What does your Blog Title Mean? And why did you choose infinite Hope?
My blog title is a quotation from my favorite poet Emily Dickison. I like that particular poem because it talks about the power of Hope. This power was made very real to me in my summers in Eastern Europe through the eyes of children who had very little to look forward to. Many were dying, many were alone and many were in pain, yet they dreamed and hoped and believed. Infinite Hope came from an a favorite MLK quote of mine: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. “– Martin Luther King, Jr. As a Christian, I find great comfort in the word Hope because it implies not only a future here on earth but also an enteral future.
Why Romania? Why Eastern Europe?
:::blink, blink::: Why not? I have no idea why really. Feel free to ask God. What I know is when I was in sixth grade, it was the only country left after everyone else had picked their nations for our geography projects. I picked mine last because I was being tutored at home while I was recovering from bilateral femur osteomonies. During the same Winter some well meaning family friend gave me a Russian history book, I read it cover to cover because I was so boerd at home. In college when I took Human Rights and did a project on abandoned and disabled children in Eastern Europe. The project broke my heart and I spent the next two summers in Romania and then Belarus.
I would like to be added to your Romania E-mail list, how can I?
Comment and I will send you the proper contact information!
Why Med School? Why not Seminary or Divinty School? Or Social work?
Ha. Well that is a long story. The short version goes something like this. I have an extremely rare genetic illness. I spent my early childhood and preteen years hating doctors and hating biochemistry both of which I felt had failed me. Somewhere in the mist of my crazy high school years I decided if you can’t beat em join them. I majored religion in college though and more than toyed with the idea of going Div school or social work grad school instead. But in the end I was drawn to medical school for reasons I still do not fully understand. Likewise I had little to no trouble getting into medical school and took this as a sign.
After you finish medical school what do you want to do with your life?
Complete a Pedatrics (Kid doctor!) residency (or possibly some other type of residency), be hired by a MedSend missions organization and work overseas with disabled folks.
What is Kniest and who are these Kniestians that you keep talking about?
I have an extremely rare genetic illness known as Kniest Dysplasia. It causes dwarfism, moderate to severe osteoarthritis (the kind old people get) , nearsightness and hearing loss. It is caused by a messed protein that makes up cartilage. Imagine if cartilage is a sock that covers your bone and collagen is the yarn that your body uses to knit the sock. My yarn is defective. To top off my medical side show status. I am also well beyond the 4′10 cut off for a little person. So I suppose if we want to be technical I have a VARIANT of Kniest Dysplasia. Kniestians are folks with Kniest. A friend and I created the term when we were in middle school. Feel free to check out www.ksginfo.org for more information.
I am a parent or individual with Kniest or a similar disability and I would really like to contact you, how can I?
If you have Kniest, SED or SMD feel free to seek me out through the yahoo groups (go to yahoo groups and search). Otherwise leave a comment with your e-mail and I wlll send you my contact information.
