Personal Narrative Essay

At any moment, I could have a tumor appear in my body. Currently, I have neurofibromas on my left femur and tibia; the doctors are watching those tumors closely. I have NF, a watch-and-see disease, a genetic disorder of the nervous system which causes tumors (neurofibromas) to form on the nerves anywhere in the body. Throughout my life, I have faced many obstacles as a result of my neurofibromatosis. With each obstacle, I have found a way to overcome.

As I was wheeled in for my first surgery at 12 years old, I remember feeling scared about having a long operation on my back to correct the scoliosis caused by NF. Each day after the surgery, the doctors gave me different obsacles to overcome such as sitting up in my bed, walking to a chair in my room , to walking to a room at the end of the hall then the stiars.

Stair by stair, I was closer to finally getting out of the hospital which would then mean on to my next

This time, my surgical team was going to repair my femur and knee. I had neurofibromas on my right femur that needed to be scraped out of my bone and then was grafted. I fortunately knew what was ahead of me, all the school work that I will have to make up, physical therapy on my leg and the unforgettable pain. Although for this surgery I was in high school and missing just one or two days puts you behind, nevermind weeks at a time. After this surgery I learned that I could overcome any obstacle no matter how hard like getting back into sports.

After the bone grafting in my femur was fully healed, I played sports the following school year such as soccer and lacrosse whose tryouts are really tough because of the amount of fitness we do throughout the many days of tryouts. Each tryout day ranged from 3-4 hours which is a lot on anyone, but after recovering for surgery it was pretty hard thing to do.I found a way to push through the pain throughout the seasons of each sport I played to do something I