“I never would have found what I am passionate about if I didn’t have allergies. My allergies were the opening door for me to go into the medical field.”

Allergies have been in my life since I was little. As an infant I went into anaphylactic shock after having a baby milk formula and ever since then I have faced many different food allergies. As I got older I would grow into and out of these food allergies. I always had to watch what I ate. There was a time where I had no food allergies. While it was nice to not have to monitor what I ate everyday, that time only lasted a few years. My food allergies came back, but in a very different way than when I was an infant. Instead of a high severity of the allergy all of my food allergies became low levels and caused much more gastrointestinal issues. As I got through high school and started college the amount of food that I was allergic to only got larger. By the end of my freshman year of college I had twelve different foods I was allergic to. It was a low severity allergy, but it still caused me a lot of pain when I ate. I had to watch what I ate very carefully. I had new allergies coming up that I never knew I was allergic to. With the amount of food allergies that I had it became a challenge when going out to find food that wouldn’t make me sick. I suffered many days of being sick from my food allergies. It would hinder me from my normal daily activities and would cause me to lose a lot of time in my daily life. I knew that I could not have my allergies control my life. I saw the value of being able to control what I ate and what I do in my life. I learned the importance of taking every second as a gift. I knew what it was like to be in pain and not able to do anything. Thanks to my allergist I was able to come up with a plan so that I would never have to feel that way again. All of my struggles lead me to a curiosity for learning biology and how allergies develop and occur. Going into my final year of undergraduate school I majored in biology and am planning on applying to medical school. I wanted to be able to help those similar to me with food allergies to live a life of more than fear and pain. I realized that my allergies are not a curse but rather an opportunity to grow mentally and physically. I never would have found what I am passionate about if I didn’t have allergies. My allergies were the opening door for me to go into the medical field. Now looking back I would not change a thing as I was able to find what I want to do in this world through my allergies.

- Samantha