Annabel's Story

My passion is medicine.

“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeed.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I discovered my passion for medicine, nursing and caring for others over the past few years. The time that I sparked my interest was when my grandfather passed away from cancer. This impacted me because I did not understand how cancer worked and why there was no cure to save him or others. This opened my mind to learning more about researching and discovering cures and ways to help others with their health. Another time my passion for medicine became apparent was when I would babysit my cousins and nephews. This lead me to realize how much I love infant development. When I was in 8th grade, one of our science units included gestation and the childbirth process, my science teacher played a movie of a women giving birth. Whereas other students were “disgusted” I found it to be a beautiful part of life. I believe my passion in medicine is focused in labor and delivery, which leads to me wanting to learn more about the field of labor and delivery nurse.

Attending National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine will help me explore my passion by being able to have hands on experiments and also see everything doctors, nurses, physicians and others in these fields will do from an insider perspective. In particular I am very enthusiastic about shadowing physicians because I am used to from the patient perspective but not from their angle. Through the National Youth Leadership Forum, I will also will be able to view a knee replacement surgery which is interesting because I will find out if I will be able to work with blood and dissect a human body. The once in a lifetime achievement of attending NYLF will help me chose college classes to take for my medical career