Since my last blog post, I have been questioning what my next post should be about. While I had many ideas, I couldn’t decide on the best next chapter for this story I’m sharing with you all. In the past week many different signs have pointed me in this direction and with Thanksgiving being yesterday, I thought nothing could be better than giving thanks to a person who I feel I will never be able to thank enough, Dr. Alberto Pena. At nine months old, I was fortunate to become one of Dr. Pena’s patients. He performed a PSARP and many other reconstructive surgeries on me, which changed the direction of my life.
Knowing that Dr. Pena has done all of this for me, I have always been incredibly grateful for him. In seventh grade, I reached out and sent Dr. Pena an email (from my dancginstarrr123 email, might I add) thanking him for all that he has done. I admit that I have gone back and read our email chain and laughed at my poor attempts at thanking him in a mature and professional way, but knowing that he took the time to respond to an email from a 12 year-old patient he hadn’t seen in nearly four years still means the world to me. Similarly, when I was in eighth grade, I wrote an essay on why I thought Dr. Pena should be one of CNN’s Top 100 people in the world. I sent him an email asking him why he became a pediatric surgeon. His response, which I will save forever, read: “A pediatric surgeon cannot change the history of the world, yet we have the unique opportunity to make a difference in the quality of life of a little girl… Also, a pediatric surgeon is very privileged because there is a chance that one day he receives a message from one of his patients, a lovely girl that selects him as one of the best 100 people in the world.”
Dr. Pena’s story has always moved me. I can say with utmost confidence that the biggest reason I am a pre-med student is because of how inspired I have been by Dr. Pena and his work. He is motivated by the proposition that “it is not the unanswered questions, but rather the unquestioned answers that one must pursue.” His dedication to his profession made the life I now live possible, and I hope one day to have the same impact on the lives of others. Whenever I am having a hard time studying (which is more often than not because of organic chemistry), I think of what Dr. Pena told me in his email to my eighth grade self, or I catch a glimpse of the rainbow fish pin the colorectal center gives out, and I remember why I have chosen this course for my life and how blessed I am to even be able to do what I do today.
While I am incredibly sad to hear that Dr. Pena will no longer be at Cincinnati Children’s, I will never forget all that he has done for my family. I will forever be honored to say that I experienced firsthand the difference one dedicated doctor such as Dr. Pena can make in the lives of so many people. I will forever be thankful for him.
five seconds of fearlessness 