My Greatest Obstacle--Dominic

Throughout the ages from infancy to age 10 I had always been healthy in the sense that nothing was wrong with me but that all changed going into my 6th grade year. In the 6th grade this discolored patch of skin appeared on the left half of my ribcage and I never really noticed it until my parents asked me about. They asked me if I had been getting into fights at school and I told them that I have never fought with anyone. My parents decided to take me to a doctor but the doctor couldn’t tell me what it was or what may have caused this to happen. For an entire year I went to this doctor in which she had no treatment for it and couldn’t diagnose me with anything because as she put it, “She had never seen anything like it before”. Still not thinking much of it, I didn’t let it bother me. “Something wasn’t right”, is what I remember telling myself because for that entire year more discolored patches started appearing almost like a shadow was slowly creeping over me. Year after year it got worst and people started asking me questions at school, “Are you okay”, “Does it hurt”, “What happened”,and “Do your parents beat you”. I don’t blame people for being curious but these questions really upset me because they were being asked non stop. I would often find myself crying blaming myself for this when I knew that it was out of my control. After 2 years I was sent to a doctor who was able to diagnose me within five minutes. They couldn’t tell me what was causing it and there was no cure for it because they have no knowledge of what it was, the only thing there was, was a treatment for it that would only slow the process down. From then on I had to go to a doctor appointment every six weeks and had to constantly mis school. My 8th grade year I started to get depressed because there was no one to share how I felt about it and no one to relate with. My older brother Eric noticed me not acting how I normally would and had a talk with me about it. I remember these exact words, “pain is temporary quitting is forever so the pain you feel inside right now ,don’t ever let that stop you from doing what you want to accomplish in life because there's always someone out there who has it worse off than you”. Those words have motivated me so much to not give up no matter how low I get in life. I’m not gonna and say that having this condition didn’t upset me because it did just not as much as it used to. The things that upset were the thoughts that I had such as that I'm gonna have to live with this till the day I die, If i have children will I pass it on to them?, and will anyone love me for who I am and not my appearance? Now going into my senior year I've learned that i have to start learning to love myself if i ever want to find true happiness within myself, in my mind I thought that would be the hardest thing for me to do but at the start of my senior I met my beautiful girlfriend who loves me for who I am and doesn't let this condition bother her which has made it a lot easier for me. For the seven years that I have had to deal with this, my senior year is by far the happiest I have been in a while. I use to see this as a curse but I’m starting to realize it’s a part of who I am and If I want to be truly happy I’ll have to accept it.