Personal Statement

As I sat in the cold metal chair, I rocked back and forth, full of the nervous energy any 5 year old child would have. A nurse entered the room, and told me to follow her - through the door she'd just entered from. As I entered, I was met by the beeping of myriads of monitors, and the the sight of a small boy, so hooked up to tubes that he looked like a spider trapped in his own web. I realized, "This is my little brother". A tag around his left ankle told his name, Joshua, and that he was born with half a heart.
I was told by a passing doctor that "He would be going into surgery for another (whole) heart that very next day". That was the first, and last, time I saw him alive. That evening he passed away, the very night before he was to go into surgery to save his life.
Growing up with that spectre looming over me, it has been difficult for my family, my siblings, and me to forget him, from what little we'd been able to experience. Apparently, he was just like me as a baby, looks and all, or so my mom says. After that sad experience, I've grown into who I am as a person: strong, loyal, and giving. Losing my little brother made me grow up faster than I probably would have otherwise. It has made me realize how precious life is, and how fleeting. I live my life to be strong, independent individual that will make my little brother (and family members who have gone before), look down on me and be proud that I was a member of their family.