Mesmerized by the red liquid gushing from my brother’s head, visions of an operating room invade my thoughts. The gore of it is thrilling to me. Stopping the bleeding, giving me chills. Helping my brother is what made the switch in my head click on. It’s what made the picture in my mind come clear to me, this part of the medical field is the one for me. Trauma is the thing I love. Something that also helped me decide to become this was that I grew up with my three parents in the medical field. It made me always want to help during my childhood and that my brother Tyler has an immense passion for getting hurt all the time. Things that have made me want to be a trauma surgeon would include mainly my parents are in the medical field, I’ve wanted to help people since childhood and that my brother seems to always be getting hurt.

First, I grew up around people in the medical field, with my dad especially helping because he worked with trauma patients. Then we have my mom and step-mom Corrina. Let’s begin with my mom, Karen. She went to school to become a registered nurse or RN. Her first job was being an orthopedic RN, she helped with broken bones in and out of the ER. A lot of broken bones came in from car wrecks so, sometimes they would flatline and she’d have to let them revive the patient. She got promoted to being a supervisor, so she doesn’t get to do much nursing anymore, and she says she misses it. Her main reason was that she wanted to help people and that’s partly where I think my need to help came from. Then there is my dad, Kendall, he is an Emergency Room Technician down in Texas. For his job, he works under an RN and helps emergency patients in the ER. When deciding what job to pick, he said he wanted to help people too, so he went to the medical field. He actually changed from being an EMT to an Emergency Room Technician after a few years. Lastly, we have my step-mom Corrina. She decided to become a Bone Density Tech down in Texas. Bone Density Techs check to see if you have or are developing osteoporosis. Which is a fancy word for your bones are becoming weak and brittle. Her reasoning for becoming a BDT was that she wanted to help people and work with bones. Having grown up surrounded by parents in the medical field made me have a hunger for wanting to help people since my childhood.

Ever since I could remember, helping is all I ever wanted to do. Whether it was helping my grandmother bake cookies, changing the diapers of little cousins, cleaning up toys to helping to clean up hurt siblings or relatives. One of the very first memories of my brother is me telling him that he was going to be my doll. I would push him in the stroller, pick out his outfits and dress him, play house with him and cook him food. So, you could say my brother and I have a very special connection other than being related to each other. From playing with my brother, I aged a few years and started babysitting for relatives and family friends. That was my first experience at getting money for doing a deed. Which was really exciting for an eleven-year-old as many can imagine. Then after I had a few more years on me I started babysitting for other families that I wasn’t so familiar with. Doing that has also helped me to become more outgoing which is a skill I’ll need in the future. Lastly, we have that about two summers ago I got to “intern” at my mom’s work for some time. Which wanting to be a trauma surgeon, and getting to be in HealthPartners, was like a dream come true. I got to meet surgeons, doctors, nurses and even the big boss of the whole HealthPartners company. With interning, I got to room patients, do charts and type in bid calendars. One of the highlights of it was that I got a pretty cool badge to wear that I got to write on it “Intern J”, so people knew who I was. Helping since childhood was fun, but the person I helped the most was my brother Tyler.

My brother is a great brother so to say. We fight like normal siblings do, but we also love each other and would hate to lose the other one. Tyler is probably the most accident prone person someone will ever meet if a chance comes along too. It’s like he is being called from the wild to just always get hurt. The first major time he got hurt was kinda my fault, but he doesn’t need to find that out. We were fighting over a blanket that I was using but he wanted, of course. So I being two years older thought I would try to outsmart him when it came to getting it back. I decided to just let go of the blanket before he tried to tug it out of my hands. I did, but instead of just falling to his butt, he pulled a little harder than I thought he would and flew back. He ended up turning as he went down and bashing his head open on a table. I, of course, felt bad and went to help clean up the blood, and even held his hand while they glued him up in the ER. Secondly, we have the time he broke his hand, by running into a tree while playing football. This time was in kindergarten, which made him feel like a hero. So, I waited at home for him, and when he came home I nursed him up, made him supper, and was the first one to sign his cast. The third time he had a major injury was when he was playing baseball. Tyler, trying to be a hot shot, decided it would be cool if he slid into the base. When of the course the base he chose was first, and everyone knows that sliding into first is a no. He then got a giant turtle’s shell on his wrist and was brought to the ER, again. He came out with a neon green cast, and I, of course, was the first one to sign it. I even brought him ice cream in bed, I felt like a true nurse. Lastly, the most life-changing injury he had, was when he decided to fall off a tree. A 9-foot tall tree to be exact. The instant he fell I knew it was my moment. I sat there staring at the blood thinking to myself I can do this for the rest of life. Thanks Tyler for always getting hurt.

Deciding to become a trauma surgeon didn’t come to me in the blink of an eye. It sort of did, but it took some helpful things in my life to really decide. My parents helped hugely with always wanting to help, always helping with my relatives all during my childhood, and of course, my brother always deciding to get hurt. Then let’s head back to the beginning where I stood there mesmerized by the red liquid dripping from Tyler’s head, to the visions of an operating room circulating my thoughts, the moment I knew, this is for me.  What if the blood had grossed me out and made me sick? I would probably want to be a teacher, and that would not be good because I can’t teach to save my life. The medical field is the thing for me and nothing is hopefully going to change that. One day I hope to save people who often get hurt like Tyler.