During my Junior year of high school, I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis with liver cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is the development of scar tissue left on the liver when the liver becomes scarred. During my hospital stay, a four night stay which included a biopsy, colonoscopy, and multiple ultrasounds, I was told by my doctors that I would never be able to play contact sports ever again due to the amount of scarring developed on my liver. If I were to get hit in just the right spot, my liver could lacerate and leave me internally bleeding, giving me a small window to get medical help. Being from a small town where sports mean everything to the community, they also mean everything to me. Not being able to play for the community, to me, felt
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“Oh great, what other news could I possibly get?” He told me that my story had made it all of the way to the sports medicine doctor who wanted to talk with me to determine my athletic future. During the conference, a miracle happened where he cleared me to participate in wrestling that season. I wrestled the season, only losing one match and made it to the State tournament. There, WHO TV in Des Moines did a news story about my medical issue. Reading some of the comments on Facebook, I was furious. People were bashing my family and me, saying how bad of parents they were for allowing me to wrestle. Little did they know that it was MY choice to wrestle. I knew I had to do something to stand up for my family, so I did what any other kid would do. I wrestled my heart out on the mat and the determination to prove everyone wrong ended up earning myself a seventh place medal. When a bully (adversity) comes into your life, it will be beating you to the ground, telling you to stay down. You’ll be weak, tired, and scared, but there are two choices you can decide on. The first is to submit to this bully, allowing it to walk all over you. Most people do this, fearing they will only make their circumstances worse. However, there is an uncommon method that few choose to take, being the path I chose to follow. This path is deciding to get back to your feet, still beaten, and doing what is necessary to overcome this bully. Now, this bully no longer bothers me. Sure this bully will be with me the rest of my life, but when it comes back, I’m ready to show it everything I’ve
“Oh great, what other news could I possibly get?” He told me that my story had made it all of the way to the sports medicine doctor who wanted to talk with me to determine my athletic future. During the conference, a miracle happened where he cleared me to participate in wrestling that season. I wrestled the season, only losing one match and made it to the State tournament. There, WHO TV in Des Moines did a news story about my medical issue. Reading some of the comments on Facebook, I was furious. People were bashing my family and me, saying how bad of parents they were for allowing me to wrestle. Little did they know that it was MY choice to wrestle. I knew I had to do something to stand up for my family, so I did what any other kid would do. I wrestled my heart out on the mat and the determination to prove everyone wrong ended up earning myself a seventh place medal. When a bully (adversity) comes into your life, it will be beating you to the ground, telling you to stay down. You’ll be weak, tired, and scared, but there are two choices you can decide on. The first is to submit to this bully, allowing it to walk all over you. Most people do this, fearing they will only make their circumstances worse. However, there is an uncommon method that few choose to take, being the path I chose to follow. This path is deciding to get back to your feet, still beaten, and doing what is necessary to overcome this bully. Now, this bully no longer bothers me. Sure this bully will be with me the rest of my life, but when it comes back, I’m ready to show it everything I’ve