Because I Want to Help People!

 

Years ago when I worked as the Director of Admissions for a private college in their medical programs division I would always ask people why they were choosing to study in a specific field.  If I had a dollar for every time someone would reply "because I want to help people" I could buy a nice dinner.

 

This always seems to be the knee jerk response to the question.  I would usually try to dig a little deeper and ask them do evolve the answer.  I would ask some probing questions as to whether there was a personal experience or if someone they knew had been sick.  Typically there was a personal tie.

 

By the age of 5 Matthew had become quite an expert in the area of hypertension and kidney function.  The medical terminology he knows now at age 10 could rival some of the students that I once admitted into those medical programs. 

 

Words not typically found in the 10 year old vocabulary:

 

• hypertnesion
• renal artery stenosis
• occulsion
• hydronephrosis
• Foley catheter
• butterfly needle

Unfortunately for Matthew these are all words that are all part of his vernacular.  As we make our treks in and out of the hospital he continually amazes the nurses and doctors that have never met him.  Many of them ask him what he wants to be when he grows up.  Always anticpating that he will say a doctor.  And this is what his answer is.  Recently he has become more detailed in saying that he wants to be a nephrologist.  I asked him why he wanted to be a nephrologist and he said that he understand the kidneys and their function within the body.  I asked him in a relaxed setting at home out of the blue why he decided he wants to be a doctor.  His reply was simply....."Because I want to help people."  Those words have so much meaning to me coming from the heart of a 10 year old.  And regardless of what he does become in his future professional career, I know that he will always help people.  It's just his nature.