My eyes skimmed from the pages of The Hatchet to the clock on the wall. Seven more hours. And then, everything went dark.
I woke on the floor of my classroom. The lights were off. I was no longer surrounded by classmates, but instead my teacher, principal, and some medics. Is this a dream? Am I sleeping?

At the hospital, the doctors referred me to a neurologist. That day was the beginning of living with epilepsy. This is the unique community I became a part of when I was thirteen.

There are fundraisers and dinners that I attended. I felt alone, because no one at my school was like me. My mom used to take me to them to show me that I am not the only person living with this disorder. The people I met because of those dinners helped me keep living my life the way I wanted to. The people who have epilepsy also have intricate goals that a diagnosis could never affect.

As a part of such a community, I want to go out in the world and prove that I can be successful while living with a complex disorder. I want to accomplish my goal of becoming a geneticist and decoding genetic disorders. Then one day I can return to a foundation dinner and say, “I did it, and I believe you can, too.” I’m going to inspire those kids who sat where I did, because I could’ve never come this far without them.