Cancer and Martin Luther King

“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. “ – Martin Luther King Jr. We all cast a shadow. Most of which are bigger than we really are. We make the shadow as big as we can by feeding it. We use grandiloquent words to try and flabbergast our fellow classmates and teachers. We boast that I am great at everything we do. We say we have a black belt in Taekwondo. We say that we’re the captain of the basketball team. We try to hide behind our so called SWAG. We have a shadow that engulfs us. When someone sees us the shadow is seen. Our true selves are hidden deep within. As said in the quote, the shadow is cast by which we do not see. We have grown into our shadow so much that we can’t see who casts it; us. All our lives we’ve lived in the midst of this shadow that we can hardly see ourselves. We find ourselves searching beneath this giant of a shadow. Some find themselves in doing what they love.
Jack Andraka, who is a 15 year old form North County High School started to find himself when he lost a loved one. When he was younger he lost a close friend to Pancreatic Cancer. After some research, Andraka found that mesothelin was found in increased levels in people with pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. He later devoted himself to finding a way to make a paper sensor to diagnose these cancers early. After 7 months working in Johns Hopkins University, he was able to develop a paper which is 400 times more sensitive and only costs $0.3. Just this year Andraka won the Intel International Science Fair and became the youngest to receive a $75000 grant for his “paper” that tests for mesothelin.
A normal teen just like you and me found himself and released his hidden potential. Andraka was just a student hiding in his shadow until he found what he loved; Science. His love for science grew as he had thought of a way to find an early detection device for cancer, since 1 in 25 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die. He