Two of my answers to what makes me unique are medical related. Not really sure how it looks to write about my personal medical struggles for this question, so I would greatly appreciate all advice and opinions on choosing to write about yet another medical topic in my applications. Do these things even make me more diverse? How can I include more diversity in them? I'm struggling with this and feel like I'm just telling a mini PS.
1. I was diagnosed with scoliosis at a young age and saw slow progression for 10 years, putting me in a gray area between forgetting it or having my entire spine fused. I decided to ignore the problem because I had no pain. Fast forward a few years and I'm short of breath, back pain etc. And I am forced to make the decision to have my back fused that has been haunting me for a really long time. I was so worried about this it affected my academics and overall QOL. The timing was all bad, ultimately forcing me into a gap year so I could heal before applying to med school. TBH it was pure hell but now that I'm through it I see how stressors in your health can affect your overall well being and I think it's made me a more empathetic person because of it.
2. I was really young when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and all I felt like I could do was comfort her. I made a special pillow that helped support her incision sites and she found it really useful. I began making a ton of these for other women at the hospital and have ultimately turned it into a community effort. Along the way, I made connections with a variety of patients and was able to expand my project to other types of cancer patients with modifications for their needs. In attempting to expand further, I worked with a lot of different patients, administration, and community members to gain funding and momentum for this project. I did focus a paragraph on this in my PS, but left out the expansion part and connection with other people for expansion.
3. My significant other's family is Indian (I'm white) and over the last 8 years, I've learned a lot about their culture and beliefs. I've seen the struggles that being part of an immigrant family can bear but appreciate their deep sense of family and multigenerational living. They took me with them back to their childhood homes and for the first time in my life, I saw poverty and experienced living in another continent with limited access to many things I had in the US. I realized the importance of resiliency in people and that hard work and determination can take you far, but that it is also your responsibility to help others when you are capable.
