Everyone has a story, and this one is mine

After countless times of hearing the inspiring stories told-by my parents-of the "angel" nurses who cared for me while hopitalized as a toddler with Guillen Barre Syndrome, I knew that it was the reason I was given a second chance to live. I knew that I was meant to be a nurse, and help others.
The summer before my Junior year of high school, I was pregnant. I could have easily taken up a minimum wage job and would have been content, but my son gave me inspiration and oddly motivated me to keep moving forward after he was born. I graduated early from high school, with high honors, and was married at the tender age of 18 to my high school sweetie a month later. Both of our parents were very supportive of us, and hoped for nothing more but for us to succeed in college to make a better life for our newly formed family. We were both each others cheerleaders and I have no regrets of keeping my child or of marrying my husband. The only regret I would have had was not going to college.
To my amazement, I was immediately accepted into the only University I applied to straight out of high school...my major, of course, being nursing! I was determined to graduate in three years oppose to four and had to jump through hoops to make it happen. I took 17+ credit hours and wrote to many Chairs of the University about letting me do so. They had to create a whole new curriculum calendar just to tailor to my request, needless to say they weren't to fond of doing so.
It was extremely stressful to balance my life and school, and at times I felt as if I should just throw in the towel and settle for being a CNA, but I had a lot of people supporting me who would hear nothing of it. My mom watched my son on those sleepless nights before exams and finals. She always picked me up whenever I felt down and helpless, but then again what mom doesn't? My mother-in-law watched my son throughout my clinical rotations, and always lended a hand whenever my family or I was in need. After purchasing our home, it began to get more and more difficult, however; for my husband and I to balance our school schedules. So he decided to sacrifice his desire of becoming a cop for a while, for me to achieve my dream of becoming an RN! If that isn't love, then I don't know what is. With endless support and devotion, he has been so understanding and loving throughout my hectic life-or lack of-while in nursing school. He gave me the luxory of being a stay at home mom and a full-time college student, and for that I will forever thank him.
My second year was all but half way done when I was blindly hit with devastating news: my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. I took it extremely hard, and thought of quiting school to care for her. I don't know how she did it, but she pushed me to continue with my dream and vowed to beat it to see me through it. After months of chemotherapy and with much bravery she did!
My third, and final year was approaching quickly. I was excited but also apprehensive about being so close to my dream. Little did I know that even more heartwrenching news was in store for me. A month before the semester started, those dreadful words were uttered once more from my mother: "This isn't easy for me to tell you mi hija, but..." My mother, after beating cancer once already, was diagnosed with end stage bone metastasis. Knowing all the medical aspects of her diagnosis and the possible complications, I must say, sometimes it's better not knowing at all and relying solely on faith. Again, I felt as if I should just hold off school, and be with my family everyday. But again with enough strength in herself to give to me, she urged me to pursue my dream. She said, "I'm not giving up anytime soon, and neither should you." It was as if those words, along with many others, moved me everyday to get up and attend class and study. It was hard digging inside of my soul and reaching for an ounce of compassion and care to show to my patients when all I could think about was my Mom. It is beyond me how I managed not to suffer a depression at that time.
With great perserverence, and dedication, I did it! At my graduation I looked up at my lovely family and truly felt that my success was just as much theirs as it was mine. If there was any way that it could be done, I would have had each one of them walk across that stage with me. My mother was handling the treatments well, and I really felt that my life was going to be simply perfect after that day.
Four weeks after my graduation, to the date, my father was diagnoses with 3rd stage stomach cancer. I felt as if I was in a horrible nightmare that I couldn't awaken from. How could this be? Why them? I strayed from God and started to have doubts of wanting to become a Nurse. Afterall I wanted to "save" lives, and I didn't feel that I could do this when I had my parents slipping away from me and I didn't have the power to "save" them.
I took my NCLEX in April, with ill preperation and failed. It really didn't upset me because I knew that I had more important things on my mind. My father and mother both take their chemotherapy treatments at the same hospital, same unit, with the same nurse. In many ways she has been an "angel" to me, she has helped me cope with this and has expressed to me how hard her job is but also how rewarding it is. And she swears the rewards far outweigh the negatives.
So I end this chapter in my life with not a sad ending, but a new found hope. I hope that I pass my NCLEX the secondf time. I hope that my son will one day look up to me and realize that there are no obstacles to ones dreams but merely turns on the road called life. I hope that my parents stay long enough to see me walk across that stage again in a couple of years when I receive my Masters. And, I hope that whoever reads this finds in it a little bit of motivation to do the impossible. Afterall, not everyone can be a Nurse, but those who are truly are God's angels among us.