My hair swayed rapidly in the wind as I watched the other cars fly by on the last day of my sophomore year in high school. My fingers continually pounded the keys on my cell phone, as I shared the excitement with all of my friends that summer was finally here. The blasting air hitting my face, that moment felt so freeing. The speedometer kept rising, the entire world was mute, and I had no sense of my surroundings. My body jerked to the left, I tensed, and clenched my hands to the seat. A roar that seemed as loud as a bomb pierced my ears as I felt myself fly forward. Shattering glass, and metal being compacted was all I could focus on while the car was jamming into the asphalt. I froze and soon realized I was hung upside down in a pile of wreckage, and the sight of blood was all around me. All I can remember is the hand reaching in through the broken window to help me out, the shrieking of bystanders was chilling.

The ambulance raced down the highway on its way to Fairfax Hospital. Staring at the ceiling, my body went numb, I felt lifeless. The back of my neck was sore and the bulky brace the medics had placed on it made me feel as though my head could snap off with any subtle movement. Raging horns from the vehicle lacerated the pain in my head, my mind wanted to sleep. Every few minutes my eyelids would slam themselves shut, they felt as heavy as placing two bowling balls on my eyes. A faint murmur kept interrupting my dozing. Questions and more questions were thrown at me that I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know the answer. My own birthday was barely in my memory, let alone the other people that were in the car with me.
The ambulance came to a sudden halt, and a light brightly shined at my feet as the medics opened up the vehicle doors. Floating onto the ground on the stretcher, more questions rolled in from my surroundings. I didn’t want to talk about it and I didn’t want help, my body just wanted sleep. Wheeling into the emergency room I was immediately hooked up to IV’s and machines galore. A nurse came in and smiled, she rubbed the dirt off my forehead and covered me up, reminding me numerous times that everything was going to be fine. She lifted my spirits for those moments, and that’s all I needed at that time. That’s when I realized, I wanted to be in that position one day.

Wanting to help young children and parents was never something I wanted to do growing up, I always felt there was always someone there for those people who were sick, hurt, or emotionally drained. I never noticed that although there were millions of people there at that moment in time, they weren’t always there specifically for you. I want to be the help someone needs.