Standingstill, gazing at the bed in front of me, looking at the tubes and mask, I feelthe warmth of someone standing next to me, making me feel better. A lady comesin, very pretty with a big smile on her face. Talking to me and asking me aboutmyself and, in return, I ask her questions back. She makes me feel happy for amoment, makes me forget about my surroundings and my life. As she walks away, Ilook back down at the bed where my brother lies.
Growing up, my family was always happyand together. There was one person who was the life of our family, my twinbrother, Kevin Mureithi. He was loving, extremely funny and a really goodbrother to me and mysister.
During thesummer of 2000, when I was just seven years old, there were so many changes to myworld as I knew it. My sister Caroline and I began to go every morning to thehospital where my brother was staying, to take care of him and watch over him.We would watch my brother in a bed without movement or noise all day long. Daysbecame long and hard. One day felt like aweek.
After beingthere for a few weeks, my sister and I met some of the staff. In particular wegot close to the nurses because they were the ones who came in and out of theroom all the time, checking up on my brother. We became close to those nurseswho were using their heart and education to help the sick. They tried tocomfort us by being kind. In return, my sister and I would ask them so manyquestions about their job. I wanted to know what they enjoyed about it and whatthey didn’t like. But what stuck in my head was that one of the nurses said shewouldn’t want to have any other job, because nursing was such a rewardingcareer. Every single day she was helping someone new and doing somethingvaluable. She felt really good about herself because she was contributing bythinking about the welfare of others.
After my brotherdied I was very confused about everything. I didn’t understand why my brotherdied or why God, the doctors, nurses or anyone would let it happen.
My brotherneeded a lot of help and there were many things wrong with his body. I wantedto understand these things so I could help and educate others. I was sure Ididn’t want anyone to go through what my brother went through. People would askme all the time, “Jessica, what do you want to be when you grow up?” For a longtime I didn’t know how to answer that question. I was clueless. Now I can saywith clarity: I want to be a nurse.
As a way of preparation for becoming a nurse, I committed to a two yearinternship at the local hospital. The focus of my internship is diabetesprevention. During our first semester, student interns enrolled inprivate diabetes classes. We also shadowed different members of thehospital staff to learn about nutrition and how it affects diabetes. Now wehave become peer educators. We travel to different schools to teach studentsabout health, nutrition and exercise as a way of preventing diabetes. After thisexperience, I understand why the nurses I met, when my brother was in thehospital, felt so satisfied when they were working to help others.
Many experiences in my life andday-to-day surroundings have pushed me to the conclusion that I want to be anurse. I already know I will be a really good nurse. These are just someexamples of why I am really exited to pursue my dreams and follow a career thatI have passion for.