Because of her brother’s surgery, the little girl was often sad, scared, and felt alone. She came to realize as she grew older what he was going through, he then became an inspiration to her. She was miles away from her family for long periods of time; she was left with distant family that she didn’t feel comfortable with. At a young age the little girl constantly had sad thoughts racing through her mind. The little girl was uncomfortable, nervous, sad, and depressed. She would wake up crying in the middle of the night, some days she would stare out of the window hoping that at any time she would see her family pulling into the driveway to rescue her. The little girl was often worried about her little brother; she didn’t know much about what was going on, but in the back of her mind she figured something wasn’t right. Finally, the day her brother came home she understood what was going on as soon as he stepped out of the truck. There were no more jumping on the trampoline, no more leap frog, no more playing with her best friend. The little girl had to play alone for a while.

She remembers the day her little brother came home; thinking about it makes her stomach sick, her throat knot up, and she’ll get sudden tingles rushing up her body. Her tiny baby brother was hurting and instead of being the comforting sister, all she could do was stare at the massive knot bulging out of his head. The stitches made a perfect circle around the huge bump. His little head had no more bright, silky, blonde hair. It was nothing but bald skin, scars, stitches and dried blood, but that didn’t keep the faint smile off his pale face. To be so small and innocent, “Why did he have to go through that?” the little girl thought to herself.

As the little girl grew older, more of her questions were answered. Her baby brother, before age 2, had a cyst in his head, and was put through four major brain surgeries. Fluid took up more than half the size of his head; his brain was being pushed to the side of his small, fragile head. He had to get a shunt placed in his head to drain the fluid from his head all the way to his stomach. There are visible tubes running from the top of his head, down his neck, behind his ear, all the way to his belly button.

Her little brother is not so little now; he plays baseball, runs cross country, and flirts with girls. She worried about him when he was small and fragile, and now that he’s big and strong, she still worries about him. The very first cross country practice he had she was scared that running so much would make his head hurt. She wishes he could play football but due to his disability he is unable. Seeing him stand on the sidelines while his friends play football makes her sorrowful, but watching him constantly bounce around, throw the football up in the air and catch it, run up and down the field cheering for his team, makes her joyful that he handles his situation well. The once little, weak, sick, baby brother is now a tall, handsome, strong, inspiring brother. He may never realize it, but he made his big sister grateful for more things, and he made her realize that how precious health can be. He became an inspiration to her.