Extended Absences

Thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer every year. Many of us know of a loved one or of a friend that is battling with the disease. My sophomore year chemistry teacher battled colon and breast cancer all throughout my sophomore year. I always felt horrible for her when she had to tell the class of her need to take extended absences due to major surgeries. She is such a positive upbeat woman, even when you could tell she didn’t feel the best, she would greet you at the beginning of class with a smile on her face. Seeing such a wonderful teacher ill was hard. Naturally she wanted the best for her students and we all wanted the best for her as well.
Seeing some of my loved ones as well as one of my teachers affected by cancer, gave me …show more content…
I remember standing in awe, trying to take in every possible detail I could see. I would come after school and stay for hours and even continued this throughout the summer. During the summer, I was choosing to spend entire days there. After many weeks of shadowing, I was given an incredible opportunity; I was told I would recieve my own set of cells to maintain. The learning that I was able to take away from this experience was incredible. Understanding and actually doing this entire process is truly amazing, the cells I maintained were not used in the experience but having them as a learning opportunity was truly incredible. The small step of learning now, creates an impetuous change. I was able to culture, grow and maintain my own set of breast cancer and melanoma cells. I would come in and go through the entire lab procedure, cleaning and checking under the biosafety hood. I didn’t want my cells to become contaminated. I would then check the confluency and check their cell counts and perform every task required for taking care of the cells. It’s amazing seeing how quickly those cells manifest. I remember being so surprised the first time I looked at the cells under a microscope. The learning experience was fascinating.
This opportunity made the concept of cancer research and finding a cure seem more realistic to me. There are constant efforts going on in labs all around the country. There are so many possibilities and it’s all within our scientists hands. We have so much cutting edge technology and so many brilliant minds bursting with ideas for potential cures. I want to join these scientists and brilliant minds. I want to be apart of the cure, not just for my loved ones or my high school chemistry teacher but for the