A hard journey is made hard by whoever lives it; a pleasant one is made by whoever lives it and the loving people around that person. I have had some challenges in life, but it is better to learn from them than to cry about it and embrace the life given to me. Often I heard “if it happens, there is a reason behind it” but I never really knew what that was about. I never really knew what life was about; I am still trying to figure it out.
Since I was born I was the scare of the family. In my first two years I explored everything from a diagnosed tumor in my kidney that “magically disappeared” to interminable allergies that my “knight in shiny armor” (who likes to take the shape of the most wonderful woman in this earth, my mom) fought endlessly. As I grew older, happiness cured all the old illnesses and the new ones to come. I was always taught to look at the bright side of everything and take the hidden messages in the occurrences in life; that “it is ok to cry about it” but never to fall down and, most of all, never let others fall down. I continue to grow with those teachings that once did not make any sense to me.
When I was thirteen, a big challenge came to my family. See, I was born and living comfortably in Uruguay, who would have guessed? My parents were separated a long time ago, and were still friends, but my mom had met another great man who presented us the opportunity to come to America and look for that dream everybody talks about. I had friends with whom I had shared my life, and still keep in touch with them up to this date, gone to kindergarten together and started the fun days of a teenage life in a safe country with no gangs or such danger. The hardest part of the decision, however, was not to leave my friends because I knew friendships like that never end, but it was to leave my dad and my sister (who are, by the way, the best sister and dad ever) and fly away to a “better life.”
The quality of life improved, and of course there were some times when I just felt I did not belong in this new world, that life had been going on for too long already before I came. Luckily I always had my mom, “my partner in crime” and my dear friend Alex, who had come from Mexico some years before. The language presented another obstacle; I guess I learned it fast so that people could stop making fun of me or because I never let their words of hatred get to me. Soon I was doing very well in a big middle school where kids actually hit each other when they had a problem and there were drugs around each corner. The situation did not change when I moved on to high school, but I matured out of the surprise that kept me immobile and into leading by example and even trying to get involved with young kids and protests against gangs and prostitution. High school at Lennox Academy is a lot harder than the ride I got in middle school, but my grade point average did not drop. After this big adaptation, there was nothing I could not get used to… or so I thought.
October 12, 2006, that is the only date I remember because after that, it was chaos. I was riding my bike to school on that sunny Thursday morning and trustily went down the curb to cross on a green light. At the same time, a man who had rented a truck hurried down to make a right turn on that intersection without looking my way. Quickly, break! A blow to the head, four back tires approaching me, blackness, and then the sun was back on top of me. What had just happened? It is amazing how the body reacts to these kinds of situations, whoever I was came out; whoever we all were came out. Laying there, conscious, on the street, it was one of the most confusedly grateful moments of my life. There was nothing I wanted more than to see my mother, my stepfather and my boyfriend who had helped me overcome the big challenge of coming to this country and he himself is a big part of its Brightside. I felt bleeding but saw no blood and felt tired but could not shut my eyes and just go to sleep. People that I do not even know and would more than anything like to see again to thank ran everywhere, calling the paramedics; I like to think of them as angels in my city. I never saw the man who was driving the truck and he was too busy defending his “good driving” to join the others and call for help. That is when a big part of life was uncovered for me, right there and then, when I was lying on the floor waiting for help to arrive. I learned not everybody is there to help you directly, but they all affect you, and for every man that does not look before he turns, or defends his name before looking at the damage he has done, there are fifteen who call 911 and come up to look at the one who fell to the ground outside, but never inside.
The hospital was a whole different story. This accident shattered my liver and caused lacerations to my bladder, intestines and kidney, and a pneumothorax. All those were fixed by Timothy Van Natta, the most humanistic and caring doctor that I have ever heard of or had the pleasure to meet as well as patience, good treatment and a lot of love. The injuries that presented the biggest challenge were the fractures on my pelvis and lower back that prevented me from walking. As I got better my injuries were confessed to me and even the idea that at one point, they were waiting to see if I was even going to live. I had all the support in the world from my teachers and friends from everywhere; church, police explorers, school, Riordan program, etc, how could I even think to leave them and all my dreams? I tried to always keep a smile of my face to make the personnel want to work with me and show my loved ones that I was always getting better, and that itself kept me always improving. The once stated “sentence” of four months at the hospital was reduced to twenty days and by Halloween of 2006 I was at home recuperating at an even faster pace. Today, November 29, 2006, I went to school to pick up some more work to do at home until I am completely discharged from the hospital and heard about this amazing opportunity. For the first time in years, I felt like home was there, with all these shiny eyes and surprised faces who could not believe it was me, back on my feet and ready to take on any new challenges that I can learn from. Therefore, whatever comes at me I will always know that I never have the worst case and that I can always get back on me feet to help those who are still trying.
