Family History: Inspiring a Career in Nursing

What inspire me most to become a nurse is my family history. Growing up I only got to see one of my grandparents whom I lost at 14 years of age. When I was young, I used to ask why many of my friends have grandparents and I only have one. My parents’ response was that they have passed away and now they live in heaven and that I am not suppose to question God’s choice. Therefore, I knew nothing farther but that was all about to change when I was about sixteen years old, I overheard my mom telling one of her friends how so lost her mom at a very young age. My mother said, “My mom passed away while giving birth and the child died as well. When I heard this, my heart just dropped I didn’t hear anything she said after. I had insomnia for a couple of days over thinking and analyzing how come her family didn’t take her to the hospital so on. I was afraid to confess that I heard the conversation she had with her friend, because I can get punished.

After five days, I decided to ask my mom if it is true my grandma died while giving birth. At first she was reluctant to tell me anything but finally she confirmed it is all true. My second question was how come she didn’t go to the hospital. My mother explained the detail that she was in the hospital but she lost a lot of blood. Due to her rare blood type (ORH-) she didn’t get the needed blood transfusion on time. My mother also told me that she lost her grandma to similar case. I was shocked unable to process any thought except felling helpless. My mom was crying and when I was trying to comfort her she spills another tragedy. My mother carries (ORH-) blood type and she also lost two kids (my two younger brothers). One died a couple hours after he was born, but the other one was a healthy baby and died from improper care at the hospital. My mother was unresponsive after giving birth because of anemia and couldn’t take care of my brother. While she was recovering, the hospital took custody of my brother. Unfortunately, he died after 21 days. Hearing all the depressing story my family has been through broke my heart and shifted my perspective in life. After few days I said to myself I want to work in the hospital, I want to be a nurse and help others. Then I realized that will take many years and I felt like I should do something in the mean time. A blood donation was the first thing that came to my mind. So I discuss the idea of donating a blood with my mom and she was very happy and supportive of my idea.

Therefore, I told her we will go together the next day and she will donate as well. Then my mom told me she has tried to donate blood multiple times but was declined due to her anemia and low hemoglobin. However she will be more than happy to take me to the blood center. After testing I became a qualified donor but my blood type is not as rare (ORH+). Still I donated many times.