I stand here on an empty soccer field by myself with a soccer ball. It brings many memories back, weekends I spent at the park, friends I meet who became my closest friends and moments when I felt that I was a great soccer player. I take the ball out of my hands and let it hit the grass. I take three steps back from it and kick it as far as I can, it makes me feel alive.

“Yvette and Lino let’s see who can make it to the other side of the pool without coming up for air,” I said as I was swimming towards the edge of the pool. They quickly agree

“I will go first,” said Yvette.

“I will go after her and you will go after me Edgar,” said Lino.

We all agree to the order so Yvette went first. Yvette was 10 years old, I think at the time. She took a deep breath, lower her body and use her legs to push herself of the edge of the pool. She wasn’t a great swimmer since she had learned how to swim when she was seven. She came up a little pass half way of the pool. She was full of joy when she came up and I was happy for her because she had never made pass the have half mark.

Next was Lino he is one year younger than me. He was taller than me at the time and still to this day he is taller than me. He too took a deep breath and use his legs to push himself of the wall. I thought he was going to make it because of his size but he came up short. Lino had come up five feet short. Now it was my turn I knew that in order for me to win this little contest I had to make it to the other side of the pool which I had never try doing before. Little did I know that this decision almost cost me my life. I guess what drove me to doing so was the will for me to feel proud of myself. I took a deep breath went underwater and use my legs to push off the wall. I knew that I should had come up but I push myself and I made it to the other side. As soon as I came up I came up I had the worst headache I had ever had. I got out of the pool and went inside the house. I was dripping water all over my uncle’s house until I got to my parents room. The bedroom was located down stairs next to the pool but the closets way in the house was through the kitchen.

I got to my grandma’s room and as I got in her room I saw my grandparents and my uncle in there. I thought my uncle was going to say something about y I was dripping water all over the house but he did not say a word. I think it was because maybe I did not allow him to speak. As soon as I got in the bedroom I start telling my grandma about my headache. She thought it was a normal headache and gave me two Tylenol tablets. I knew they were not going to do the job. As time pass the pain started getting stronger.

I ask my uncle if he could call my parents to come over and he started walking towards the house phone to do so. By this time my face was full of tears due to the pain. My parents were not at my uncle’s because we had just had lunch together and Yvette and I wanted to go swimming. So after lunch Lino, Yvette, and I convince our parents to let me and Yvette spend the night at my uncle’s and they agree. My parents went home with my three other sisters and Yvette and I went to my uncles. Only thing was that the plan did not go as plan, I spend the night in an emergency room and I think Yvette went back home.

My uncle had come back in the room and he said my mom answer the phone. I knew it would take her about 10-15 minutes to get to my uncle’s house and the pain had reached its strongest. The tablets did not help as I predict, now the only thing I could do was wait for my parents to see what their plan would be. They arrived between the time I predict.

As some as they got there they started asking me questions about what had happen I did not want to tell them anything because of the pain I had. I ask Yvette to tell them the story about what had happen. She was nervous to speak to my parents because they seem mad but regardless she still told them all the information. After Yvette told them the story they decided to take me to the UCI hospital. My dad said he would drive I was riding shotgun and my mom and sister Daisy where in the back passenger seat.
My dad was not the fastest drive in the family usually he drives at the speed limit and never takes a yellow light. At that moment he didn’t care about anything expect getting his son to the hospital. I was not sure how fast he was driving because all I felt was pain. I just remember my mom telling him to slow down and to stop beating the lights which was rare because he always obeys all the driving laws.
Once at the hospital they got me on a wheel chair and got in an emergency room. After that I remember the nurses asking my mom questions. Then they came to me asking me to rate the headache from a scale of one to ten and I answer with a ten. After that they gave me morphine to bring down the pain. Before they could give me the morphine they had to hook me up to an IV. It seem to have been working the pain was going away but it did not go away completing. In about half a hour the pain was back, so I was giving more morphine same thing happen. That night I was given morphine three times and it knock me out for the rest of the night.
I woke up the next day in a normal room with my mother next to me. She told me how the drug they gave me knock me out and why I was waking up just now it was around 2 p.m. I told her I was tried and she said it was the morphine. I ate a small smack as she told me I was going to be transfer hospital the next day I fell asleep after that. I was transfer to Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. We left UCI the next day around 1 or so.
My mom went with me on the paramedics the nurses said it would be about an hour drive. As soon as got to the new hospital I was schedule to have a CAT scan the next day. That night the pain came back but I did not want any morphine. I guess at the moment I just did not want to fall asleep, I was scare of not waking up again. So I endure the pain and it was not until 2 in the morning that I was able to fall asleep. The results came in and they were not able to tell much so they did another one the next day after the results were in and again nothing was determine.
Then the doctor said that he needed a better picture of my brain to determine what cause the headache. So I need to have a MIR this time the results where bad news. The doctor said I had bleeding I the brain. Then he talked to my mom she broke down and started to cry. Later I found out what the doctor had told her. The doctor told my mom that I had a chance of dying because my brain might start to swallow up since there was blood in my brain. My mother try to keep a straight face as she whipped tears of her face but even back then I was able to read my mom I knew there was bad news.
I told my mother “Mother I will not die here I am too young, I wish to live I still got many things I want to do.”
She said “Edgar you will not die you are strong.”