My Story

It was 2015, and life was normal. I would go to school, ride my bike, and hang out with my friends, just like everyone else until I got sick. One day, I woke up coughing. I thought it was a typical morning, and my routine continued. My mom called me to breakfast, and I realized that I was feeling under the weather. She got worried and instructed me to rest. Things quickly progressed, and I collapsed from coughing a week later.

My dad rushed me to the hospital to get me an MRI (Magnetic Radioactive Imaging) in order to find out what was wrong. I was unconscious at the time, but my body would convulse. This impeded the doctors from getting my brain scan, for MRI's can only work if the patient is still. The doctors decided to put me into a deep sleep. I blacked out for three months.

I didn't know who I was, nor where I was when I woke up. My arms and legs were strapped to medical equipment, and I couldn't move or speak. I was incapacitated and nonfunctional at the time. When I woke up, I acted like an infant because I didn't know any better.

I would slide in and out of sleep, waking up to more shots. I was told that this was all to make me better, but I often felt discouraged because I felt like the life I was living was impossible and unfair. I questioned why it had to be me.

Through this, I remained dedicated to becoming well. I worked out and practiced speech religiously until I got discharged in March, six months after I was first diagnosed. I couldn't attend school, but I went to rehabilitation every week.

After I was healthy enough to attend school, I began my sixth grade year in Dodgen. I was in a wheelchair, but I soon progressed to a walker, and then a cane. Finally, I was able to support myself without any assistance. Since then, I have been committed to my learning and making the world a better place.

Although I have overcome the hardest part of my illness, I have problems in my left leg, which I work on every day. Before, I could run and participate in sports, now, I am unable to. I see that I am different from other people, but my goals haven't changed. I still want to be a video game designer and lead a fulfilling life.

I would like to thank my family for always being there for me, the hospital staff for taking care for me, my church for praying for me, and everyone who inspired me to improve my heart and soul.

-Brian Seok