Personal statement

294 thousand  out of 72.4 million kids have been diagnosed Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis in the United States of America. I am one of the lucky .4 percent. Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease that targets the joints. I was diagnosed with the disease in my upper extremities. Hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. I was put on a form of chemotherapy called methotrexate. Chemotherapy, like the medicine cancer patients use. But a very very very low dosage. I still have my hair, the side effects were present but bearable, and it is just a simple injection. Eventually my doctors decided to add a biologic called humira. While risky, the two medicines have been very effective for my body.
I was diagnosed when I was 14 years old. Heading into high school, this was not the way I wanted to start this new chapter in my life. At the time I was playing at the club level for both basketball and soccer. There was nothing I loved more than sports. The thought of my body disabling me from doing what I love made me sick. Coming from a family with small height genetics, my basketball career never seemed too promising. With the knowledge of arthritis in my arms and hands, I had to quit playing basketball. I had been playing basketball for 9 years up to that point and dedicated a lot of time and effort into that sport.
At the time I was a relatively average soccer player on the rise. I never had a great work ethic and relied heavily on my natural talents. While having arthritis, I had to work twice as hard to even stay at the same level as the people around me. While I struggled for a short while this payed off in the long run. With the help from the different medications the inflamation in my joints decreased slowly. About a year after I was diagnosed was right when I made the transition from an average soccer player to an elite soccer player. With the extra work rate I had developed due to the restraints that arthritis has put on me and my natural athletic abilities I was able to thrive as soccer player. That very year I was invited to participate in the olympic development program for the state and for the region. In fact, with the state team, I became a national champion and the top goal scorer in the country. The very next year I signed to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy youth academy program. Becoming the leading scorer for that team as well.
4 years later I am in remission with my arthritis. What I thought would be the definition of my high school life was just the thing allowing me to reach my potential. While it restricted me, made me sick, and just flat out hurt for the most part it allowed me to succeed in ways I never imagined I could and taught me valuable life lessons along the way. As I look back on my high school career, I could not imagine my life without Arthritis.