I was a pre law student in undergrad. Majored in history and by the time I graduated, knew I didn't want to be a lawyer. With a BA in history, I didn't know what I was going to do. I got a job as an armed job in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, and returned thinking about med school. I had always been interested in medicine, but had convinced myself that it wasn't for me for various reasons.
I looked into requirements and was pleasantly surprised I wouldn't need another degree, just the pre reqs. So I started taking classes while working part time. My last semester of pre reqs, I met the woman who became my wife. The summer I could have applied for med school, having completed everything and done well on the MCAT, I didn't actually apply; I had again found a reason not to pursue it, this time based on my belief I couldn't be both a good husband and father and a doctor (at least not until my training was complete).
Instead of applying to med school, I got a job as a manufacturing chemist on the strength of my grades in chemistry courses I had taken. I took more courses toward a BS in biochemistry while working full time. In the meantime, we bought a house, got married, and discovered we were going to have a son. When my wife went in for her prenatal visit at 31 weeks, her doctor told her to head straight to the hospital, saying she shouldn't even stop home to pack anything, because she had developed preeclampsia. At the local hospital her BP spiked to the 200's over 110s, so they transferred her to the main hospital downtown for its NICU. Both the doctors and we were worried she would deliver that night. Over the next few days, her BP fluctuated despite their best efforts to manage it, and they decided to induce labor. 40 hours of induction later, my wife had to deliver our son by Caesarian due to failure to progress.
Unfortunately, my wife did not quickly recover from the preeclampsia and even had to return to the hospital a few days after discharge before she recovered. Fortunately there were no other complications in her recovery from the delivery.
Our son, of course, being born just shy of 32 weeks, was in the NICU for a while. He did well on CPAP at first, but then his lung collapsed and he required intubation, a chest tube, and a few doses of surfactant. He did well after that first week, and came home a full month before his due date.
This entire experience did two things; first, it convinced me I would not be happy unless I became a physician. Prior to this, I had lots of moments of regret about not pursuing becoming a doctor, from seeing something on a TV show, to coming upon an accident on the freeway and wishing I could be that resident who stopped to help. These wistful moments were brought to a head in the hospital when my wife, then our son, were seriously ill. Second, the experience, and my reactions to it, convinced my wife that I should be a doctor. She talked to residents while she was in the hospital who convinced her she wouldn't actually be a single parent if I became a physician. She had never expressed any aversion to my becoming a physician, but when I had told her I wanted a family more than I wanted an MD, she was thrilled. Seeing me in the hospital with her convinced her I should be a doctor. She insisted to me that I should go for it.
So I decided to apply. My score would have expired by the next cycle, so while my wife was taking an infant CPR class and our son was still in the NICU, I retook the MCAT. I had just enough time to squeeze in to the application cycle for the class of 2016, so I decided to apply to my first choice school via their early decision program. I had no clinical experience, shadowing, leadership, or research, but since I hadn't discovered SDN yet I didn't have anyone to tell me that it would be impossible to get in without that. I started volunteering the same month I submitted my application, and got a bit of shadowing in by the time I interviewed. I fully expected to be rejected based on my lack of ECs, but figured I would apply to more schools with a much stronger application the next cycle if I didn't get in. To my surprise and joy, I was accepted EDP, and so here I am, living the dream as an M2 with a wife and happy, healthy toddler son.
Not sure if this story is truly inspiring, but it is certainly not that common.
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