. I have always admired the fact that being a doctor means that one dedicates their life towards a noble cause. But then it was also not lost to me that becoming a doctor would be a long and arduous journey, especially during these times when technology develops and advances at a fast pace and the medical field is faced with numerous ethical dilemmas. But, now that I had decided to go on this path, I was ready to put in the effort.
I am a very ambitious and hardworking girl. I have done very well in my academic courses and at the same time have done exceptionally well in other activities. I have cleared the Grade 7 Piano ABRSM Exam and am now preparing for the Grade 8 Exam. I have also been receiving TaekWondo training and am now only one step away from being awarded “Black Belt.” I have taken part in the National Level championship where I was awarded a gold medal for my age category and belt. In addition to that, since middle school to my first year of high school, I have gained leadership positions and recognition for the work that I have done with numerous Services and Global Concerns that UWCSEA supports.
The way I go about doing things is that I set myself goals and then put hard work at all the fronts to go for it. I try to do my best to achieve great results. After listening to my family, to my seniors and alumni talk, I have realized that there are a number of things that I need to put in place in order to get admission to a good University in order to be a doctor. I have broken these tasks into a number of small steps that I have to work on from this summer to the year 2023. Pursuing academic excellence is one of the most important goals, however, I also have identified goals in areas such as internships, service, activities, reading, and leadership that I want to be working on.
For instance, one of my short term goals is to set up a couple of fundraisers to donate to the cause of supporting cancer, to donate to other nursing and old age homes. This could be done both in Singapore and in India. The reason I would like to do this is that its not only a way to show support to my grandmother but all of my older family members. I could also use my skills in playing the piano in order to raise money. Or perhaps I could set up a fundraiser through sponsorships on the basis of one of my personal health goals, which is to be able to run ten km in sixty minutes. However, I am still planning for this. I am also looking to talk to the service heads in school to try and set up a service that directly supports a cause that I and many others would be passionate about in regards to diseases our older communities face. I tend to take a lot of leadership roles in school and I am looking forward to trying and gain a leadership position in the Elderly Care service soon. In addition to that, I want to continue to work on my NYAA which would show my commitment to maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle. This is important as it would ensure that when the time comes, I would be both mentally and physically ready for a long and strenuous medical course.
Another huge part of getting into medical school would be having internship experiences. This really interests me as I love doing tasks that are hands-on in order to create change. I am looking to work with my family members who are doctors, with hospitals in Singapore and in India for shadowing and volunteering opportunities in Nursing Homes and other places. Perhaps in IB, I would also apply for a research course at a hospital. I have yet to do research on such topics, but this is how I would be utilizing my summer considering these unprecedented times. Perhaps one thing which would be helpful is to look for online internships/courses in this field.
I believe that a well rounded and holistic awareness of matters helps to bring a deeper perspective on the things that one is passionate about. One way that I will do is to educate myself on topics that interest me in medicine by reading books that are highly recommended.
As for now, I would like to read:
- “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalinithi
- “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande
- “Do No Harm” by Henry Marsh
- “Bad Blood” by John Carreryou
Sometimes I feel as though I have immense clarity on where I am going, but then doubts creep in, I get burned out and tend to lose motivation. However, as I grow and learn, I think I will start getting further focussed on what I truly want to do.
All in all, the more I explore and learn about self, I have realized that getting into Med School is simply the first step into leading a life full of unpredictability. I want to be an individual who would leave a mark, and that means I would have to be more than a doctor.