A hemangioma is a benign tumor composed of blood vessels. One such tumor inhabits the back of my right eye known as the “macula” which is responsible for our keenest vision. As a result, I am legally blind in that eye. This condition is extremely rare as I have been told and as I can ascertain from a Google search for “macular hemangioma” that yields no relevant results. The discovery of this affliction has diverted my life’s path to a very unlikely place: The National Institutes of Health.
My family and I took the road trip to Maryland a few days after I’d just gone to Disney World with my high school concert band. As I leaned my head against my recently purchased Ewok plush, I couldn’t help but to juxtapose the two trips out of habit. This five-hour travel time is by far preferable to the twenty-one-hour trek to Orlando. But there is some similarity between what awaits me at NIH and our performance at Disney--this mix of anxiety and excitement that come from the knowledge that something important is about to happen, important to my life at least. Thankfully, my memories our successful …show more content…
This toponym reminds me of learning in American history that Maryland was founded as a catholic haven from discrimination and persecution, and I think of this as I encounter the staff at NIH. Their diversity is prevalent in the range of accents, skin tones, personalities, and, most impressively, their seamless collaboration. Despite my attendance at a high school that prides itself on its historically diverse student-body, this place felt utopic. However, in the presence of my father, I remained wary of his right of center political beliefs revealed through our debates over the years, and I remember how much he influenced my own beliefs when I was younger. I have learned to work continuously to unlearn many of the prejudices that can hold me
My family and I took the road trip to Maryland a few days after I’d just gone to Disney World with my high school concert band. As I leaned my head against my recently purchased Ewok plush, I couldn’t help but to juxtapose the two trips out of habit. This five-hour travel time is by far preferable to the twenty-one-hour trek to Orlando. But there is some similarity between what awaits me at NIH and our performance at Disney--this mix of anxiety and excitement that come from the knowledge that something important is about to happen, important to my life at least. Thankfully, my memories our successful …show more content…
This toponym reminds me of learning in American history that Maryland was founded as a catholic haven from discrimination and persecution, and I think of this as I encounter the staff at NIH. Their diversity is prevalent in the range of accents, skin tones, personalities, and, most impressively, their seamless collaboration. Despite my attendance at a high school that prides itself on its historically diverse student-body, this place felt utopic. However, in the presence of my father, I remained wary of his right of center political beliefs revealed through our debates over the years, and I remember how much he influenced my own beliefs when I was younger. I have learned to work continuously to unlearn many of the prejudices that can hold me