Overcoming Lupus as a Child: College Admission Essay Sample

I still remember the smell: hand sanitizer and plastic. The room looked gloomy being flooded with dim fluorescent lights. As I was waiting in the room for my mother and doctor to come back, I took a sip of my fruit punch in an attempt to stop myself from crying. My eyes began to water in anticipation for the news that the doctor was going to deliver. Ten feet in front of me through the cold hard door, I heard the doctor say four words - four words, that have no meaning on their own, would change my life forever.

“Your daughter has Lupus.”

It was just three months ago when I was sitting in a hospital bed (instead of sitting in a hard plastic chair for my last day of junior year) for the second time since I got diagnosed with Lupus. My kidneys were failing and it was either take more medication, or let the damage take over leaving me to soon need a transplant. Being only 17 and one day old at the time, I made the decision that will always play a major role in my life: never give up.

I have already been through five years of treatment, seven different medications, and a plethora of new symptoms that all came along with the illness that tends to linger around a majority of one’s life. Another hospital visit was not going to impinge me and I continued to live my life just as anyone else would. Lupus never had me and never will. I control Lupus and choose how it will affect me and my life; I will choose to be adequately successful in life physically, mentally and financially.

I am 17 years old, and I still have a silver platter of all the opportunities presented in my hand. Not stopping until I am satisfied, there is much more I have left to accomplish in my life. Yes, I have been through life-changing challenges, but that will not stop me from doing what I want in life. These obstacles have rather pushed me to go against the odds and to believe that anything is possible as long as I remain determined. Regardless of the past and what may be in the future, my life will still thrive.

In five years, I will transfer myself into a new mindset to start my first day working as a Nurse. It will be eight in the morning and being there too early I will have to wait in my car. I, as a 23 year old, will clench the steering wheel intertwining the tough leather between my palms. After all the years of falling down and getting back up, dealing with unfortunate circumstances and experiencing a moiling high school career, I will finally have achieved what I always wanted in life: success. Amazed at where I am, I will question myself, “Who would have ever thought I’d be where I am today?” In my head, I will giddily respond to my own question.

“Me.”