Kennedy Sittig Research Paper

Personal Statement: Cody Sittig

I am not your traditional medical school applicant. I do not have a 4.0 at a fancy big U nor have I helped helpless African children fight malaria, which is a goal of mine, but I digress. I did not make the best choices when I was younger and did not realize my full potential until the age of 21. I attended a semester at a party school when I was 18 and convinced myself school was not for me, when in fact, it was just an excuse to coast by. I never challenged myself at the awkward age 16-20 years old. I waited tables, worked in a warehouse, and did part time labor-intensive work to pay the rent and bills. I did enough just enough to get by. However, when I was 20, everything came into perspective. I was at a party having a great time with my best friend; I was in Louisiana at the time and as they say, “laissez les bon temps rouler”, translated, let the good times roll. That quickly changed. My best friend had a 5-minute long seizure, as everyone looked dumbfounded around him; I quickly took action, put him on his side and called 911. After a couple hours in the waiting room, two doctors
approached me bearing straight faces and told me, “We are so sorry, we did everything we could…your friend had a ruptured aneurysm.” As my best friend lay in the bed, brain dead and 20 years old, I realized life is too short to just get by. Within two weeks I quit my dead-end job, moved back to North Carolina, and made a list of goals I would like to accomplish. Among the goals listed was to make school a priority. I attained my Associates of Science at Cape Fear CC. There, I took my first anatomy and physiology course. Dr. Covington was my professor and did the course a little differently. He started the course with neurology, and I was fascinated by the brain. However, what was imprinted on me was hemorrhagic strokes and how it can be caused by a ruptured aneurysm. It could have been prevented. From that day, may sound a bit cliché, I decided to work my tail off to go to medical school and prevent people from having to go through what I went through. I could sit here and tell you that I will specialize in neurology because of my best friend, which very well may be the case; but I won’t know what to specialize in until I experience everything the medical field has to offer. I broke my ulna and radius playing football in middle school, and thought the entire process was pretty “cool.” From the X-ray, surgery, cast and physical therapy I actually enjoyed the process. The point I am trying to make is neurology and orthopedics interest me a great deal, but, if I focus too much of my time on one thing I might miss out on an area in which I may excel. There are a couple goals I do have in mind.
First, is to travel and treat people around the world before I settle down. The other goal is to serve the underprivileged. I have been volunteering at Vidant Health for the past few months, and they focus on treating the underprivileged, sometimes even taking care of their medical bill. I did not quite understand it at first; my father always told me “There is no free lunch.” However, being a volunteer you mostly run blood, urine and feces samples to the lab, but the other side is patient care. Hearing the patients’ stories and spending time with them, I realize they are not just patients but real people with real stories. The medical field is not just about science, but it is mainly about the people we treat. I now firmly believe everyone should have a chance at the best healthcare available to
them. I would be a great fit for your program because my goal is to serve the patients. The research will always be second to that. Also, I would bring a different personality to the medical field. I’ve had an interesting journey up to this point and met a lot of different people on the way. Along with my experiences, I can connect to just about anyone, and I believe that would make a better doctor.